Barry M. Parsons is Associate General Counsel in the General Litigation Department with Freddie Mac in McLean, VA.  Barry litigates cases, advises clients, and manages outside counsel on a wide variety of legal matters including employment, contract, intellectual property, insurance, fraud, counterparty receiverships, and antitrust law.  He also conducts internal investigations, prepares corporate policies, and advises the company on document retention and legal hold issues. Barry is Vice-Chairperson of the Legal Division’s Diversity and Inclusion Council, a member of the Legal Division’s Pro Bono Working Group, and for two years served as Co-Chairperson of Freddie Mac’s company-wide Pride Network. In 2011, he received the General Counsel’s Impact Award and, in 2012, was unanimously selected to be one of Freddie Mac’s first two fellows to the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity.  Barry joined Freddie Mac in 2010.

Before joining Freddie Mac, Barry was a litigator with Crowell & Moring LLP in Washington, DC for nearly fourteen years.  At Crowell, he served on several firm committees, led the firm’s LGBT group, and was the recipient of several firm citizenship awards and a pro bono award.  

Prior to joining Crowell & Moring, Barry was a judicial clerk for the Honorable William O. Bertelsman, Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky.  Before attending law school, he worked as a business consultant for major systems consulting company and as a financial analyst for a mid-Atlantic telecommunications company.  

Barry is an advocate for advancing diversity in the legal profession.  For five years he served on the Board of Directors for the National LGBT Bar Association and for four years was chairperson of its Corporate Counsel Group.  Barry was a panelist speaker at the Association’s annual national conferences from 2010 through 2014. For several years he was a panelist speaker at the Minority Corporate Counsel Association’s (“MCCA”) annual national conference and has also served as a member of the Advisory Committee for MCCA’s Annual Meeting.  For seven years, Barry was a member of Whitman Walker Clinic’s Legal Services Operating Committee. He previously served on the Washington, D.C. AidsWalk CORE Committee for Legal Services, has attended multiple diversity conferences, and represents pro bono clients in civil rights and, previously, in child custody cases.  He regularly serves as a mentor to several law students.  

Barry received his J.D., with distinction from the George Mason University School of Law where he was Editor-in-Chief of the George Mason Law Review and a Dean’s Scholar.  He also holds a M.B.A. from The American University Kogod School of Business and a B.S. in Economics from King’s College. His has three children and lives in Washington, DC.