Shanks Leonhardt

Shanks Leonhardt joined Sanders & Parks in 2007 and he focuses his practice in complex civil litigation in the areas of commercial litigation, insurance defense, insurance coverage and bad faith, products liability, employment litigation, professional liability, procurement law, and personal injury matters.  In addition to his civil litigation work, Mr. Leonhardt also advises parties on commercial transactional matters related to technology, corporate, copyright, and entertainment law issues.  Mr. Leonhardt has received Martindale-Hubbell’s highest AV® PreeminentTM rating.  He is a Southwest Super Lawyer and he has been recognized on the list of The Best Lawyers in America since 2021.

Mr. Leonhardt is highly experienced in counseling and representing insurers in complex bad faith, construction defect, additional insured, personal injury and primary/excess coverage issues, including a focus on counseling, advising, and litigating cases where insurers that have been subjected to Arizona’s Damron and Morris Agreements.  Mr. Leonhardt has played a key role in negotiating favorable resolutions for insurers involving multi-million-dollar exposures arising from Damron and Morris Agreements.

As part of his insurance practice, Mr. Leonhardt also represents insurers and third-party claim administrators in defending workers’ compensation bad faith claims and in providing insurance coverage advice regarding workers’ compensation coverage issues.  Mr. Leonhardt also handles cases on behalf of workers’ compensation insurers and third-party claim administrators involving billing disputes with medical providers arising from workers’ compensation claims.

Mr. Leonhardt also routinely handles commercial litigation and other disputes for public and private entities, including issues arising from intellectual property disputes, breach of restrictive covenants, shareholder claims, contractual liability, franchisee liability, public contracting, and other related claims.  He has successfully protected his clients’ interests in Arizona and throughout the southwest.  As a part of his complex civil litigation work, Mr. Leonhardt has successfully represented parties at trials, mediations, arbitrations, depositions, appeals, administrative hearings and evidentiary hearings before the trial and appellate courts at the federal and state court level in jurisdictions including Arizona, California, Colorado, Texas, and New Mexico.

Mr. Leonhardt has published numerous articles and he has been a featured speaker on insurance and liability issues related to construction law, ADA claims, and Damron/Morris Agreements.  Mr. Leonhardt is the current President of the Arizona Association of Defense Counsel. Mr. Leonhardt earned his Juris Doctor degree from the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University where he graduated with Honors in 2007.