Jeffery M Leving

Early life and education

Born in Chicago and raised on the South Side, Leving's father worked as a bartender and tailor while pursuing success as an artist. Leving was deeply affected by the divorce of his parents in 1967, when he was 16. Leving attended Senn High School, then graduated from Southern Illinois University in 1974 with a Bachelor of Science in Radio and Television. He received his Juris Doctor from the Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago-Kent College of Law in 1979, and is licensed to practice in Illinois, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Legal career

More than 30 years ago, Leving helped pioneer the Fathers' Rights Movement when he discovered a gap in the judicial system. It was at that point that he started seeking equality and due process for fathers everywhere. In 1979, Leving became a staff attorney for the Chicago Volunteer Legal Services Foundation, and in 1981 joined a firm that allowed him to use their offices to start his own practice during his spare hours, "focusing on family law, divorce, paternity, and child custody". Leving's accomplishments include the co-authorship of the Illinois Joint Custody Law, Illinois Virtual Visitation, Right to DNA Testing Notice, and Unlawful Visitation or Parenting time Interference Laws. He also delivered testimony before both branches of the Illinois Legislature on Joint Custody, Grandparent's Visitation and Child Support Accountability bills.

Leving and father's rights activist Glenn Sacks have argued that parenting time interference can result from the custodial parent's relocation beyond a practical distance from the noncustodial parent, and have campaigned for a rebuttable presumption prohibiting such relocations. In 1985, Leving helped draft the Illinois Joint Custody Law, allowing judges to assign divorcing parents equal responsibility for raising their children. Leving worked for its passage in the Illinois General Assembly, and "is credited with generating much of the pressure that got the bill passed". By 1991, Leving was described as "one of the most recognizable names among Chicago lawyers".

In 2000, Leving was a lawyer in the case of 6-year-old Elián González, who was rescued after being found tied to an inner tube off the coast of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Gonzalez's mother drowned in her attempt to flee Cuba to the United States, and the child's presence in the U.S. involved contentious court proceedings. When the case was considered by the U.S. Supreme Court, Leving had previously spearheaded the amicus brief, which set the foundation of the custody case to reunite Elian Gonzalez with his father, Juan Miguel, in Cuba. Manuel Gonzalez, Elian Gonzalez’s great uncle, later retained Leving to reunite Elian with his father. Leving appeared as an expert on CNN, CNBC, MSNBC, Fox National News and Court TV to analyze the Elian Gonzalez case.

In 2011 Leving represented 20-year-old Mariah Yeater in a paternity claim against singer Justin Bieber, accused by Yeater of impregnating her following a reported brief sexual encounter after one of his Los Angeles concerts. Leving actively pushed for Bieber's legal team to arrange a DNA test.

Leving has frequently espoused legal reforms on radio and television shows, such as the Oprah Winfrey Show.

Writing and artistry

Leving is the author of three books:

Leving is also the publisher of Leving's Divorce Magazine, a new magazine for divorced men that focuses on parenting and men's legal issues.

In addition to his writing, Leving is a painter, and showcases his artwork in an online gallery. In 2013, Leving sold an abstract piece memorializing the Elián González case.