Profile

Bill Leonard has more than three decades of experience in litigation involving securities and investments, liability of directors, officers, managers, and partners of businesses, shareholder and member rights and fiduciary duties, accountant and auditor liability, law firm liability and banking law. His experience includes class actions, lawsuits in federal and state courts in many different states, and arbitrations. Mr. Leonard is also a trained mediator and has served as an arbitrator for securities disputes. He conducts internal investigations into potential wrongdoing by officers, directors and employees of corporations. He has represented officers, directors, accountants, brokers and other professionals in investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the New York Stock Exchange, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission and the Department of Justice. He has represented investors, stockbrokers and brokerage firms in lawsuits and FINRA arbitrations concerning stocks, bonds and options.

Mr. Leonard has been counsel to parties in litigation involving insurance coverage, restrictive covenants, tax sharing agreements, mergers and acquisitions, computer software and other business disputes. He has represented shareholders in asserting dissenters’ rights in connection with corporate mergers and asset sales. He has also handled fiduciary litigation in several contexts, such as the representation of employees in litigation against trustees and corporate sponsors of ERISA plans to recover benefits and for breach of fiduciary duty, waste and conflicting interest transactions.

Mr. Leonard investigated and asserted claims as counsel to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation against directors, officers and attorneys of failed financial institutions in several states. As counsel to the National Credit Union Administration, he headed the investigation and assertion of claims against directors, officers and attorneys of two Massachusetts credit unions, including uncovering the largest real estate fraud in United States credit union history.

He is married and has four adult children. His hobbies include tennis and weekend backpacking trips on the Appalachian Trail.

Memberships

State Bar of Georgia, Litigation Section, Business Law Section

Practice Highlights

Newsroom