<figure id="attachment_3250984" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3250984" style="width: 1600px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-3250984" src="https://media.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/a8cd29bf-barry-pollack-epa-07_01_25.webp" alt="" width="1600" height="1000" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-3250984" class="wp-caption-text">Barry Pollack is described as a &#8220;thorough and deep-thinking lawyer&#8221;.  (EPA Images pic)</figcaption></figure>
NEW YORK: The lawyer defending deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro is a veteran trial attorney who previously represented WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
Barry Pollack, 61, appeared beside Maduro during his arraignment in a New York courtroom on Monday on drug trafficking and other charges.
Maduro pleaded not guilty and it will be up to Pollack to try to convince a federal jury to render that verdict when the case eventually goes to trial.
The next hearing has been set for March 17.
A graduate of Georgetown University law school, Pollack is a partner in Harris St. Laurent &amp; Wechsler LLP, a boutique New York law firm, and a former president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.
Law firm research guide Chambers USA describes him as a &#8220;thorough and deep-thinking lawyer&#8221; who &#8220;lives, breathes and sleeps trials, and has such a natural way in front of juries.&#8221;
In 2024, Pollack secured the release of Assange from a British prison after negotiating a plea deal with the US Justice Department that saw the Australian plead guilty to violating the Espionage Act by unlawfully disclosing national defense material.
In another high-profile case, Pollack obtained the acquittal of a former Enron accountant who was facing criminal fraud charges stemming from the collapse of the energy giant.
Another prominent case involved a New York man who was wrongfully convicted of murdering his parents when he was a teenager and spent 17 years in prison.
Pollack managed to get the charges dismissed and secured his freedom.
Pollack gave a hint of his defense strategy during Monday&#8217;s brief arraignment of Maduro before District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, questioning the &#8220;legality of his abduction&#8221; by the US military.

MatchPoint Times

Maduro’s lawyer previously defended WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange

Barry Pollack appeared alongside Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, who was charged in a New York courtroom on Monday with drug trafficking and other offences.

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