Leon Hampton Jr. first joined Beasley Allen while in law school, working as a law clerk. He returned to the firm’s Consumer Fraud Section in August 2017 and is currently working on class action, employment and whistleblower claims.
Prior to returning to the firm, Leon was a prosecutor with the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office for four years. While at the DA’s office, Leon was part of the Violent Crimes Unit and served as a lead counsel on homicide cases.
Notable Cases
In less than a year after joining Beasley Allen as fulltime counsel, Hampton has helped secure verdicts for clients totaling more than $16 million.
His courtroom experience was integral to the trial team that obtained a $1.9 million verdict on behalf of Leon Battle and exposed the defendant’s fraudulent efforts to hide unsafe working conditions. Battle lost four fingers on his left hand while working to repair a hydraulic hose on a chicken dumper machine at Koch Foods in Montgomery, Ala., after the machine suddenly started operating when it should have been shut down. He did not know the defendants instructed employees to bypass the safety device that would kill power to the machine while it was being serviced. A jury in the Circuit Court of Montgomery County awarded Battle $851,400 in compensatory damages and $1.05 million in punitive damages because of the defendant’s attempt to cover up its actions that led to Battle’s permanently disabling injury and because it retaliated against Battle for seeking Worker’s Compensation benefits.
Most recently, Hampton was heavily involved in a whistleblower case that recovered $14.7 million for Barry Taul. Taul uncovered and reported an illegal kickback and false billing scheme that defrauded the Alabama Organ Center and taxpayers. While working for Abanks Mortuary & Crematory (Abanks), Taul learned that his employer had an arrangement with the Alabama Organ Center to collect tissues for life-saving transplants and medical research prior to the deceased being cremated. Abanks and its owner Jed Nagel made illegal kickback payments to staff at the Alabama Organ Center in exchange for contractual referral business from the organization, which violated the federal False Claims Act and the Anti-Kickback Statute. After reporting the scheme, Taul suffered physical abuse at the hands of his employers, as well as death threats against him and his family. He was also disparaged and falsely maligned to future employers, resulting in his being wrongly terminated from other positions.
Professional Affiliations
Leon currently serves as the President of the Alabama Lawyers Association, an organization that recognized him as the 2017 board member of the year. He is also an executive board member for the Capital City Bar Association and a member of the Alabama State Bar, Montgomery County Bar Association and the Hugh Maddox’s Inn of Court. Leon serves on the Alabama State Bar’s 2019-2020 Committee on Disciplinary Rules and Enforcement. He was also selected for the Alabama State Bar’s Leadership Forum (Class 15).
Education
In 2010, Leon graduated Magna Cum Laude from Alabama A&M University with a bachelor’s degree in secondary education. He earned his Juris Doctor in 2013 from Samford University’s Cumberland School of Law where he served as a judicial extern for the Honorable Clyde Jones of the 10th Judicial Circuit, and clerked for the Attorney General’s Office, in addition to Beasley Allen. Also during law school, Leon was selected to participate in advanced trial advocacy; he was also included on the Dean’s List and was a member of the Judge James E. Horton American Inn of Court. Leon was the Winner and Best Oral Advocate of the Judge James O. Haley Federal Trial Competition, and Winner and Best Oral Advocate in the first-year Moot Court Competition and was an executive board member of the Black Law Student Association.
Community Involvement
Leon is a member of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., where he serves as the Montgomery Alumni Chapter’s Annual Martin Luther King Jr.’s Scholarship Breakfast Committee Chairman.
Background
The Choctaw County, Alabama, native is married to Dr. Tonquita Hampton, and they have one daughter, Kori Skye. They attend True Divine Baptist Church, where they serve together as young adult directors.
