Leigha Simonton

After graduating early with highest honors from the University of Texas at Austin, Leigha earned her law degree from Yale Law School. During her time at Yale, she served as Managing Editor of the school’s flagship law review, The Yale Law Journal, and received the prestigious John Fletcher Caskey Prize for best advocate in the mock trial finals. After graduating from Yale, she clerked for two Texas legal legends—Judge Barbara Lynn in the Northern District of Texas and Judge Patrick Higginbotham on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

Leigha began her law practice at a major Texas-based law firm and later joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, where she focused on complex trial court and appellate issues and successfully argued over 20 cases before federal circuit courts, predominantly the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. She served as sole counsel in nearly 400 appeals and eventually managed the office’s entire Appellate Division. As Appellate Chief, she led one of the top Appellate Divisions in the country, shaping precedent in the Fifth Circuit and other appellate courts, leading the charge to victories before the en banc court, and teeing up issues for the Supreme Court in a way that was most favorable to her client, the United States. She also actively supervised and crafted strategy in thousands of Fifth Circuit appeals and prepared AUSAs for hundreds of Fifth Circuit arguments.

During her time as an AUSA, Appellate Chief, and U.S. Attorney, Leigha worked on virtually every type of matter falling under the DOJ umbrella and with the highest levels of government, including the Offices of the Attorney General, Deputy Attorney General, and Solicitor General; the FBI and other federal agencies; and several of the other 93 U.S. Attorney’s Offices.

Leigha has received numerous accolades, including the Director’s Award from the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys for her multi-year trial and appellate work on the Dallas City Hall public corruption case. The Dallas Bar Association honored her at its annual “Inspiring Women” Event for her contributions to in the Dallas legal community, and SMU Law School has designated her a “Legal Trailblazer.”

In addition to her client work, Leigha devotes time to supporting domestic violence victims and survivors—a passion that began while, as an AUSA, she helped run the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Domestic Violence Initiative, which targeted individuals with domestic violence histories for federal prosecution and resulted in the United States v. Rahimi victory in the Supreme Court.