News Article
Mike Leonard Profiled in Magazine for His Land Conservation Work
December 26, 2008
For nearly 30 years, land conservation has been a passion for Womble Carlyle attorney Mike Leonard. Bill Ross, Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources, calls Mike "the conservation dynamo."
Mike’s dedication to land conservation in western North Carolina is chronicled in the current issue of Carolina Mountain Life magazine. Catherine Morton, the article's author and daughter of the late Hugh Morton, who championed the preservation of Grandfather Mountain says, "Michael Leonard has probably accomplished more for land conservation in the Southern mountains than any person alive."
Mike first became involved in land conservation in 1980. Since then, he has worked to protect and preserve more than 235,000 acres. For example, he helped broker a deal between the owners of Chimney Rock Park and the State of North Carolina to preserve that park in its natural state. He also was a key facilitator of a recent deal for the State to purchase Grandfather Mountain—and preserve it as it is.
Mike is a member of Womble Carlyle’s Products Liability Litigation team, with a particular focus on e-discovery. His land conservation work is done on a pro bono basis.
Read the article from Carolina Mountain Life magazine.
A full-service business law firm, Womble Carlyle ranks among AmLaw's 100 leading firms in the country and is a top law firm for companies doing business in the Southeast and mid-Atlantic states. The firm is a recipient of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund Corporate Leadership Award, making Womble Carlyle the first law firm ever to receive the highest honor given to a business organization in recognition of its support of the Fund and its 45 member educational institutions.
Founded in 1876, Womble Carlyle operates in six states and the District of Columbia with nearly 550 attorneys in eleven offices located in Atlanta, GA; Greenville, SC; Charlotte, Greensboro, Raleigh, Research Triangle Park, and Winston-Salem, NC; Washington, DC; Tysons Corner, VA; Wilmington, DE; and Baltimore, MD. Womble Carlyle is located in the Southeast and mid-Atlantic regions, and serves clients nationally and globally.