Leigh Handelman Smollar

Leigh Handelman Smollar is a Partner with the Firm. She is a 1993 graduate of the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, where she graduated from the School of Commerce with high honors, and a 1996 graduate of the Chicago-Kent College of Law. Ms. Smollar spent the next five years specializing in insurance defense litigation, handling a broad variety of complex matters.

Ms. Smollar specializes in securities fraud and insurance/healthcare litigation and serves as a key member of the Pomerantz team in the individual litigation by three New Mexico pension funds related to Countrywide's mortgage-backed securities. Ms. Smollar is involved in many of the Firm's pending securities fraud class actions and has been a member of the Pomerantz litigation team for many of the cases where significant settlements were obtained. See In re Sealed Air Corp. Sec. Litig., No. 03-CV-4372 (D.N.J.)($20 million settlement approved December 2009); In re Safety-Kleen Stockholders Securities Litigation, 3:00-736-17 (D. S.C.) (as Co-Lead Counsel, Firm obtained $54.5 million settlement).

Ms. Handelman Smollar co-authored several articles and updates for the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education (IICLE) including "Shareholder Derivative Suits and Stockholder Litigation in Illinois," published in IICLE Chancery and Special Remedies 2004 Practice Handbook; and "Prosecuting Securities Fraud Class Actions," published in IICLE Chancery and Special Remedies 2009 Practice Handbook.

Ms. Handelman Smollar is admitted to practice in Illinois, the United States District Courts for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern District of Missouri, and the United States Courts of Appeals for the Seventh and Eighth Circuits.