Education
Yale Law School, J.D.
University of San Francisco, M.A. in Theology
University of Virginia, B.A. in English and Religious Studies

Areas of Expertise
Complex Litigation
Intellectual Property
Civil Procedure
Legal Education and Attorney Licensure

Michael F. Barry served as the 11th president and dean of Houston’s oldest law school, South Texas College of Law Houston, from 2019-24.

For more than 30 years of practice, Barry has clerked for federal judges, practiced complex litigation at a Phoenix, Arizona, law firm; led the litigation group at Capital One in Richmond, Virginia; and served as SVP and deputy general counsel of USAA in San Antonio, Texas.  He also served as Assistant Dean and Practitioner in Residence at St. Mary’s University School of Law in San Antonio for several years before moving to Houston and joining South Texas in 2019. 

Barry has served on several nonprofit boards, including the San Antonio Lighthouse for the Blind, the DoSeum, the Alamo Colleges Foundation, and Southwestern University’s Board of Visitors.  He is a member of Class XII of San Antonio’s Masters Leadership Program and Class LVIII of Houston’s American Leadership Forum.  

Barry is an avid runner, having completed a marathon in less than four hours in each of the 50 states. He and Lee, his wife of 34 years, have two adult daughters.

An engaged teacher, Barry excels at bringing real-world experiences into the legal classroom.