Thomas M. Barba

Partner

• tbarba@steptoe.com
• vCard
• Washington Office

Thomas M. Barba is a partner in Steptoe & Johnson LLP's Washington office.  He is a member of both the Firm's Litigation and Technology Departments.  He is an experienced products liability litigator and advisor and has a separate longstanding expertise representing technology companies in federal regulatory matters involving government electronic surveillance.  Both of these are areas of expertise he developed in the mid-1980's when he was Deputy Assistant Attorney General at the US Department of Justice.

As national trial and coordinating counsel for several large US corporations, Mr. Barba has managed multi-disciplinary teams of lawyers and local counsel in all 50 states to handle mass tort and products liability litigation.  He has experience defending makers of a diverse group of products including automobile components, batteries and power supplies, biological and hazardous substances, telecommunications equipment, building products, furniture, large industrial machinery, weapons defense systems, and medical devices.  In one particularly large matter, he supervised national litigation concerning welding fume, silica, and asbestos exposures.  Along with his colleagues in the mass tort practice, Mr. Barba helped form and manage the firm's complex litigation support center, which is equipped with the staff, technology, and capacity to handle the most significant and document intensive cases.  Mr. Barba has developed the firm's Consumer Products Safety Commission practice and has first-chaired scores of recalls for major US companies at the CPSC for more than ten years.  He provides advice and counsel to companies faced with challenging decisions on how and when to self-report an alleged product defect.

As a member of the firm's Technology Department, Mr. Barba provides advice and conducts litigation with respect to a full range of technology issues, in particular in recent years, electronic surveillance policy and telecommunications regulatory compliance.

In addition to his core legal practice, for the last decade, Mr. Barba has served as General Counsel to Steptoe & Johnson LLP and has at various times served on the Firm's Executive Committee and other Firm management positions.  He has experience in law partner mobility, legal ethics, and the law of lawyering.  He also serves as outside General Counsel to the International Republican Institute, a nonprofit human rights organization.

Noteworthy

• Awarded the US Department of Justice Distinguished Service Award by the Deputy Attorney General, March 1988

Success Stories

• Victory for Steptoe on Mobile-Phone Rulings

Speaking Engagements

• Product Safety Webinar—Product Recalls: Effectively Managing the Process, January 10, 2008, (A Steptoe-sponsored event)
• Navigating International Encryption Regulations Webcast, July 18, 2007, (A Steptoe-sponsored event)