Practices

Barkley Clark

Partner

DIRECT CONTACT
202.572.9908
e-mail | vCard

WASHINGTON, D.C.
1775 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite 800
Washington, D.C. 20006

Barkley’s practice focuses on various aspects of commercial law for banks and other financial institution clients. His areas of experience include payment systems, secured transactions, bankruptcy, letters of credit, consumer credit and general bank regulation. He serves as a consultant and frequently qualifies as an expert witness in commercial law litigation around the country. For a number of years he has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America and is a member of the American College of Commercial Finance Attorneys and the National Association of Consumer Finance Attorneys.

Barkley served 20 years as a law professor at the University of Kansas and the George Washington University National Law Center. He has also taught on a part-time basis at the University of Colorado, the University of Oregon and the University of Michigan. He has also taught the UCC at Georgetown in Washington and, most recently, at the University of Virginia. He is a frequent speaker at legal seminars throughout the country on commercial/banking law subjects.

Representative Experience

UCC Litigation Consulting: Provides consulting services to a wide range of clients involved in litigation under the Uniform Commercial Code, particularly letters of credit, secured transactions priority disputes, warranties claims in the sale of goods, check fraud cases and bankruptcy lien avoidance cases.
Expert Witness Work: Has served as an expert witness in a wide variety of commercial law cases, including negotiable instruments, letters of credit, UCC midnight deadline disputes, wire transfer cases and usury cases.
Arbitration: Served as an arbitrator in a large commercial dispute between two major automobile financers and in fraud claims against a major brokerage company.
Consumer Credit: Served as an advisor to major grantors of consumer credit and has helped to structure a wide variety of consumer financial products. For the last four years, Barkley has been representing the auto finance industry, particularly GMAC, in litigation around the country concerning the issue of whether “negative equity” in a trade-in vehicle is protected from cramdown under the Bankruptcy Code. To date, the industry has prevailed in eight federal circuit courts of appeal on this critical issue.

Education

Harvard University, LL.B., 1965

Amherst College, A.B., 1962

Of Note

Barkley is a well-known author or co-author of treatises such as The Law of Bank Deposits, Collections and Credit Cards, The Law of Secured Transactions under the UCC, The Law of Product Warranties, Truth in Savings and Regulation CC, Compliance Guide to Payment Systems, and Clarks’ Guide to Electronic Check Collection. These treatises are used by attorneys and financial institutions around the country and have been cited by many federal and state appellate courts. In all, he has written eight books and 30 law review articles on a variety of commercial law and banking subjects. He has been active in commercial law reform, serving on the original committee to draft Revised Article 9 of the UCC (sponsored by the American Law Institute and the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws).

He has served as special advisor to the Federal Reserve Board, the American Bankers Association and various state legislatures in their enactment of commercial and consumer credit litigation. Barkley has also served as the director of a national bank.

Community Involvement

Barkley served for 10 years on the City Commission of Lawrence, Kan., with two terms as Mayor of Lawrence.

Bar Admissions

District of Columbia, 2000
Missouri, 1990
Colorado, 1965 (inactive)
Kansas, 1971

Professional Affiliations

American Bar Association
- Committee on Article 9 of the UCC, co-chair
- Special Committee to Redraft Article 9 of the UCC
Banking Law Journal, board of editors
UCC Law Journal, board of editors
Journal of Payments Systems Law, board of editors