Barry Barnett Is The Lawyer You Want On Your Side

Barry Barnett

Firm: Susman Godfrey LLP

Forbes Ranking: America’s Best-in-State Lawyers 2025

Barry Barnett describes his career path as “eclectic, providential, and lucky,” bolstered by a series of “happy accidents.” He’s been with one firm—Susman Godfrey—for the entirety of his nearly 40-year practice. But the reason for that isn’t just serendipity.

“The firm keeps growing, and we’ve had decent success, but our ethos is we’re modest about it,” Barnett says, describing the exceptional trajectory of one of the premier litigation boutiques in the country. “That’s an important thing to be. Honesty, candor, insistence on doing the right thing and telling the truth. That tends to keep you.”

At Susman, Barnett specializes in antitrust work and complex litigation. Based out of the firm’s Houston and New York offices, he is a go-to commercial trial attorney who has represented such companies as KK&R, Cisco Systems, Duane Reade and Texas Instruments, as well as smaller firms against the likes of Apple, Samsung and Bank of America. Before earning his law degree from Harvard, Barnett studied American History and Economics at Yale and says the antitrust field feels like a combination of both fields—and he relishes the intellectual challenge and hard work required to yield results. Despite his successes and stellar record, Barnett stays humble, a trait ingrained through small-town Texas roots and law firm culture.

“I think people know that they can trust me. Clients know I’ll do every honest thing I can to achieve their legitimate goals,” says Barnett, a Fellow in the American College of Trial Attorneys. “People know when I say something I’m going to do it. And if I tell them something, they’ll be able to rely on it being true.”

Given the uncertain economic outlook, Barnett says that while businesses may be in a holding pattern, there’s no lull in the legal industry, particularly for firms that are distinguishing themselves through integrity, values and exceptional service.

“It helps to know that we’ll fight—that’s what clients want,” Barnett says. “They want to know you’ve got a backbone and you don’t give in to pressure. Credibility is a huge advantage. Lack of it, a huge disadvantage.”

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