Barry McTiernan & Moore, a leading insurance-defense litigation firm in the Tri-State area, is pleased to announce the role expansion of Suzanne Halbardier, who will now be the firm’s executive partner and majority stakeholder. The leadership continuity will bring even greater focus towards delivering outstanding service to our clients and protecting their interests.
A well-known and accomplished litigator, Ms. Halbardier joined the firm in 1983 and became one of its owners in 2006. On January 1, 2021, Ms. Halbardier assumed the role of executive majority partner, transforming Barry McTiernan & Moore into a woman-owned business. The firm is excited to join the network of other women-owned businesses and looks forward to continuing its efforts to foster more opportunities and increased inclusion in the legal profession.
For more than three decades, women have comprised more than 40 % of the law school population. However, as reported by the ABA Journal, women make up only 24 % of the lawyers achieving partnership and hold just 12 % of the top law firm leadership positions. While the presence of female attorneys in the legal profession has grown, women-owned law firms continue to be rarities. Despite equal numbers of women entering the practice of law, female attorneys still lag in equity partnerships and leadership positions.
Ms. Halbardier, a proud graduate of the University of Maryland (cum laude) and Georgetown University Law Center (JD), oversees the firm’s toxic tort unit and also specializes in high exposure discrimination, liability and molestation claims. She has tried many cases to verdict in New York state and federal court and her trial skills are continually recognized by the New York Times, who has named Ms. Halbardier one of their New York Super Lawyers as well as one of New York’s Top Women Lawyers for the past several years.