Robert Barnes
Robert Barnes walks among the humble and the haughty. Traveling from the everyday to the esteemed, representing clients fighting for their civil rights and celebrities taking on the IRS, Barnes heeds the advice of his newspaper-throwing father, Walter, who was fond of reminding, "Never judge a man until you've walked a mile in his shoes".
As a young man, this exposure to widely varying walks of life gave Barnes a unique ability to empathize with and advocate for others no matter their background. Today, he uses this same empathy to serve his clients, persuade his juries, and win over the judges who preside over his trials.
"You have to understand life from each other perspective that's out there before you can put a moral judgment on it, or before you can persuade them to do what you need them to do," Barnes says, "If they happen to be the judge, they happen to be the juror, they happen to be an arbitrator, they happen to be a mediator, they happen to be a prosecutor, they happen to be opposing lawyer, they happen to be a potential witness, or they happen to be a potential expert; if they're any of those things, you have to understand life through their perspective so that you can communicate to them."
