Leonard Barrack ’68 has furthered his legacy of leadership at Temple Law School by establishing the Leonard Barrack ’68 Chair in Law. The Barrack Chair will support the work of a faculty member “with an exemplary record of outstanding performance in teaching, scholarship, and service” who works at the intersection of bias and the law.
“Len Barrack’s contributions to Temple Law School have advanced our mission in tangible ways,” said Dean Rachel Rebouché. “We are focused on teaching and training diverse students for success in tomorrow’s world; cultivating a broadly defined commitment to work in the public interest; and producing powerful, future-facing scholarship and leadership. Len has created wonderful opportunities for our students, given us the ability to recruit and retain outstanding faculty members, and enlarged our law school campus. He has also offered his counsel and support as Chair of the law school’s Board of Visitors, and I have been deeply grateful for his leadership there.”
In addition to the Barrack Chair, Barrack and his wife, Lynne, have established the Harold E. Kohn Chair and Charles R. Weiner Professorship, held respectively by Professors Jonathan Lipson and Peter Spiro. He created the Barrack Public Interest Fellowship Program in 1991 and the Barrack Scholars program in 2016. The Barracks also funded a major renovation of what was formerly known as College Hall, which housed the law school when it opened in 1895, and today is called Morris and Sylvia Barrack Hall in honor of his parents.
About Leonard Barrack
Leonard Barrack FOX ‘65, LAW ‘68, HON ‘19 is the senior and founding partner of Barrack, Rodos & Bacine, a firm which litigates securities and antitrust class actions and complex commercial litigation. He attended Temple University for his undergraduate degree as well as the James E. Beasley School of Law. In 2019, Barrack was awarded an honorary degree of humane letters in recognition of his many contributions to the university.
Since the enactment of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act in late 1995, Barrack has been appointed lead or co-lead counsel in dozens of securities cases throughout the U.S., including three of the largest case settlements in securities class action history. He was also the first person to represent an institutional investor, the Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System, as lead plaintiff in two major securities class actions initiated in early 1996.
A leader in Philadelphia’s civic and political circles, Barrack was appointed by President William J. Clinton as the national finance chairman of the Democratic National Committee and is the past president of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia.
In addition to his service on the law school’s Board of Visitors, Barrack is a member of the board of trustees of Temple University. After many years chairing the board’s academic affairs committee, he now serves as the chair of its alumni relations and development committee.
Barrack’s commitment to the university was recognized at the 2010 University Founder’s Day, where he received the Alumni Distinguished Service Award. Also in 2010, the Student Public Interest Network honored Barrack with the Robert J. Reinstein Public Interest Award.
“When Len spoke at the law school’s commencement exercises this past May, I realized how emblematic his story is of Temple Law School’s mission,” said Dean Rebouché. “His impact on our students and faculty, and on this institution, has been a powerful and wonderful gift.”