Michael Leech

Michael Leech is a nationally recognized authority on employment law. He is a trial lawyer, mediator and co-author of legal textbooks. The members of the founding class of fellows in the College of Labor & Employment Lawyers selected him as one of the 1997 class of fellows in the College. Over the last 25 years, Mr. Leech has handled a variety of different kinds of business litigation, particularly employment cases. He has tried to jury verdict cases arising under the full range of employment laws, including both federal and state discrimination laws (race, national origin, sex, sexual harassment and religion) as well as actions under state contract and tort law (retaliatory discharge, intentional infliction of emotional distress, interference with contract, fraud and invasion of privacy). Mr. Leech has an active practice as a mediator of employment and other commercial disputes. He brings his depth of legal experience in litigation to the process of helping parties in a dispute to see one another’s perspectives and achieve a reasonable settlement, where possible. This occurs in about 80 percent of cases. He also acts as counsel for clients in mediation and arbitration. Mr. Leech is a Certified Mediator in the Cook County Court-Annexed Major Case Civil Mediation Program. Mr. Leech has defended suits by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission asserting a pattern and practice of discrimination. He has defended other civil rights and commercial class action litigation. Mr. Leech has handled individual cases and provided counseling in all areas of employment law, including Title VII, ADA, ADEA, non-competition agreements, employee breach of fiduciary duty, confidentiality and trade secret disputes, Equal Pay Act, ERISA, FMLA, shareholder disputes, False Claims Act, defamation and other business tort claims, corporate indemnification, Illinois Human Rights Act, breach of contract and the Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act. In addition to his practice in the labor and employment field, Mr. Leech has handled business litigation including actions for breach of contract, director and officer liability claims, securities law actions, partnership and shareholder litigation attorneys' professional liability defense, defamation and real estate/construction disputes.