PI Lawyer Claims ‘Hypocritical’ Personal Spending by Politically Connected Ex-Boss

Miami personal injury lawyer John Leighton has sued the politically connected lawyer who hired him straight out of law school nearly 25 years ago in a battle over law firm finances and management.

The dispute “is sure to go down as one of the ugliest law firm breakups in South Florida,” the Daily Business Review (reg. req.) reports. The defendant is Ira Leesfield, who served as Florida finance co-chair for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

Leighton claims he had a 19 percent stake in a law firm primarily owned by Leesfield, but Leesfield refused to give him access to firm financial data and even installed computer spyware to make sure no one looked at the information, according to the story.

But Leighton was able to review financial records that were not locked away, the suit alleges, and discovered the law firm had funded “personal and other secret expenses.”

The suit claims Leesfield used law firm resources and finances to help Hillary Clinton’s campaign and to pay personal bills, including the tab for meals, Broadway shows, birthday parties and vacations. Leighton is seeking access to additional financial records, $250,000 for his share of the firm, and other damages, according to the story.

“The revelation of the excessive spending—particularly in the face of Leesfield’s constant lectures … about using the law firm’s resources for personal matters—was astounding, hypocritical and very disappointing,” the suit says.

A lawyer for Leesfield, Andrew Hall, told the Daily Business Review that Leighton filed the suit after being fired for secretly downloading 15,000 documents. He said Leighton was looking at the information in preparation for forming his own law firm. Leighton now practices in his own firm called Leighton Law.

For his part, Leesfield told the publication he is “very hurt” by the suit. “No good deed goes unpunished,” Leesfield said. “I paid him $2 million one year. My daughter baby-sat for him. I think John has gone astray due to greed and personal envy.”

The suit (PDF posted by the Daily Business Review) was filed Wednesday in Miami Dade circuit court.