Richard M. Leisner

Overview

Richard Leisner is the firm’s senior securities lawyer. Since joining the firm in 1972, Richard’s broad-based corporate and securities law practice has encompassed virtually all stages of the life cycle for public and private companies and their leaders and owners, including all phases of capital formation and corporate transactions from start-up venture capital and Regulation D private placements through IPOs and ongoing SEC reporting, executive employment and equity-based benefits (stock options, etc.), mergers and acquisitions (M&A), private equity, spin-offs and other reorganizations, takeover contests (offense and defense) and SEC and other regulatory body compliance issues. Richard is also experienced in counseling Boards of Directors on corporate governance, fiduciary duty and related party conflict-of-interest transactions, as well as on the conduct of internal investigations.

A substantial portion of Richard’s practice is devoted to service as an expert witness in corporate and securities litigation and professional malpractice matters. For more information about Richard’s expert witness services, click here.

Honors and Distinctions

• Tampa Magazine’s Top Lawyers List, 2020-2024
• The Best Lawyers in America, Florida – Corporate; Securities/Capital Markets Law; Securities Regulations; Corporate Governance & Compliance Law, All editions 1983-2025
  • Lawyer of the Year, Securities Regulations, 2015
• Life Member, American Law Institute
• Life Fellow, American Bar Foundation
• AV® Rated by Martindale-Hubbell

Professional Involvement

• SEC Advisory Committee on Smaller Public Companies, 2005-2006
• National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc., Legal Advisory Board, 1999-2004
• American Bar Association, Section of Business Law
  • Federal Regulation of Securities Committee
  • Middle Market & Small Business Committee, Chair, 1997-2001
  • Middle Market & Small Business Committee, Securities Regulation Subcommittee, Chair, 1986-1989
• Professor of Law (Adjunct), Stetson University College of Law, Gulfport, Florida, “Securities Regulation,” 1976-1979, 1981-1983, 2023
• Chair, Business Law Section, The Florida Bar, 1980-1981