Leonard Barrack

Leonard Barrack is the senior and founding partner of Barrack, Rodos & Bacine, with a long and distinguished history in litigating securities and antitrust class actions and complex commercial litigation throughout the country.

Since the enactment of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act (PSLRA) in late 1995, Leonard has led the securities bar in fulfilling the PSLRA’s mandate to facilitate and encourage institutional representation in securities class actions.  He was the first to represent an institutional investor, the Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System, as lead plaintiff in two major securities class actions initiated in early 1996. Leonad has been appointed lead or co-lead counsel in dozens of securities cases throughout the United States, including three of the largest case settlements in securities class action history.

Leonard has lectured on class actions to sections of the American and Pennsylvania Bar Associations, Temple University School of Law, and Seton Hall University School of Law. In June 2010, he spoke to global institutional investors at the 2nd Annual Transatlantic Conference in Brussels, Belgium. He also has a long history of national and commercial public service. Leonard is currently a member of the Board of Trustees of Temple University and is the chairman of its Alumni Affairs and Development Committee.  He is also the Chair of Temple law schools’ Board of Visitors.  Leonard has received Temple University School of Law’s Founder’s Day Award, in recognition of his unsurpassed dedication to his alma mater, his profession and his community. He is also the former National Finance Chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

Securities Class Actions

• In re WorldCom, Inc. Securities Litigation, Master File No. 02-Civ-3288 (DLC), before the Honorable Denise L. Cote in the Southern District of New York, which yielded a record-breaking recovery of $6.19 billion for the class.
• In re Cendant Corp. Litigation, Master File No. 98-1664 (WHW) before the Honorable William H. Walls in the District of New Jersey, which resulted in settlements totaling $3.32 billion, the highest ever achieved in the U.S. Third Circuit, as well as extensive corporate governance reforms.
• In re McKesson HBOC, Inc. Securities Litigation, No. C-99-20743-RMW, before the Honorable Ronald M. Whyte in the Northern District of California, which resulted in settlements totaling $1.052 billion, the largest securities fraud class action recovery in the Northern District of California.
• In re American International Group, Inc. 2008 Securities Litigation, Master File No. 08-CV-4772-LTS, before the Honorable Laura Taylor Swain in the Southern District of New York, which resulted in a settlement of $970.5 million, among the largest recoveries achieved in a securities fraud class action stemming from the 2008 financial crisis.
• In re Merrill Lynch & Co. Securities, Derivative and ERISA Litigation, Master File No. 07-cv-9633 (LBS)(AJP)(DFE), before the Honorable Jed S. Rakoff in the Southern District of New York, a securities fraud class action arising from the 2008 financial crisis, which settled for $475 million. 

Antitrust Class Actions

• In re Polypropylene Carpet Antitrust Litigation, MDL No. 1075, before the Honorable Harold L. Murphy in the Northern District of Georgia, Rome Division, which settled for nearly $50 million after five years of litigation.
• In re Graphite Electrodes Antitrust Litigation, Master File No. 97-CV-4182 (CRW), before the Honorable Charles R. Weiner in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, which settled for over $133 million after six years of litigation.
• In re Flat Glass Antitrust Litigation, MDL No. 1200, before the Honorable Donald E. Ziegler in the Western District of Pennsylvania, which settled for over $120 million after more than seven years of litigation, including successfully maintaining the case through an appeal.
• In re Citric Acid Antitrust Litigation, Master File No. 95-2963 before the Honorable Charles A. Legge in the Northern District of California, which settled for over $80 million after five years of litigation.

• Temple University School of Law
  Philadelphia, PA  |  J.D. 1969
• Temple University
  Philadelphia, PA

• Pennsylvania, 1969
• United States Supreme Court
• United States Court of Appeals, First Circuit
• United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit
• United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit
• United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit
• United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania

• Temple University School of Law’s Founder’s Day Award
• Pennsylvania “Super Lawyer” in the field of Securities Litigation

• Prosecuting WorldCom: Setting a New Paradigm for Securities Class Actions
  Barrack Bulletin, Vol. 9 (Fall 2005)
• Reform of the “Reformed”
  Barrack Bulletin, Vol. 4 (Spring/Summer 2002)
• Selection of Class Counsel: Our Perspective
  Barrack Bulletin, Vol. 2 (Spring 2001)
• Securities Litigation, Public Interest Practice and Fee Awards
  Practicing Law Institute (March, 1980)
• Developments in Class Actions
  The Review of Securities Regulation, Volume 10, No. 1 (January 6, 1977)