M. Scott Barnard focuses on litigation matters. Mr. Barnard’s practice includes complex commercial litigation and securities litigation matters in state and federal courts, including class actions, derivative matters and internal investigations. Mr. Barnard also handles energy matters, business torts, noncompete agreement disputes, trade secrets, intellectual property and insurance matters.
In 2000 Mr. Barnard was an assistant district attorney with the Dallas County District Attorney's Office, where he tried more than 25 jury trials to verdict.
Mr. Barnard received his B.A. in 1994 from Trinity University and his J.D. cum laude in 1997 from the Southern Methodist University School of Law, where he was a member and articles editor of the SMU Law Review. He is a member of the State Bar of Texas and is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court; the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit; and the U.S. District Courts for the Northern, Southern, Eastern and Western Districts of Texas. He is a member of the Dallas Bar Association and the Dallas Association of Young Lawyers.
Mr. Barnard is the author of "Criminal Procedure: Pretrial, Trial and Appeal," SMU Law Review, Summer 2001, Texas Survey Edition and "Losing Ground: The Recharacterization of the RLA's 'Minor Dispute' and Solutions to Recapture Lost Claims," Journal of Air Law and Commerce, Vol. 64, No. 4.
Mr. Barnard serves on the board of directors of the Dallas Wind Symphony and the Dallas Chapter of the Trinity University Alumni Association and is a fellow of the Dallas Bar Association. In both 2004 and 2005 he was named in a survey of his peers in the Texas legal field as a "Rising Star." Mr. Barnard was also named in a survey of his peers as one of “The Best Lawyers in Dallas” (D Magazine, April 2007).