LSBA Board of Governors
Immediate Past President
Mr. Richard K Leefe
2014-15
3900 N Causeway Blvd Ste 1470
Metairie, LA 70002-7253
Phone: (504) 830-3939
Fax: (504) 830-3998
Richard K. Leefe is a senior partner in the Metairie firm of Leefe Gibbs Sullivan & Dupré, L.L.C. He received a BS degree in engineering in 1969 from Louisiana State University, his JD degree in 1974 from Loyola University College of Law and later earned an LLM in International Commercial Law from Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, Scotland. He was admitted to practice in Louisiana in 1974.
He is a Vietnam veteran, serving as a combat engineer officer in the U.S. Army from 1969-71 where he commanded a 160-man engineer company in the Mekong Delta. He attended the U.S. Army Engineer Officers School at Fort Belvoir, Va., and is a member of the Military Order of Foreign Wars.
Richard served as 2013-14 president of the Louisiana State Bar Association (LSBA), as 2012-13 president-elect and as 2011-12 secretary and editor of the Louisiana Bar Journal. He served as a member of the LSBA’s Board of Governors and is a member of the LSBA Executive Committee. He was the original chair of the LSBA Senior Lawyers Division. He has served or currently serves as a member of the LSBA Rules of Professional Conduct Committee, the Committee on the Profession and the Public Access and Consumer Protection Committee, among others. He also is a Louisiana Bar Foundation Fellow, serves on the board of directors of the Louisiana Bar Foundation and the Louisiana State Law Institute, and is a member of the American Bar Association’s (ABA) House of Delegates. He serves on the ABA Legal Services Job Corps Task Force by appointment of the ABA president. He received the LSBA President’s Award in 2011.
He taught law school at Loyola University College of Law in New Orleans from 1976-2002, teaching Evidence, NIL and legal research and writing. He also taught American law to Chinese law students at the Huazhong School of Law in Wuhan, China, in 2002, and taught Chinese engineer Ph.D. candidates at the same school in 2009. In 2012, he taught Courtroom Evidence to executive MBA students at Loyola University Business School.
Richard has handled legal matters in Europe, Africa, Asia and South America, as well as in many states in the United States.
He is the author of the treatise Louisiana Code of Evidence Practice Guide, 3rd edition (2005), published by Lexis Publishing. He also wrote the 1st and 2nd editions in 1990 and 1995. He received the Distinguished Service Award from Loyola University College of Law in 1992, the Excellence in Education Award from Professional Education Systems in 1991 and the LSBA Young Lawyers Section Award of Appreciation in 1991.
He and his wife, Barat, have been married for more than 32 years. He is the father of four children and has six grandchildren.