Introduction
Leonard Nuara is a CBC Alliance Partner at Flatiron Law Group LLP in New York. Leonard is a nationally recognized authority on technology and Internet law. Known for his high energy and unique legal knowledge, technical expertise, and skills, Leonard is a trusted advisor to dozens of multinational and small businesses, hospitals and healthcare providers, financial institutions, startups, and venture capital firms in industries including e-commerce, retail, hardware and software, communications, and energy, often involved in the development and deployment of breakthrough technologies. His unique insights inform the strategic guidance and counsel he provides to clients. He also advises on mergers and acquisitions, privacy, cybersecurity, and compliance. He excels at creating dynamic workflows and incident recovery solutions to manage and mitigate risk exposure. Clients frequently retain Leonard as a special counsel or to manage complex litigation in areas that require his unique skills and knowledge. As an experienced commercial litigator, Leonard has handled high-stakes disputes involving intellectual property infringement, engineering and construction, IT systems, and Internet businesses, including the successful resolution of several cases valued at hundreds of millions of dollars.
Leonard has been a partner at several prominent law firms, serving as Chairman of the Technology and Intellectual Property Practice at Thacher Proffitt & Wood, LLP, and as a Partner in the Intellectual Property and Technology Practice at Greenberg Traurig, LLP. Leonard was recognized as a “technologist” and problem solver following the tragic destruction of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Thacher Proffitt & Wood’s headquarters were located at the World Trade Center. While no employees of the firm lost their lives on that tragic day, the destruction of the Twin Towers resulted in the complete loss of all of the firm’s technology infrastructure and backup systems. Leonard interrupted his law practice that day to become the firm’s Chief Information Officer (CIO), a position he continued for the next six months. He was responsible for all decisions regarding the interim survival and eventual rebuilding of the firm’s technology infrastructure. The experience of losing everything, rebuilding everything from scratch, and moving from “representing the buyer” to becoming a buyer himself, gave Leonard valuable insights that continue to influence his practice today.
Leonard previously served as COO and General Counsel for ICF Mercantile, where he managed the company’s transformation from a distribution business to a new advanced manufacturing, research and development center. While at ICF, he was responsible for all aspects of corporate operations, legal, and information technology, including creating financial and production models to support financing of the transformation; negotiating leases, construction, engineering, and building services agreements; and managing the construction process on-site to ensure projects started on time and on budget.
Prior to joining ICF, he was co-founder, president and COO of Tera Group and TeraExchange. Here, he developed and managed the first and only multi-asset central limit order book and request-for-quote (RFQ) trade execution facility, as well as a multi-asset execution management system, from conception to growth into an institutional exchange for cleared derivatives, equities, futures, fixed income and options markets under the Dodd-Frank Act and CFTC regulation. Derivative assets included interest rate swaps (IRs), credit default swaps (CDS), non-delivered forwards (NDFs), and the first regulated Bitcoin derivative based on the TeraBit Bitcoin Price Index. He was responsible for fund raising, client/investor introductions and relations, operations, legal, regulatory, finance, marketing, business development, and technology development and implementation.
Education
• JD, Seton Hall Law School
• BA, Boston College