Bio

Mike is a nationally recognized “go to” trial lawyer. He has successfully tried to verdict dozens of cases in federal and state courts across the country. He is believed to be the only presently practicing attorney to have attained at least six or more complete not guilty jury verdicts in favor of his clients in federal criminal prosecutions brought by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois. His last seven federal criminal jury trials have resulted in four not guilty verdicts on all charges, a dismissal of all charges during trial, and a mistrial. This includes one of the very few federal criminal not guilty jury verdicts in the Northern District in 2020. However, Mike’s results in civil jury and bench trials in the Illinois state courts, including in Cook, Kane, DuPage, and Lake Counties, as well as in the federal courts - ranging from Illinois, Indiana, Kansas and Virginia, have been equally impressive. Mike’s clients have prevailed before juries in those jurisdictions in cases involving employment discrimination, employment retaliation/whistleblowing, securities fraud, civil rights violations, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, and a variety of other commercial claims.

Mike is an Adjunct Professor of trial practice at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, and he regularly lectures on the art and science of trial practice.

Mike's cases have been profiled or covered in numerous publications, including the Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Los Angeles Times, Billboard, New York Post, Miami Herald, and various others.

MICHAEL IRVING LEONARD

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