Joseph A. Leonard

Prior to joining Nutter, Joe served for more than 25 years as Deputy Commissioner of Banks and General Counsel to the Massachusetts Division of Banks and Clerk of the Commonwealth’s Board of Bank Incorporation, which is responsible for bank holding company transactions and the chartering of new banks. His duties as General Counsel included leading the Division’s Legal Affairs and Bank Structure Section which had responsibility for reviewing, among other transactions, mergers, acquisitions, reorganizations and conversions, issuing opinions of the Division and monitoring legislative matters. As Deputy Commissioner and General Counsel, he worked closely with the Commissioner of Banks on a wide range of strategic, operational, legal and regulatory matters. He joined the Division in 1984 as the First Deputy Commissioner of Banks.

Before joining the Division of Banks, Joe was the Research Director for the Massachusetts Legislature’s Joint Committee on Banks and Banking. He has taught banking law at Suffolk University Law School, where he served as a member of the adjunct faculty for six years.