Leon Barish

On his 40th birthday, Leon Barish swam his first mile. In the nine years since, he has repeated the feat almost daily. “It’s relaxing. It relieves stress. And it’s about the best exercise you can get,” the Austin attorney says. At noon each day, Barish leaves his office on West Sixth Street and makes the short trip to Deep Eddy Pool. A spring-fed oasis, the 100-foot pool has a constant water temperature of 69 degrees.

Barish enjoys the scenic poolside views and the respite from the heat the pool provides, but enjoys most of all the community of Deep Eddy patrons. “It’s a wonderfully tranquil place and over the years I’ve met lots of wonderful people,” he says. Barish and his fellow Deep Eddy enthusiasts are so enamored of the pool they formed the Friends of Deep Eddy to raise funds to extend the pool’s season. Nearly 150 people contributed money and Deep Eddy loyalists can now immerse themselves from mid-February through Thanksgiving.

Friends of Deep Eddy has ambitious plans. The organization recently organized as a nonprofit, with Barish as president, and has its sights set on restoring Deep Eddy’s historic pool house, constructed by the Works Progress Administration in 1936. A nomination to place Deep Eddy on the National Register of Historic Places is being prepared by an architecture student at the University of Texas, with a hearing before the Texas Historical Commission scheduled for January. Ultimately, the organization estimates it will need to raise a half million dollars. A recent swim meet featuring several Olympic medalists brought in $13,000, the bulk of which will be spent to retain an architect.

Barish is a relative newcomer to swimming, but has long been involved with historic preservation. He lives in a house built in 1922 and served for several years in the mid-1980s as the Austin Convention and Visitor’s Bureau’s designated representative for historic preservation.

Raised in Houston, Barish attended Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, where he studied political science and history, graduating Phi Beta Kappa with departmental and university honors. One of the benefits of attending a school with a strong graduate program was that undergraduate students were allowed to take graduate seminars, which Barish did, beginning his sophomore year. One such course was an urban planning seminar, which led to an internship with the Baltimore mayor’s office. At the end of his internship, Barish was asked to stay on as the mayor’s personal assistant. He took a semester off from school and got to experience the inner workings of one of the nation’s largest cities during the urban renewal movement of the 1970s.

Convinced he wanted a career in public service, Barish enrolled at the University of Texas School of Law, where he clerked for Texas Attorney General John L. Hill. Upon graduation, in 1979, Barish accepted a position as an assistant attorney general under Mark White. Four years later, Barish entered private practice, joining another attorney to create a two-lawyer firm. Barish opened his current solo office in 1996. “I’ve really enjoyed it, and would find it difficult to work for someone else again,” he says.

Barish finds it easiest to describe his legal practice in terms of what he does not do. “I don’t do criminal, family, labor/employment, or personal injury,” he says. “These areas require such expertise that I believe you do a disservice to your clients if you practice all of them.” Much of the work he does do is for small and medium-sized businesses. He also does consumer litigation, real estate law, estate planning and probate, administrative law, and, for the past 10 years, mediation. “Being a mediator is something I enjoy, and something I believe in,” he says.

Barish’s principles extend to his family and community. He goes camping with his family three or four times per year and bakes sourdough bread for them most weekends. He supports his synagogue, devotes four or five weekends a year to Habitat for Humanity, and gives blood every two weeks to the Blood & Tissue Center of Central Texas. Since 1985, he has donated 25 gallons of blood and platelets.

A few years ago, Barish and his wife, Terry McGinty, a court reporter-turned-captionist for the hearing-impaired, decided they would take four weeks off every summer and travel with their two daughters. “When we first started, making arrangements to close a solo law practice for a month was challenging,” Barish says. “But I sent out letters and not a single client objected. Some even made a point of telling me it was wonderful to have an attorney who cares so much about his family.” Barish says judges and opposing counsel have been extremely accommodating, and notes that he takes a cell phone with him. “You can’t totally walk away from it,” he laughs.

Barish believes strongly that other attorneys should follow his lead, and has persuaded at least one overworked colleague to take a month off and go to Europe. “I think it’s something more of us need to do,” he says. “It’s not all about billable hours. Family and community and pro bono work should be priorities.”

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