Leanna B. Pittard

Leanna Bankester Pittard is a skilled product liability attorney at Blasingame, Burch, Garrard & Ashley, P.C. While she handles a wide variety of cases, including civil litigation and mass torts, she focuses her practice on cases involving defective or dangerous products. With nearly twenty years of experience litigating dangerous products, Leanna finds passion and purpose in keeping these defective and dangerous products out of the hands of consumers.

Leanna was born in Mobile, Alabama. She obtained her Bachelor of Science from Birmingham-Southern College in 1998 before going on to attend the University of Alabama School of Law.  She graduated law school in 2003, cum laude, with her J.D. Leanna is admitted to practice law in Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi.  She is a member of Alabama State Bar Leadership Forum (Class of 2017), American Association for Justice, Alabama Association for Justice and Women En Mass.

During her time in law school, she was the Senior Articles Editor for the Alabama Law Review, a member of Bench and Bar Honorary, and the Order of Barristers. She was also the recipient of the Marvin L. Warner Scholarship, and received a number of prestigious awards, including the American College of Trial Lawyers Award, a faculty award presented to the graduate who exhibits the greatest amount of promise as a trial attorney, the International Academy of Trial Lawyers Student Advocacy Award, presented for overall ability in trial advocacy as well as achievements in evidence and pleading, trial practice, and procedure courses, and the George Peach Taylor Award, which is presented to those students who are selected to be on national trail teams. In law school, Leanna was also a member of the Trial Advocacy Competition Team, and helped carry the team to a regional championship in 2003 and a place in the top 10 at the national championship in 2003.

Leanna is committed to giving back to her community. She enjoys volunteering her time with the United Way of Central Alabama, Birmingham-Southern College Alumni Board, Junior Women’s Committee of 100, St. Francis Catholic Church, and the Parent Teacher Organization’s Community Outreach Committee. She is a former member of the Multiple Sclerosis Leadership Class of 2018 and The Junior League.

When she is not working or volunteering, Leanna enjoys spending time with her husband, with whom she shares a love of travel, and their two daughters.

“We are proud of the quality of our lawyers,” Leanna said. “And we work hard to make sure our clients’ rights are protected.”

Leanna has many published articles, including:

• The Ten Commandments of Teleworking, GEORGIA BAR JOURNAL, October 2016.
• Joe E. Basenberg & S. Leanna Bankester, Notice Pleading in the Mass Tort Arena: What is Sufficient Notice? THE ALABAMA LAWYER, January 2007, at 74.
• Caine O’Rear, III & S. Leanna Bankester, Hospital Management vs. Medical Staff Bylaws, IADC NEWSLETTER, September 2006, No. 3, at 1.
• The Implications of Barnes v. Norfolk Southern Railway Co. on Alabama’s Former Testimony Exception to the Hearsay Rule, 54 ALABAMA LAW REVIEW 583 (Winter 2003).
• Louis D. Burgio, Rebecca Allen-Burge, David L. Roth, Michelle S. Bourgeois, Katinka Dijkstra, John Gerstle, Erik Jackson & Leanna Bankester, Come Talk With Me: Improving Communications Between Nursing Assistants and Nursing Home Residents During Care Routines, THE GERONTOLOGIST, Vol. 41, No. 4, 449-460 (2000).