Abel Leal has over 20 years of litigation experience representing clients throughout the US, including in Texas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Vermont, and Missouri in federal and state court cases.  He provides aggressive and wise counsel at the trial and appellate court levels.  Abel’s litigation practice focuses on tort and commercial matters, including those involving contracts, employment, insurance coverage, professional negligence, personal injury, and wrongful death.  Abel also regularly represents clients in complex commercial arbitrations.  Abel has worked with Simmons & Brown PLLC, and its predecessor firms for many years, and the firm is proud to have Abel working with the firm, in an of counsel capacity, handling a broad range of litigation matters.

Some examples of Abel’s prior cases are:

• Representing a reinsurer in trial involving claims of breach of contract and fraud against its managing general agent that resulted in a jury verdict in favor of the client;
• Representing a large poultry company in an arbitration proceeding involving breach of contract and fraud claims that resulted in an arbitration award in favor of Abel’s client;
• Defending a roofing contractor in trial involving a wrongful death claim that resulted in a settlement prior to the jury rendering a verdict;
• Defending a large insurance company in a bad-faith case in New Mexico in which the trial court invited an investigation into the fraudulent conduct of the insured;
• Representing a large national insurance company in several putative class actions involving claims-handling practices and contract matters;
• Representing a restaurateur in a putative class action involving tip-pooling arrangements;
• Defending insurance companies in numerous cases involving complex insurance coverage issues and extra-contractual claims;
• Representing a chemical design engineer in a professional negligence case involving the design of a natural gas processing plant;
• Defending several clients in federal court regarding employment-related claims of employment discrimination. 
• Representing the claimant in wrongful death action involving road construction related accident

Abel graduated cum laude from Texas Tech University in 1996. He then attended Texas Tech School of Law and received his J.D. in 2000.  During law school, he was a member of the Board of Barristers and represented Texas Tech in numerous national mock trial competitions, including one in which he won First Place in the prestigious William W. Daniel National Mock Trial Competition. 

Abel is a member of the State Bar of Texas and the Dallas Bar Association.  He is admitted to practice in the U.S. District Courts, the Northern, Eastern, Southern and Western Districts of Texas, and the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Abel is a native son of Muleshoe, Texas. He and his wife Marcie live in the Lake Highlands area of Dallas and they have four sons.  They are active members of Northwest Bible Church.  Abel and Marcie also oversee the production and sale of Leal’s brand salsa, chips and other products based on the recipes used in his family’s landmark Mexican food restaurants in the West Texas area.