D. Leon Ashford
Leon Ashford has been a trial lawyer for 42 years. Throughout the course of his career, Mr. Ashford has a proven record of consistently obtaining multimillion dollar jury verdicts and settlements for his clients, their families and their small businesses. Though he has always focused his practice on complex litigation involving catastrophic personal injuries and wrongful death, he has recently been called upon to represent family-owned and closely held businesses in litigation which threatened generations of success. When the stakes are high, he feels strongly that an experienced trial lawyer is an integral part of the team approach to litigation of complex business disputes. In addition to his busy law practice, he has been Hare Wynn’s managing partner since 1996.
Born in 1948 and raised in Athens, Alabama, Mr. Ashford was the first in his family to get a college education. He attended the University of Alabama on an Athletic Scholarship as a student trainer and earned his undergraduate degree in 1970. That same year, he was lettered by Coach Paul W. Bryant and became a member of the University of Alabama “A” Club. Encouraged by Coach Bryant to attend law school, he then earned his law degree from the University of Alabama School of Law in 1973.
Mr. Ashford has remained close to Alabama’s Athletic Department, representing two former head football coaches and the former women’s gymnastics coach. In 1994, the University Administration and Office of General Counsel asked Mr. Ashford and the firm to represent the Faculty Athletics Representative before the NCAA Infractions Appeals Committee. In the first successful appeal in NCAA history, the good name of the Faculty Athletics Representative was cleared and many of the sanctions against the Athletic Department were overturned. He has also represented the current head-coach and members of his staff.
Honored by his peers as a trial lawyer, Mr. Ashford is a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers, the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, and the Alabama Law Foundation. He has been included in the Best Lawyers in America® for the past 24 years and in Alabama Super Lawyers since its inception. In 2010, Best Lawyers® named him Birmingham “Personal Injury Lawyer of the Year” and, in 2012, Birmingham “Lawyer of the Year for Bet-the-Company Litigation.” According to Best Lawyers®, these “Lawyer of the Year” honors reflect the high level of respect Mr. Ashford has earned among his peers for ability, professionalism, and integrity. Since 2008, Mr. Ashford has been named one of the top ten attorneys in the State of Alabama by Super Lawyers magazine and was featured on its cover in 2009. For many years, Mr. Ashford has been profiled by Chambers USA as a “Tier 1″ trial lawyer for personal injury and business litigation. Benchmark Plaintiff includes Mr. Ashford as a “Litigation Star” in its national ranking of personal injury lawyers.
Mr. Ashford and his wife, Barbara, have been married for forty years. They have three children – David, Ben, and Laura – and four grandchildren – all boys! He is an active member of Canterbury United Methodist Church. He also proudly serves on the Advisory Board of Nick's Kids Foundation.
