Richard C. Leonard

Professional Profile

Rich Leonard’s practice is concentrated on litigating all types of business-related disputes, including contract disputes, fraud claims, partnership disputes, securities matters, real estate matters, and intellectual property matters (copyright and trademark), in both state and federal court. He has tried or arbitrated in excess of 200 matters, representing both plaintiffs and defendants. He has also successfully handled numerous appellate matters in state and federal courts.

Representative Matters

Rich has obtained multiple judgments in excess of $1,000,000, including judgments for in excess of $5,000,000 and $10,000,000. He has also successfully defended actions involving claims that would have put the defendants out of business. He represented a small company against every major telephone company in the United States and was able to have their anti-competitive tariffs disallowed by the Federal Communications Commission. He successfully sued the Federal Bureau of Investigation and obtained a published federal court decision in that action in which the Court granted all of the attorneys’ fees requested and found that the “quality of [Rich’s] work was consistently excellent.” Rich has also represented several large real estate developers in actions concerning major commercial and retail properties. Rich has been rated AV Pre eminent by Martindale-Hubbell since 1976.

Other Experience

Judge Pro Tem, Los Angeles Municipal Court (1977-1979)
Arbitrator, Los Angeles Superior Court Business Arbitration Division (1977-1999)
Arbitrator, American Arbitration Association (1975)
Professor, University of San Fernando Valley College of Law (1972)
Expert Witness on legal issues and ethics

Education

University of California, Berkeley, Boalt Hall, JD 1970 (Major Walter J. Dinkelspiel Scholarship)
University of California, Los Angeles, BA, 1967

Admissions

State Bar of California (1971)
U.S. District Court for the Central District of California (1971)
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California (1972)
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California (1974)
U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit (1975)
U.S. Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit (1975)
U.S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia (1976)
U.S. Supreme Court (1976)

Membership

State Bar of California