Overview
Judith E. Leonard is a Professor of Practice at the University of Arizona, James E. Rogers College of Law. Prior to her current position, Judith served as general counsel of the Smithsonian Institution from 2009 to 2023. She also served as the Smithsonian secretary’s designated representative to the Wilson Center Board of Trustees, providing legal advice to the Wilson Center.
Priviously, she was vice president and general counsel for the University of Arizona from 1998 to 2009 and general counsel of the Office of National Drug Control Policy in the Executive Office of the President from 1997 to 1998.
Leonard was an attorney for the U.S. Department of Education, an assistant attorney general in Arizona, and an associate university counsel for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. During her tenure at the University of Arizona, she taught higher education law. At the University of North Carolina, she lectured in the schools of medicine, nursing, public health, dentistry, pharmacy, and business.
She is among the distinguished women leaders serving on the Widener Global Leaders Program advisory board at Wichita State University’s W. Frank Barton School of Business. She currently serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Southern Education Foundation, a nonprofit organization committed to advancing equitable education policies that elevate learning for low-income students and students of color in the southern states.
Leonard was elected to membership in the American Law Institute in 2014 and is a member of the National Association of College and University Attorneys and the Association of Corporate Counsel.
Leonard served on the American Bar Association’s Legal Education Accreditation Committee from 2014 to 2018, chairing its compliance committee. She is a member of the board of visitors for the University of Arizona College of Law, where she received a distinguished honorary alumna award. She is also a member of the District of Columbia chapter of the International Women’s Forum and of the Women’s Advisory Board of Girl Scouts Nation’s Capital. Leonard received her master’s and law degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and is a graduate of Cornell University.