Rick Barnes is a founding partner of Goodell DeVries. He represents clients in complex tort, commercial, and product liability litigation. Recognized as a leading practitioner in these fields by Chambers USA and Best Lawyers, he was awarded 2015's Maryland Leadership in Law Award from The Daily Record. During his career, Rick has represented a variety of clients in disputes involving pharmaceuticals, medical devices, patents, trademarks and the Lanham Act, antitrust, breach of contract, unfair trade practices, aviation, commercial torts, covenants not to compete, and state procurement laws. He has defended companies in federal and state court class actions in Maryland, Florida, West Virginia, Alabama, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and California.  

Since 2020, Rick has served as defense liaison counsel for dozens of generic pharmaceutical defendants in the Zantac multidistrict litigation (MDL). He is also lead defense counsel for a pharmaceutical manufacturer in the personal injury product liability and medical monitoring and consumer class action MDL No. 2924 related to over-the-counter medicine ranitidine (Zantac) and alleged exposure to N-Nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA). This MDL involves over 150,000 claimants and cases and is considered one of the most complex MDL proceedings in history. As liaison counsel for the generics, Rick leads the defense effort and has successfully obtained dismissals on behalf of generic manufacturers in several jurisdictions.