Joseph Leventhal

Investigations & White Collar Litigation/Litigation

Partner and Head of Litigation for the San Diego Office

Joseph Leventhal is a partner and the head of litigation in Glaser Weil’s San Diego office. Joe is an accomplished trial attorney with extensive experience in complex commercial litigation, class actions, and disputes involving real estate, employment, privacy and intellectual property. He has led jury trial teams in both state and federal courts and achieved successful outcomes through appeal. Joe’s clients range from business executives to Fortune 250 companies.

Joe is a Certified Information Privacy Professional for the U.S. Private Sector (CIPP/US) and a member of the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP). He has significant experience defending a wide range of businesses in privacy, data breach and consumer protection cases and class actions and leverages his experience to assist clients facing such litigation and government enforcement actions.

In addition to litigation, Joe provides pre-litigation counsel, helping clients navigate potential legal challenges and avoid associated costs. His proactive approach extends to advising clients before lawsuits are filed.

Joe is sought after for his counsel on:

• Complex commercial disputes and class actions
• Litigation involving fintech and cryptocurrency companies, including consumer protection matters
• Privacy-related disputes
• Intellectual property litigation, with a particular emphasis on:
  • Copyright and trademark disputes
  • Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) litigation
  • Trade secret litigation
• Real estate litigation

Prior to joining Glaser Weil, Joe was the San Diego office managing partner of an AmLaw 200 firm that he had merged his own firm into in 2015, establishing its first California office.

Joe’s experience is complemented by his leadership in the legal and broader community. He serves on the Southern District of California’s Standing Committee on Discipline, on the national board of directors of the Federal Bar Association and as vice president of the San Diego Federal Bar Foundation. Past roles include chairing merit selection panels for U.S. magistrate judges and leadership positions within the Federal Bar Association, such as Ninth Circuit vice president and San Diego chapter president. Joe serves on the board of St. Vincent de Paul’s Village and contributes to national and local organizations such as Just the Beginning and the Rancho Bernardo Rotary. He also previously served as commissioner of the City of San Diego Ethics Commission.

Joe earned his law degree with honors from Georgetown University Law Center while working on Capitol Hill and interning for the Office of the Vice President. He later served as an attorney in the White House, eventually becoming, at the age of 25, the youngest deputy assistant to the vice president. Joe managed complex policy and political issues, serving as the final substantive control point before information reached the vice president. His responsibilities included representing the vice president’s interests in all policy matters within the administration, and he held top secret or sensitive compartmented information (TS/SCI) clearances, handling classified documents related to foreign and national security policies.

Chair of the Board of Directors, St. Vincent de Paul’s Village Chair of the Constitution and Bylaws Committee, Federal Bar Association Member, Southern District of California’s Standing Committee on Discipline Vice President, San Diego Federal Bar Foundation Board of Directors, Ride Across California (nonprofit) National Board of Directors and San Diego Steering Committee, Just the Beginning – A Pipeline Organization

Georgetown University Law Center, J.D., cum laude

University of California, San Diego, B.A., political science