Attorney Profile

As lead and co-counsel in cases involving personal injury and wrongful death, John R. Leach III has tried more than 50 cases to verdict, including several in which he successfully represented clients in airline-disaster suits against American Eagle, USAir and ValuJet. In Peterson v. Shields, Mr. Leach successfully persuaded the Texas Supreme Court to change the law concerning informed consent. He has been responsible for several appeals to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, the Texas Courts of Appeals and the Supreme Court of Texas.

Mr. Leach received his Juris Doctorate with honors from the South Texas College of Law in 1980. Among his many academic achievements were his receipt of the law school's George T. Barrow Award for the Student Most Likely to Become an Outstanding Attorney, along with the Dean's Student Service Award. Additional achievements include the John Foster Dulles Prize for Best Speaker of the International Moot Court Contest's national round.

He has served as an adjunct professor of law and on the Board of Trustees for the South Texas College of Law. He is also the author of several papers, including Evaluating the Bad Faith Case from the Plaintiff's Perspective and Evaluating the Wrongful Death Case from the Plaintiff's Perspective.