Engaged to handle some of the region’s most highly contested and sensitive lawsuits, Leo K. Barnes Jr. is a commercial litigator, focusing on complex business litigation in Federal Court, the Commercial Division of the New York State Supreme Court, and various arbitration forums (including AAA, NAM, JAMS and  FINRA). 

An experienced jury and bench trial attorney, Leo has been engaged at the trial and appellate levels to represent businesses of all sizes in complex commercial litigations, including breach of contract; “business divorces”; sophisticated commercial fraud; mortgage fraud; claims premised upon federal and state statutes, data breach and cybersecurity claims.   Leo frequently litigates restrictive covenant claims, unfair competition matters, tortious interference, trade secret and breach of duty of loyalty actions, and likewise pursues and defends claims seeking provisional relief related to the same, including preliminary injunctions, temporary restraining orders, attachment, replevin and receivership.

Over the course of a 25+ year career, Mr. Barnes has achieved a host of recognitions and appointments:

• Appointed to the Judicial Screening Committee for the Suffolk County Bar Association.
• The Firm has been voted one of the Best Litigation Law Firms since 2020 by The Long Island Business News.
• In 2022, Leo was among 25 prominent LI lawyers who were profiled in The Power List published by the Long Island Business News.
• In 2021, Leo was honored by the Long Island Business News as a Leadership in Law recipient.
• Named to the “Super Lawyers” list in the area of Business Litigation continually between 2011 and 2023, a recognition for attorneys who have attained a high-degree of peer recognition and professional achievement (no more than 5 percent of the lawyers in New York State are named to the list).
• Appointed by Suffolk County’s Administrative Judge to the Roster of Mediators for the Suffolk County Commercial Division after he was selected to participate in the inaugural training session.
• Panel member at the New York State Bar Association’s Judicial Institute of Professionalism CLE presentation, and the Commercial Litigation Academy.
• Assigned by a Commercial Division Justice to act as a discovery arbitrator in a dissolution proceeding to resolve disputes regarding discovery production and the ongoing operation of the business during the dissolution proceeding.
• Court-appointed Receiver in Federal Court involving a seven-figure mortgage foreclosure action within the City of New York, which resulted in the documentation of a rent collection diversion scheme intended to deprive the lending institution of operational income; that finding resulted in the recovery of all counsel fees related to the documentation of the rent diversion scheme.
• Court-appointed Receiver by a Commercial Division Justice related to the diversion of more than $20 million from a family owned business located on Long Island.
• Mediator for the New York State Unified Court System’s Attorney/Client Grievance Mediation Program.

In response to requests from various media outlets, Mr. Barnes has provided quotes and opinions to aid news reporting on the latest decisions that impact commercial litigation.  For example, when the New York State Court of Appeals issued James v. Loran Realty V. Corp. regarding the ramifications on efforts to pierce the corporate veil and impose personal liability on an individual shareholder, he was interviewed and quoted by Law360.com, a legal news reporting service that covers significant decisions across the entire country. Likewise, when the New York State Court of Appeals issuedWhite Plains Coat & Apron Co. v. Cintas Corp., a significant decision for commercial litigation practitioners, Mr. Barnes was interviewed and quoted in the ensuing New York Law Journal article reporting the decision and its import on commercial litigation practice.

Mr. Barnes has written dozens of articles that have been featured in his monthly column for the Suffolk County Bar Association’s periodical, The Suffolk Lawyer, focusing exclusively on Commercial Litigation. 

Mr. Barnes is a member of the Suffolk County Bar Association’s Commercial Division Committee; the Eastern District of New York Chapter of the Federal Bar Council; the Commercial & Federal Litigation Section of the New York State Bar Association; the Suffolk County Bar Association; and Chaminade High School’s Alumni Association for Lawyers.  

As for charitable and volunteer endeavors, Mr. Barnes served a two-year term as Vice President of Chaminade High School’s 22,000+ member Alumni Association, having previously served as the Ice Hockey Reunion Chairman and a member of the Class of 1989 25th Reunion Committee. 

Mr. Barnes is licensed to practice in New York and New Jersey and is admitted to the United States District Courts for the Southern District of New York, the Eastern District of New York, and the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.  Mr. Barnes has litigated claims in various Courts nationwide on a pro hac vice basis.  After obtaining a Bachelor of Arts Degree in 1993, Mr. Barnes graduated from Hofstra University School of Law in 1996 and received one of “Outstanding Student” awards at graduation.