Steve Leckar litigates with a passion for the best interests of clients he serves faithfully in the fields of federal commercial litigation, criminal defense, employment law and business counseling. Steve entered private practice in 1978 after working for a U.S. Senator as a legislative assistant and at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission as a trial lawyer.
His litigation expertise includes handling complex and sensitive cases which involved injunctive actions and concurrent administrative enforcement proceedings, congressional oversight investigations, and/or grand jury probes. These cases frequently have involved substantial media publicity. He has represented individuals whom the Federal Trade Commission accused of illegally obtaining customers’ confidential financial information. He has extensive litigation experience in civil RICO, securities and commodity anti-fraud, and administrative review matters. For example, he successfully defended three directors of a failed New York bank whom the FDIC had accused of mismanagement.
Further, Steve has experience in transactional matters and commercial leasing on behalf of a national supermarket chain. As outside counsel to that firm, he also has defended it in a class action, in commercial, landlord-tenant and trademark litigation, and has provided it counseling in antitrust and employment matters. He represents an international trade association with respect to copyright, trademark and employment matters.
Steve also has represented both employees and businesses in employment and discrimination claims in the federal and state courts and before federal, state and local anti-discrimination agencies. He has resolved and/or litigated to conclusion numerous matters, including several reported federal decisions, arising under anti-discrimination laws and regulations, on behalf of employers and employees.
Other representative matters include:
Defending a senior official in the House Post Office investigation. He steered his client through the congressional investigative and subsequent oversight hearing process, minimized the substantial potential adverse press scrutiny, and ultimately negotiated a plea to two misdemeanor counts.
Conducting discovery in the United States on behalf of persons charged in the Scottish Courts in the Netherlands for the Pan Am Flight 103 bombings (28 U.S. Code § 1782).
As lead counsel, briefing and arguing 25 reported complex criminal appeals before the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, as well as several civil appeals. Several of the criminal cases raised issues of first impression before the court.
Successfully arguing the case of U.S. vs. Antoine Jones, a landmark 2012 Supreme Court decision dubbed by the media as the second most important case of the term after the Affordable Care Act ruling. He argued the case on the limits of warrantless GPS surveillance before the D.C. Circuit and then successfully defended the case in the Supreme Court, which issued a unanimous decision in his client’s favor.
Other representative federal court actions include representing a coalition whose suit caused an agency regulation to be refashioned in a manner consistent with industry objectives and representing a radio station whose broadcasting permit was restored by the United States Court of Appeals after the FCC had arbitrarily revoked it.
Advising a Member of Congress in connection with a contested election proceeding and represented a judge whose ability to continue service was questioned.
In addition, Steve has been retained by a private entity to conduct an internal equal employment opportunity investigation, has served as an Examiner for the United States Bankruptcy Court, and been appointed as a pro bono amicus curiae in a criminal case in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.
Representative publications include:
- “Unveiling Informant Testimony: The Unconstitutionality of the Jencks Act,” III American Univ. Crim. Law Brief 40 (Fall 2007).
- “In Kooritzky, the D.C. Circuit Sidestepped Traditional Deference Shown To Substantive Rulemaking By Invalidating Labor Regulation On Procedural Grounds,” National Law Journal, B5-6 (Jan. 16, 1995).
- “Administrative Law; Supreme Court’s Standing Decision Should Help Business Plaintiffs,” National Law Journal, B6-8 (April 15, 1994).
- “Expedited Regulations Need Quick Response by Company Counsel,” National-Law Journal, S11-13 (November 15, 1993).
- “Safeguarding Company Secrets,” Washington D.C. Business Magazine (Sept. 1988).
- Contributor,Antitrust Law Developments (ABA 1985).
- Co-contributor,”Subject Matter Jurisdiction of the Federal Courts,” Illinois CLE 1980.
- Covers the DC Circuit Court for the Federal Criminal Appeals blog
