Partner James Barz Named Midwest Trailblazer by The American Lawyer

Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP partner James E. Barz has been recognized by The American Lawyer as a 2022 Midwest Trailblazer. The American Lawyer selects attorneys from multiple practice areas that are “truly agents of change” as Trailblazers.

Barz is the managing partner of the Firm’s Chicago office. He focuses his practice on representing investors in securities fraud cases. In 2021, he and a Robbins Geller team secured a $1.21 billion recovery for investors in In re Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. Securities Litigation. The Valeant recovery is the largest securities class action settlement against a pharmaceutical manufacturer and the ninth-largest securities class action settlement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In addition to his work on Valeant, Barz was on the litigation team that defeated Exelon’s motion to dismiss in Flynn v. Exelon Corporation, a case arising out of allegations that Exelon and its subsidiaries concealed a bribery scheme intended to pass legislation favorable to the company.

Barz has also been recognized as a leader in the Illinois legal community for his pro bono service. He took on Lymon v. Chamberlain, were he represented a client who had allegedly received inadequate medical care while incarcerated. Barz led a team of Robbins Geller attorneys who took ten depositions during the height of the COVID pandemic and successfully negotiated a favorable settlement for his client. Barz was honored by the Judges of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois with an Award for Excellence in Pro Bono Service for his work on that case.

The full list of Trailblazers is available here: https://images.law.com/media/theamericanlawyer/supplements/TALTB_Midwest_2022/index.html.

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Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP is one of the world's leading complex litigation firms, representing plaintiffs in securities fraud, shareholder derivative, antitrust, corporate takeover, and consumer fraud and privacy cases. With 200 lawyers in 9 offices, Robbins Geller has obtained many of the largest securities, antitrust, and consumer class action recoveries in history. The Firm is ranked #1 on the 2021 ISS Securities Class Action Services Top 50 Report for recovering nearly $2 billion for investors last year alone – more than triple the amount recovered by any other plaintiffs’ firm. The Firm secured the largest-ever securities fraud class action settlement — $7.2 billion — in In re Enron Corp. Securities Litigation.