Shannon Leap

Shannon has dedicated her career to holding powerful entities accountable for the harms they cause individuals and communities. Her understanding that social justice issues are interconnected drives her advocacy work and belief that that the law provides an opportunity to level the playing field to achieve justice. At Sher Edling, Shannon represents tribes, local governments, and states in actions against corporations for causing environmental devastation and damaging public health. Her current practice focuses on fossil fuel industries’ decades-long deception campaigns about the realities of human-caused climate change. Shannon is experienced at all levels of litigation – including pre-trial investigation, client communication, pleadings and motion practice, discovery, through trial and appeals.

Prior to joining Sher Edling, Shannon clerked for the Honorable Michael B. Kaufman of the U.S. District Court in the Central District of California, where she focused on civil rights litigation, petitions for writ of habeas corpus, and discovery matters. Shannon previously worked as a civil rights attorney, representing individuals and families impacted by police violence, excessive use of force, and unconstitutional patterns and practices carried out by their departments. Before she became an attorney, Shannon worked as a community organizer and researcher, focusing on issues of food and environmental justice. She graduated from Loyola Law School, where she was a Public Interest Scholar and earned the Outstanding Clinical Student Award for her work at the Center for Juvenile Law and Policy on behalf of incarcerated clients in their postconviction and resentencing matters.

As a lifelong Californian, Shannon enjoys spending time in the mountains and waters of her home state, roasting coffee, cooking without recipes, seeing live music, running, dancing, and playing pick-up basketball with her loved ones.