Mark Leonardo

Mark J. Leonardo, a Detroit native, came to California in 1982 to attend Pepperdine University School of Law, graduating in 1985 after a semester at Imperial College London through Pepperdine's overseas program. Over a career spanning more than 40 years he has tried approximately 60 bench and jury trials and binding arbitrations with verdicts in the six, seven, and eight figures, along with more than 60 appeals and writs including a published decision. In May 2021 he won a $15.5 million verdict, one of the top 15 personal injury verdicts in California that year, plus a $1.07 million attorney fee award, for a passenger catastrophically injured by an intoxicated co-worker driver, a result that made him a finalist for CAALA Trial Lawyer of the Year.

In January 2023 he and Christopher Bulone set a Contra Costa County record with a $5.14 million jury verdict ($7.67 million with prejudgment interest) for an immigrant struck in a crosswalk by a taxi. In January 2025 he capped a 10-year fight against three El Dorado County governmental entities under California's Mitigation Fee Act that settled for $25.27 million after he won all three phases of trial. He is licensed in California and Nevada and admitted in the Eastern and Central Districts of California, and is a member of CAALA, CAOC, and the Beverly Hills and Los Angeles County bar associations.