Barry A. Chasnoff is a member of the firm’s policy and planning committee and serves as the firm’s general counsel.
Mr. Chasnoff has been a trial lawyer for more than 30 years, focusing on complex civil litigation, primarily for insurers and their insureds. His practice has included a variety of corporate, commercial, product liability and bad-faith litigation. Mr. Chasnoff has also served as lead counsel in the defense of numerous national class actions filed in state and federal courts in jurisdictions across the country. His practice has included the defense of numerous complex cases for and on behalf of domestic and foreign insurers in high-exposure cases, including cases in state and federal courts in Texas and other states. He and the lawyers working under his supervision have defended in excess of 250 cases brought against insurers alleging breach of the duty of good faith and fair dealing, violations of the Deceptive Trade Practices Act and Insurance Code, and fraud. The exposure of the insurers in those cases has ranged from several million dollars to approximately $1.5 billion. Mr. Chasnoff has tried to juries a significant number of those cases. Mr. Chasnoff also has substantial experience in major reinsurance arbitration, representing both domestic and foreign insurers and reinsurers.
In addition, Mr. Chasnoff has represented numerous clients in appellate matters, including the appeal of adverse judgments in major cases in which he did not participate at the trial level. He also has filed a number of amicus curiae briefs in cases having a broad impact on the insurance industry.
Mr. Chasnoff received his B.A. with honors in political science from Trinity University in San Antonio in 1971. He received his J.D. with honors in 1974 from the University of Texas School of Law, where he was elected to Order of the Coif and was selected to serve as a teaching quizmaster. Mr. Chasnoff is a member of the State Bar of Texas. He is admitted to practice before the U.S. District Courts for the Western, Southern and Northern Districts of Texas and the District of Connecticut; the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 10th Circuits; and the U.S. Supreme Court. He has lectured for the State Bar of Texas at Continuing Legal Education seminars and has served on the faculty of the University of Houston’s Continuing Legal Education program. He is a member of the International Association of Defense Counsel.
Mr. Chasnoff serves on the local board of the National Conference for Communities and Justice and on the Southwestern U.S. board of the Anti-Defamation League. He is also a member of the Texas Bar Foundation.