Penny L. Barrick

Penny L. Barrick is a litigation attorney at Babin Law, LLC, bringing more than two decades of experience in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio to the firm's complex civil and mass-tort practice. Before joining Babin Law in 2023, Penny spent most of her career working closely with the Court, serving as a law clerk to three federal judges over more than two decades, including more than a decade as career law clerk to Judge Edmund A. Sargus Jr.

Penny began her legal career in 2001 as a term law clerk to Judge Sargus, then joined Porter Wright Morris & Arthur as an associate before returning to the federal bench as a term law clerk to Judge Norah McCann King. She went on to serve as career law clerk to Judge Gregory L. Frost from 2008 to 2012, and then returned to Judge Sargus's chambers in 2012, where she remained for more than a decade. In that role, she advised the Court on complex civil and criminal matters, supported management of a demanding federal docket that included discovery disputes, dispositive motions, and trials, and contributed to the administration of major multidistrict litigation, including the C-8 personal-injury MDL, which involved thousands of coordinated cases and multiple bellwether trials.

Penny currently chairs the Local Rules Committee for the U.S. District Court, Southern District of Ohio, leading the Court's attorney committee responsible for reviewing and recommending local-rule and practice updates. She also worked with Judge Frost on the Court's Patent Law Local Rules Committee and co-authored a judicial profile of Judge Sargus published in The Federal Lawyer in 2016. At Babin Law, Penny draws on her deep federal-court experience to support legal research, briefing, case strategy, and procedural and evidentiary issues across the firm's complex litigation matters.

Penny earned her J.D. with Honors from The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law in 2001, where she served on the Ohio State Law Journal, and her bachelor's degree, summa cum laude, from Ohio State in 1998. She is a past president of the Ohio Lawyers Assistance Program and continues to serve on its board, and she volunteers on the boards of Copper Horse Crusade, Open Door, and the Animal Protection Network.