David H. Leroy is a trial lawyer with four decades of experience in preventing and solving problems. He has served as Ada County Prosecuting Attorney and Idaho Attorney General, and was also Lt. Governor of Idaho and United States Nuclear Waste Negotiator.
From the Magistrate Court in Idaho Falls, the District Court in Sandpoint, to the United States Supreme Court in Washington D.C., Dave Leroy has earned a reputation as an able and effective advocate who wins cases for his clients.
A litigator his entire career, Dave Leroy holds a post-doctoral degree in trial practice and procedure from New York University.
He is a frequent press, radio, and televised commentator for local media outlets and national networks on breaking legal issues. He lectures on leadership to young lawyers for the Idaho State Bar Association.
Full Resume below…
LEADERSHIP BACKGROUND:
CHAIRMAN (2007-2013) Governors’ Council, United States Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, leading liaison appointees from all 50 states in the planning and recognition of the 200th anniversary of the birth of the sixteenth President
CHAIRMAN (2006-2011) Idaho Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, by appointment of the Governor of Idaho, chairing a twenty three person planning committee
CHAIRMAN (2003-2013) National Academics of Science Committee on Improving Practices For Regulating and Managing Low-Activity Radioactive Waste, conducting a three year international study with fifteen leading experts to produce a written report to Congress and the President FEDERAL AGENCY HEAD AND PRESIDENTIAL APPOINTEE (1990-1993), by President George H.W. Bush and confirmed by the Senate, August 1990, as the first United States Nuclear Waste Negotiator, a post created by Congress in the 1987 Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act, serving five months into the Clinton Administration
PRESIDENT AND MEMBER (1983- present) Northwest Trade Adjustment Assistance Center, a regional affiliate of the United States Department of Commerce based in Seattle, Washington working to address international trade imbalance impacts on American businesses
MEMBER, ELECTORAL COLLEGE (1992) Casting one of 538 ballots in the constitutional process of electing the President of the United States
FOUNDER AND FIRST CHAIRMAN (1983-1985) National Caucus of Republican Lt. Governors REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE FOR CONGRESS ( First District of Idaho, 1994)
REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE FOR GOVERNOR (Idaho, 1986)
CHAIRMAN (1984-1985), National Conference of Republican Lt. Governors, CHAIRMAN (1981-1982), National Association of Attorneys General, Western Conference, CHAIRMAN (1980-1982), National Association of Attorneys General, Energy Committee
EXECUTIVE BOARD MEMBER, (1983-1985), National Conference of Lt. Governors and (1981-1982), National Association of Attorneys General
CHAIRMAN (1976), Idaho President Ford Committee and (1980), Idaho Reagan for President Committee
FINANCE CHAIRMAN (1984), Reagan-Bush Committee – Idaho
DELEGATE (1976, 1980, 1984, 2006), Republican Party National Conventions
INTERNATIONAL DELEGATION MEMBER OR LEADER, (1979 Soviet Union), American Council of Young Political Leaders; (1980 Republic of China), American Exchange Council; (1981 Peoples Republic of China), National Association of Attorneys General; (1983 Republic of China), U.S .A./R.O.C. Economic Forum; (1984, Soviet Union) Friendship Force; (1985 Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt) Joint Council on U.S./Arab Relations; (1990, England and France) (1992 Sweden, Austria, Switzerland), (1992 Korea and Japan) USNWN tours of nuclear sites and seminar presentations
NATIONAL CONVENTION SPEAKER (1990-present), various international and national conventions and symposia on U.S. Nuclear Policy, the Negotiator process, low-level waste issues and the NIMBY syndrome at worldwide locations including Paris, Seoul, Toronto, New York, Washington and Las Vegas, (1980-1987) various national groups and regional associations on motivation, success, politics, government and business issues at major conventions and programs in Washington, St. Louis, Chicago, Little Rock, Salt Lake City, Seattle, Denver, Phoenix, San Francisco, Anchorage, Sun Valley and elsewhere
INTERNATIONAL TELEVISION APPEARANCES (1979-present), in interview, panelist and speech formats for all major U.S. broadcast networks and CNN and for foreign networks in Europe and Asia
COMMENTATOR (2006), Court TV Network, State v. Sarah Johnson, an Idaho murder trial
WITNESS (1990-1993), United States Senate and House of Representatives Committees on various aspects of U.S. Nuclear Waste policy, operations, status and budgeting; (1983), United States Senate Judiciary Committee by special invitation to give testimony and respond to questions on the State of Idaho’s policy initiative in eliminating the insanity defense in criminal cases following the Hinkley assassination attempt, (2012), United States Blue Ribbon Commission on Nuclear Waste Storage
EDUCATION:
LEWISTON SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL, Lewiston, Idaho (1965)
UNIVERSITY OF IDAHO, B.S., Business Administration (1969)
UNIVERSITY OF IDAHO, College of Law, Juris Doctorate (1971)
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY, School of Law, Graduate Division, Master of Laws in Trial Practice and Procedure (1972)
PRIOR EXPERIENCE:
ATTORNEY (1988-present) as Leroy Law Offices, Boise and Sun Valley, Idaho, with a practice emphasizing government and administrative law issues, criminal defense and family law trials, hearings, litigation and counsel at state, federal and local levels
UNITED STATES NUCLEAR WASTE NEGOTIATOR (1990-1993) as a Presidential appointee and Senate confirmed federal official of Undersecretary rank accepted the challenge to create and then administer a new independent federal agency with the responsibility of designing a voluntary program, in interaction with the nation’s 50 state Governors and 565 federally recognized Indian tribes, to site temporary and permanent facilities for the storage of spent nuclear fuel utilizing extensive coordination and communication with the media, utilities, industry lobby groups, other federal agencies, national associations, Congress and the international nuclear community and its consultants
PARTNER (1983-1988), in the law firm of Runft, Leroy, Coffin & Mathews, Chartered, a seven-lawyer professional corporation in Boise, Idaho, with an emphasis on trial practice, administrative law, natural resource development and general business practice representing local, regional and national clients
ACTING GOVERNOR OF IDAHO (More than 250 days), under constitutional provisions in the absence of the Governor from the State for periods of time varying from three hours to three weeks, assuming the full duties of the chief executive on matters including the appointment of legislators and county commissioners, meeting to negotiate with international trade and diplomatic representatives, and calling out the National Guard in a flooding emergency
REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE FOR GOVERNOR OF IDAHO (1985-1986), winning the nomination without a contested primary for the first time in the 96-year history of the State’s Republican Party when facing an open governor’s seat, and in a race which was nationally noted and ultimately became the closest governor’s campaign in the country, losing by .008 percent to a former Governor and presidential cabinet member
IDAHO LT. GOVERNOR (1983-1987), Presiding officer of the Idaho State Senate, acting as Governor of the State of Idaho upon the absence of the Governor, and assuming special duties as assigned by the Legislature and the Governor. Chairman of the Idaho District Export Council by appointment of the United States Secretary of Commerce to increase international trade. The special duties established by statute and executive order included: 1) assisting with the communication between the State and the Congressional Delegation, 2) serving on international and domestic political, cultural, trade, and civil missions, 3) serving as principal liaison for Idaho to the U.S. Department of Commerce, 4) serving as Vice-Chairman of the Idaho Centennial Commission, 5) serving as a member of the Executive Reorganization Committee, 6) assisting the Board of Corrections in finding solutions to the current overcrowding problems, and 7) assisting the Department of Parks and Recreation in resolving state park problems
IDAHO ATTORNEY GENERAL (1979-1983), serving as chief legal advisor to the State of Idaho, with its then 942,835 people and state government structure, including 12,242 employees and a total funds budget of $1 billion in 1982. Duties included prosecuting and defending all civil cases in which the State of Idaho or any state officer was a part; handling all criminal cases on appeal to the Supreme Court, and assisting local prosecuting attorneys upon request; enforcing Idaho’s consumer protection laws; giving advice and opinions; interpreting Idaho law to government officials as needed; serving on two constitutional policy-making boards, the land Board and the Board of Examiners, and on the Idaho Oil and Gas Commission; and appearing or arguing before the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1979 and 1980 terms in three major cases involving salmon and steelhead fishing, Carey Act reclamation and Idaho’s corporate takeover statute. While in office, authored and successfully lobbied Idaho’s nation-leading insanity defense elimination bill, the first of its kind to be passed into law in the United States
ADA COUNTY PROSECUTING ATTORNEY (1974-1978), two elected terms, serving as chief civil and criminal lawyer to Idaho’s most populous county with an annual case load in excess of 5,000 filings; sponsoring major legislation in criminal justice reform, including Idaho’s Fixed Sentencing statute and the 1977 Sentencing Criteria Bill; designing and implementing a major crime unit to identify and vigorously prosecute repeat felony offenders which increased the convicted-as-charged rate in burglary by 300 percent and in armed robbery by 500 percent while wining statewide acclaim; personally handling and achieving convictions in several major cases at trial
DEPUTY PROSECUTING ATTORNEY; ADA COUNTY (1973-1974), with duties including supervision of juvenile cases, handling of narcotic, environmental, sex offense cases, prosecuting more than 500 felony and misdemeanor criminal cases through all stages of proceedings, including trial
ASSOCIATE ATTORNEY (1971-1972), with Rothblatt, Rothblatt, Seijas & Peskin, New York City, the firm of noted criminal trial attorney Henry B. Rothblatt, with experience including work on the Watergate trials of the original Cuban defendants and the My Lai court martial of Colonel Oran Henderson and representing Boston lawyer F. Lee Bailey in a New York City civil case
PUBLICATIONS:
PROFESSIONAL LEGAL ARTICLES, five published legal articles on criminal liability, trials and tactics in the Kentucky Law Journal, St. Louis University Law Journal, California Western Law Review, American Jurisprudence Trials and the Law Review Digest
A MANUAL OF FORMS FOR SOCIAL WORK IN IDAHO, (1974 and 1975) with Judge Gerald F. Schroeder (five editions)
HANDBOOK OF IDAHO CRIMINAL COMPLAINTS, (1976) with Ronald D. Howen, contributing author
THE 1976 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION PROCESS IN IDAHO, (1976), University of Idaho Bureau of Public Affairs Research, contributing author
THE FUTURE OF AGRICULTURE IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS, (1980), The Institute of the American West, contributing author
THE SOURCE BOOK OF AMERICAN STATE LEGISLATION, 1983-1984, “The Insanity Defense Reform Act, contributing author
“RENDEZVOUS,” IDAHO STATE UNIVERSITY JOURNAL OF ARTS & LETTERS, Volume XXIV, Fall 1988, No. 1, “Politics in the Intermountain West,” contributing author
“NEGOTIATE: A WAY OUT OF SITING DILEMMAS” (1993), Forum for Applied Research and Public Policy, University of Tennessee
“THE NEGOTIATOR: A NOVEL APPROACH FOR GAINING PUBLIC ACCEPTANCE” (1993), International Conference on Nuclear Waste Management, Prague, Czech Republic
“ABRAHAM LINCOLN: SOURCES OF LEADERSHIP AND STYLES” (1994), Greenwood Publishing, contributing author
“LINCOLN AND IDAHO: A ROCKY MOUNTAIN LEGACY” (1998) Idaho Yesterdays, a publication of the Idaho Historical Society
“LINCOLN NEVER SLEPT HERE: IDAHO’S ABRAHAM LINCOLN BICENTENNIAL TOUR” (2009), Boise State University, contributing author
“MR LINCOLNS BOOK: PUBLISHING THE LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATES” (2009) Oak Knoll Press
HONORS AND ACTIVITIES
COLLEGE: Student Body President, 1967 (first sophomore ever elected); Young Republicans; Idaho delegate, Western Federation of College Young Republicans, 1966; Sigma Alpha Epsilon (social fraternity); Intercollegiate Knights, Blue Key, Silver Lance, Pi Omicron Sigma (Honoraries); Director of Public Relations, Association Students, 1967; Intercollegiate College Bowl Team, 1969
LAW SCHOOL: Order of the Barrister, 1971; First Place, Idaho Supreme Court Appellate Moot Court competition, 1970; American Trial Lawyers Association Scholarship, 1970; Participant, U.S. Supreme Court National Moot Court competition, 1970; Dean’s List, 1970-1971
GRADUATE SCHOOL: Dean’s List 1972, 3.5 on 4.0 scale cumulative grade point average; three published papers; directed studies and field experience in the areas of Law and Medicine, Law and Psychiatry, Civil Liberties Litigation, Criminal and Negligence Trials
POST GRADUATE RECOGNITION: Outstanding Young Men of America, 1977-1983; Who’s Who in America, 1981-present; Who’s Who in the West, 1977-present, Notable Americans of 1978-1979; DeMolay Legion of Honor, 1979; Int’l. Biographical Centre, Men of Achievement Biography, 1980; Junior Chamber of Commerce Outstanding Young Idahoan, 1983; Who’s Who in American Politics, 1978-present; Participant, Duke University Forum on Presidential Nominations, 1981; Idaho Republican Hall of Fame; Outstanding Administrative Official, 1983; Who’s Who of Emerging Leaders in America, 1990
HONORARY DEGREES: Lincoln College, Lincoln, Illinois, Doctor of Laws, 1993
RELATED ACTIVITIES
Idaho Trial Lawyers Association; Idaho Prosecuting Attorney Association Legislative Committee, 1973-1974; Idaho Supreme Court Sentencing Manual Project Committee; Idaho Supreme Court. Committee on Juvenile Law and Procedure; Idaho Supreme Court Committee to recommend Magistrate Removal Rules; Idaho State Bar Commission on Corrections, 1974 and 1976; Idaho Supreme Court Committee on Withheld Judgments in the Magistrate Courts; General Practice Institute Lecturer, Law for Laymen; Ada County Council on Alcoholism; Ada County United Fund, team leader, 1974, County Division Chairman, 1975, Board of Directors, 1976-1980; Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, Child Abuse Task Force, 1975; State Bar Evidence Committee, 1980; Board of Directors, Idaho Alcohol Council; Board of Directors, Boise State University Len B. Jordan Foundation; Team Leader, Vandal Fund drive, 1982; American Festival Ballet, Board of Directors, 1983; Keynote Speaker, United States Senate Youth Program by the William Randolph Hearst Foundation, 1982 and 1987; Narrator, Aaron Copland’s A Lincoln Portrait, Boise Philharmonic Orchestra, 1987; Participant, NBC TV’s “Headlines on Trial” nationally syndicated television show examining the insanity defense in criminal cases, 1987; Participant, U.S. Department of Defense, Operation “Box Airlift,” 1987; Distinguished Speaker, “Democratic Demise/Republican Ascendancy – A Conference on Politics in the Intermountain West,” Idaho State University, 1988; Idaho Contribution Fundraising Chairman, University of Idaho Foundation, 1989-1990, University of Idaho, College of Law, Advisory Committee, 2012-present, Concordia University, School of Law, Mentor, 2012-present