ATTORNEY PROFILE: LEONARD O. FLETCHER, JR.—
Senior Partner

706.724.0558 (phone)
706.724.4730 (fax)
lofletcher@fhflaw.com

Practice Areas:

Education Law
Government Law
Commercial Law
Real Estate Law

Experience

Mr. Fletcher has served as Board Counsel for the Richmond County Board of Education for nearly forty years and has represented the Columbia County Board of Education for selected legal matters since 1989 and as its counsel since 2007. He is counsel for CSRA RESA, a multi-county regional educational agency, and the Augusta Neighborhood Improvement Corporation. Mr. Fletcher practices general law with a concentration in the following practice areas: Education Law, Government Law, Commercial Law and Real Estate Law.

Throughout Mr. Fletcher's years as counsel for local boards of education, as well as other clients, he has had the opportunity to handle a wide range of matters, including, but not limited to: litigation in State and Federal Courts defending employment issues, discrimination, wage-hour claims, alleged violations of constitutional rights (including the First and Fourteenth Amendments), defense of class action lawsuits, special education matters, and the desegregation case for the Board of Education of Richmond County.

On an administrative level, he has handled, from the employer's perspective, ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) claims, employment issues, including, but not limited to, letters of advisement or reprimand, termination charge letters and hearings, EEOC complaints, employee grievance matters, special education issues, including "stay put" decisions, IEP meetings, mediation, due process hearings, as well as IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) and Section 504 (Rehabilitation Act) issues.

In addition, he has handled numerous SPLOST matters, bond issues and bond refund projects. He has assisted in the drafting of legislation concerning education laws in the State of Georgia to include Public Safety and Bond Refunding Statutes; drafted numerous policies and procedures for Boards and agencies; and conducted numerous training seminars for board of education administrators and employees, including new teachers and special education teachers.

Mr. Fletcher was an adjunct professor at Augusta State University (formerly Augusta College) for fourteen years, where he taught masters level educational law classes to future and present school administrators. He continues to serve as a guest speaker for various professors at Augusta State University.

Honors and Affiliations

Member, Augusta Bar Association
President, Augusta Bar Association (1987)
Member, Georgia School Boards Association of School Board Attorneys
President, Georgia School Boards Association of School Board Attorneys (2005-2006)
Executive Committee, Georgia School Boards Association of School Board Attorneys
Executive Council, Georgia School Boards Association of School Board Attorneys (2000-present)
Member, National Association of School Board Attorneys

Publications and Speaking Engagements

Mr. Fletcher has also written numerous papers and given numerous presentations on various educational legal issues at the Georgia School Board Association meetings and to his fellow School Law Attorneys at annual and semi-annual seminars.

Education

Augusta College; Mercer University, A.B., 1966
Walter F. Georgia School of Law, Mercer University, J.D. 1969, cum laude
Mercer Law Review, 1967-1969
Editor, Mercer Law Review, 1969

Bar Admissions

State Bar of Georgia, 1969
Admitted to all of the Courts of the State of Georgia
Admitted to practice before the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals

Community Activities

Mr. Fletcher has served as president for the Augusta Junior Rowing Association and as Director of the Augusta Rowing Club.