Attorney Profile

Barrie L. Goldstein can best be described as thorough.  For more than three decades, Attorney Goldstein has earned a strong reputation for thorough preparation to defend her clients' best interests often before powerful opposing parties.

She is thoroughly experienced as well, working at virtually every level of the legal profession. Barrie's career has culminated with the establishment of her own practice, Barrie L. Goldstein LLC, Connecticut in 2008.   She has quickly made an impact in the Litchfield County area, handling several high profile matters, including a celebrated land use case in Sharon, CT.

Barrie L. Goldstein began her career at the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, through its Honors Program. In her five years at the Justice Department, she defended complex regulatory schemes, including housing, renegotiation of government contracts, civil rights and two-tier price controls on domestic and imported oil. Ms. Goldstein successfully defended the National Flood Insurance Program against a constitutional challenge brought under the taking clause.

After litigating commercial litigation cases in the private sector with a New York City law firm, Ms. Goldstein served 13 years in the New York Attorney General's office as Special Litigation Counsel.  She handled unique and complex matters involving many diverse issues such as the regulation of prescription drug prices under Medicaid, civil rights, bankruptcy, and intergovernmental disputes.  Ms. Goldstein represented New York in the well-known Farmland Dairy litigation where New York barred this New Jersey milk dealer from the New York market.

Ms. Goldstein re-entered private practice in 1995.  One of her most significant cases was a $20 million lawsuit involving control of a Connecticut office building that involved courts in two states.  The matter was first arbitrated, then litigated in New York state court, and finally was resolved before the federal district and bankruptcy court in Connecticut .

Barrie then moved to The Legal Aid Society as a Director of Special Litigation for almost five years.  She acted as lead counsel in the landmark decision involving the constitutionality of removing children from their mothers when the mothers, themselves, were victims of domestic violence. The matter was litigated in the federal trial and appellate court and, ultimately, in the New York State Court of Appeals.

Ms. Goldstein is a member of the bar in both New York and Connecticut , as well as the U.S. Supreme Court and several federal district and federal courts of appeals.  She has more than 30 reported decisions that reflect the depth of her experience.

She has been honored many times throughout her career. Barrie received the Distinguished Service Award from the National Association of Attorneys General, on two occasions, in 1989 and in 1992, for representing 30 states in asbestos litigation. In 1995, she received the "Chairperson Extraordinaire" award, also for her work in asbestos litigation. The New York County Lawyers' Association recognized her exemplary pro bono contributions when it awarded her its "CLE Program Chair Award."

Ms. Goldstein has written a number of published articles, including a recent article in the Connecticut Law Tribune on Effective Removal.  The Litchfield County Times profiled Barrie in a major article in February 2008.  A number of other publications have quoted her on relevant legal issues.

Barrie Goldstein is an active participant in The Federal Bar Council, as a former co-chair of the organization and a member of its Program Committee. She belongs to the Connecticut Bar Association and the Litchfield County Bar Association.

Ms. Goldstein graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Syracuse University in 1971 and with honors from George Washington Law School in 1974.