Leo Thomas received his undergraduate degree from Columbia University in 1963, and his law degree, with honors, from the University of Florida in 1972. He was an agent with the Federal Bureau of Narcotics from 1963-1968, and with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement from 1968-1970. He is licensed to practice law before all Florida state courts, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth and Eleventh Circuits.

Mr. Thomas, pursuant to an appointment by the Governor of the State of Florida, served a term as a member of the Sentencing Guidelines Commission; pursuant to an appointment from the Insurance Commission of the State of Florida, Mr. Thomas also served a term as a member of the Bail Bond Regulatory Board. He has also served as an instructor at the University of Florida, College of Law, Criminal Law Workshop in 1985 and is past chairman and vice chairman of the Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure Committee and past vice chairman of the Criminal Jury Instructions Committee. He is a former member of the Criminal Law Executive Council, the Florida Bar Ethics Committee and the Criminal Certification Committee.

He is presently a member of the Escambia/Santa Rosa Bar Association and the American Board of Criminal Lawyers. Mr. Thomas is listed in the publication “Best Lawyers in America”, and is certified as a Criminal Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy. He is also certified by the Florida Bar as a specialist in Criminal Trial Law and has an AV rating in the Martindale-Hubbell law directory. He has authored the article The Battered Woman — A Legal Defense, 6 Champion 4 (1982). He also was the first defense attorney to successfully pursue the battered woman syndrome defense in a homicide case, which eventually resulted in the dismissal of a first degree murder charge against his client.

Mr. Thomas limits his practice to criminal defense work in state and federal courts and criminal appellate work in state and federal courts.