David BarisBuckleySandler
1250 24th Street NW, Suite 700

Washington
, DC 20037


David Baris
works with financial institutions on securities, corporate, transactional, and regulatory matters.

He has more than 20 years in practice assisting financial institutions in critical business changes. These include:

  • Mergers
  • Acquisitions
  • Tender offers
  • Acquisition of subsidiaries
  • Securities offerings (including trust preferred securities) and proxy contests and other efforts to change management or policy

Mr. Baris also assists banks with issuances in regulatory examinations and represents them in negotiations of orders and enforcement actions instituted by regulatory agencies.

Before joining BuckleySandler, Mr. Baris was a partner of Kennedy & Baris, L.L.P which he founded in 1987. Mr. Baris brings to his practice experience as both a bank regulator and Congressional staffer, serving as Regional Counsel to the Comptroller of the Currency from 1977 to 1983 and Counsel to the Government Operations Committee, U.S. House of Representatives from 1972 to 1974.

Mr. Baris is the Executive Director of the American Association of Bank Directors. AABD provides bank directors with the resources with which to serve their institutions effectively and in a manner that will minimize risk of personal liability, and represents their interests before federal and state legislative bodies, banking supervisory agencies and judicial bodies. From 2000 to 2004, Mr. Baris was a director of Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company and United of Omaha Life Insurance Company, a Fortune 500 company, serving on their Executive, Audit and Investment Committees.

Mr. Baris writes and lectures widely on banking subjects.

David Baris Recognized in SmartCEO

January 12, 2012

BuckleySandler partner, David Baris was recognized in the December edition of SmartCEO as a “Go-To Attorney” in the area of Securities, Corporate, Transactional and Regulatory matters. In the issue, David W. Pijor, Chairman and CEO of First Virginia Community Bank was quoted as saying “Mr. Baris is one of the best banking law attorneys in [...]

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David Baris Assists CommerceFirst Bancorp in its Merger with Sandy Spring Bancorp

December 20, 2011

Partner David Baris and counsel Noel M. Gruber acted as legal counsel for CommerceFirst Bancorp in its merger with Sandy Spring Bancorp. The full press release for Sandy Spring’s acquisition is below.

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David Baris Quoted in Grant’s Interest Rate Observer: “Chill In The Air”

August 16, 2011

“Recent Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. lawsuits against directors of failed banks,” writes Baris, “assert that they are personally liable for voting to approve individual loans that went bad if the loans had deficiencies at the time of approval.”

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David Baris and Noel Gruber Assist Eagle Bancorp in Merger with Alliance Bancshares

July 27, 2011

On July 27, 2011, Eagle Bancorp, Inc. (“Eagle”) (Nasdaq: EGBN), the parent company of EagleBank (“EagleBank”), and Alliance Bankshares Corporation (“Alliance”) (Nasdaq: ABVA) announced that Eagle, Alliance and Alliance’s wholly owned subsidiary, Alliance Bank Corporation (“Alliance Bank”) have entered into a definitive merger agreement (the “Agreement”), pursuant to which Alliance will be merged into Eagle [...]

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David Baris Article in American Banker: Approving Loans is a Risky Role for Bank Directors

June 14, 2011

Recent FDIC lawsuits against directors of failed banks assert that they are personally liable for voting to approve individual loans that went bad if the loans had deficiencies at the time of approval. This places bank directors in the shoes of loan and credit officers, a role for which they are both unsuited and unqualified. [...]

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Executive Director of the AABD Testimony on Whistleblowing

May 11, 2011

Testimony of David Baris, Executive Director, American Association of Bank Directors, before the U.S. House Representatives Committee on Financial Services, Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government-Sponsored Enterprises. Washington, DC.  May 11, 2011. Click here to read the testimony.

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David Baris Quoted in Reuters Article: “Backlash brews on U.S. whistleblower awards”

March 9, 2011

Employees “have been deputized and promised huge riches to bypass their companies and report to the government” under the new law, said David Baris, head of the American Association of Bank Directors.

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David Baris Quoted in Bank Director Magazine

February 25, 2011

“If they were operating under the theory that simple negligence was the standard for all these banks, and the FDIC sued in 25 per-cent of the cases, wouldn’t that suggest that there’d be fewer suits this time around?” Baris asks.

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BuckleySandler’s David Baris Quoted In US Banker

January 11, 2011

“If the directors don’t have a full opportunity to discuss with FDIC representatives that there is no merit to the lawsuit, then there’s a greater chance that the FDIC will bring a suit that doesn’t have merit,” said Baris, a partner at BuckleySandler.

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