Barry McNeil has more than 35 years of experience as a trial lawyer, with the Antitrust Division of the United States Department of Justice and in private practice. He defends companies and senior officers before juries throughout the country in corporate and antitrust criminal prosecutions and parallel civil proceedings and class proceedings. He also represents lawyers and law firms in civil and criminal proceedings.
Over the years he has, in jury trials, prosecuted and defended cases involving civil and criminal fraud, civil and criminal conspiracy, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, RICO, DTPA and state common law claims. In The National Law Journal's "Biggest Defense Verdict of 1999," Mr. McNeil led the successful defense of a national health care provider, winning a "slam-dunk defense verdict" in a fraud and conspiracy case. (NLJ, May 22, 2000.) Other trials involving charges of RICO, conspiracy, commercial bribery and fraud have resulted in take-nothing judgments on claimed losses of millions of dollars.
Mr. McNeil has been recognized by Chambers USA from 2006-2010 as a leading practitioner in antitrust law in Texas. Over the last decade, Mr. McNeil has represented companies and executives in numerous international pricing cartel cases in the vitamins, graphite electrodes, food flavor enhancers, food and feed additives, D-RAM, and LCD and CRT industries. He annually addresses U.S. lawyers and foreign enforcement authorities on the defense of international pricing cartels at the ABA’s International Antitrust Forum.
He represents Fortune 500 companies in Internal Corporate Investigations and in proceedings before the SEC and the Antitrust Division of the DOJ and in lawsuits involving claims of monopolization, price fixing, healthcare fraud and securities violations. Mr. McNeil is ranked as one of fifteen top litigators in the trial bar by International Commercial Litigation, as one of ten top lawyers in Texas by Texas Monthly, and as one of the Best Antitrust Lawyers in Dallas by D Magazine (2008-2009 and multiple prior years). He was recognized as a Texas Super Lawyer in Antitrust Litigation (2007-2009) and as one of The Best Lawyers in America in Antitrust Law; Commercial Litigation; White-Collar Criminal Defense; Bet-the-Company Litigation (Woodward/White, Inc., 2010-2011).
Mr. McNeil is frequently retained by Special Litigation Committees, audit committees and outside directors of publicly held companies to conduct internal corporate investigations arising under federal and state securities and antitrust laws, federal criminal statutes and conspiracy to defraud violations.
He is co-editor of the Third Edition of the widely published handbook: Internal Corporate Investigations. Mr. McNeil is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and a former Chair of the Litigation Section of the American Bar Association.
Mr. McNeil led a pro bono team of Haynes and Boone attorneys in a seven-year effort on behalf of two indigent Mexican nationals wrongly convicted and given life sentences for a murder they could not have committed. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ordered that both defendants be given new trials, a grand jury declined to indict, setting them free after 12 years in prison.
For the team's effort, Haynes and Boone was awarded the 2008 W. Frank Newton Award for outstanding pro bono work.
Selected Representative Experience
In re Parkcentral Global Litigation
Represent entities in a class action alleging breach of fiduciary duty and vicarious liability in connection with the failure of the Parkcentral Global hedge fund.
Zuffa, LLC v. HDNet MMA 2008 LLC, 262 S.W.3d 446 (Tex. App.-Dallas 2008, orig. proceeding)
Convinced the Dallas Court of Appeals to grant mandamus relief directing the trial court to stay litigation pending the outcome of Nevada arbitration proceedings between The Ultimate Fighting Championship mixed martial arts fight promoter and fighter Randy Couture.
Reynolds v. Murphy, 188 S.W.3d 252 (Tex. App. - Fort Worth 2006, pet. denied)
Obtained the first appellate opinion in Texas protecting the First Amendment rights of a newsletter publisher and author to publish general investment advice.
DOJ and State of Texas Price-Fixing Investigation
Defense of national dairy producer in state and federal antitrust price-fixing investigations.
Microtune, Inc. Securities Litigation
We defended the former CEO of a silicon and systems company that develops radio frequency-based solutions for broadband communications, automotive electronics and wireless markets in a putative class action alleging misrepresentations regarding the company’s revenue recognition. The court granted partial dismissal,
Angeloni v. Microtune, Inc., No.4:03-CV-56 (E.D. Tex. 2004), and we negotiated a settlement of the sole remaining claim.
In re Pepsico, Inc., 87 S.W.3d 787 (Tex. App. - Texarkana 2002, orig. proceeding)
Obtained a conditional writ of mandamus ordering a trial court to reinstate a motion to transfer venue.
Lonza AG v. Blum, 70 S.W.3d 184 (Tex. App. - San Antonio 2001, pet. denied)
In a case that redefined the standard of review applied by the San Antonio Court of Appeals in cases involving personal jurisdiction over foreign corporations obtained reversal of a trial court’s order denying a Swiss corporation’s special appearance in a wrongful termination suit alleging fraud and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
National Medical Enterprises, Inc. v. Godbey, 924 S.W.2d 123 (Tex. 1996, orig. proceeding)
Obtained a writ of mandamus from the Texas Supreme Court disqualifying opposing counsel in a case against a hospital corporation and a former hospital administrator.
DOJ Price Fixing Investigation - Computer Industry
Defense of executives in international criminal antitrust investigation involving allegation of price fixing in the computer memory chip industry.
Online Publications
04/14/2010 -
New Development in Foreign Anticorruption Law: The United Kingdom’s Bribery Act Reaches Far Beyond the British Isles
On April 8, 2010, the United Kingdom adopted The Bribery Act, and all U.S. companies with operations in the U.K., that employ U.K citizens, or that engage in activities involving U.K. facilities or resources, such as British bank accounts, should take note.
09/12/2008 -
Criminal Prosecution of the FCPA
The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act ("FCPA") has provided the basis for an increasing number of criminal prosecutions during recent years. For example, The Department of Justice initiated more individual prosecutions on FCPA charges than in any other year since the FCPA was enacted, and twice as many as in 2006. The Department of Justice recently obtained a guilty plea in one of its highest profile FCPA cases in the history of the Act. While Albert "Jack" Stanley's plea has garnered significant media attention, significant events during the first two weeks of September in two other cases provide additional insight into FCPA criminal enforcement activity. The attached alert discusses the developments in these three cases.
09/05/2008 -
Recent SEC Action Reinforces Principles of Compliance with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
This alert digests the Con-way case and highlights four principles of FCPA compliance that are reinforced by this SEC enforcement action.
08/06/2008 -
Whole Foods - Where Does the Federal Trade Commission Go From Here?
Whole Foods has closed its acquisition of Wild Oats, but it may not have much time to enjoy its purchase. The Federal Trade Commission had sought a preliminary injunction to block the merger to give it time to conduct a trial on the merits, but the district court denied the motion.
06/27/2008 -
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”)
The United States government’s increase in enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) during the past five years has raised awareness of domestic and foreign corporations to the Act’s requirements. Still, violations continue to make headlines. The latest news came from Houston May 14, when an oil and gas services company agreed to pay $32 million in sanctions for FCPA violations in connection with international contracting activities.
01/28/2008 -
A Second Chance: Thousands of Hours + Millions of Dollars = Two Convictions Vacated
Texas Lawyer
When Barry McNeil first read a memo about the trials of two Mexican nationals serving life sentences for the brutal murder of a convenience store clerk in a small town about 30 miles west of Lubbock, he recalls thinking, “This doesn’t sound right.”
06/29/2007 -
Resale Price Maintenance No Longer Per Se Illegal
On June 28th, the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Leegin Creative Leather Products, Inc. v. PSKS, Inc., S. Ct. No. 06-480. The single question for decision was “whether vertical minimum resale price maintenance agreements should be deemed per se illegal under Section 1 of the Sherman Act, or whether they should instead be evaluated under the rule of reason.”
05/22/2007 -
Bell Atlantic v. Twombly: Supreme Court Tightens Standards for Pleading Antitrust Conspiracies
The United States Supreme Court's decision yesterday in Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly imposes a strict standard for antitrust complaints that rely on allegations of parallel conduct to satisfy the element of conspiracy or agreement. In a 7-2 decision, the Court held that the inference of agreement must be “plausible”; so long as the parallel behavior is consistent with independent action, the complaint is subject to dismissal for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted.
08/05/1996 -
Mass Torts and Class Actions: Facing Increased Scrutiny