Joe Leo

I strive to provide my clients with practical and timely legal advice.  I make my clients' business objectives the focus of my advice.  I believe that understanding your business is essential to providing you the legal services your business deserves.  I work hard to understand your business objectives and priorities and make sure your legal strategy matches those priorities and objectives.  I despise inefficiency.  My clients do not spend time on things that do not matter to their business and I work to make sure I do the same.

My Approach

I focus on helping my clients identify and execute on opportunities.  Put differently, I like playing offense more than I like playing defense.  I am most comfortable meeting with my clients for coffee or lunch to hear about their business before I even attempt to help them create a legal strategy.  I pride myself on finding creative solutions to problems.  I feel my duty is to help my clients understand and evaluate the legal risks they face and use that understanding to make the best decision for their business.  I also use my relationships and contacts to help my clients realize their goals and capture opportunities.  More than any other attorney I know, I use flat fee and alternative fee engagements to align my clients' need for efficiency and budget certainty with my results focused mentality.

More About Me

I never dreamed that I would be an attorney.  When I graduated from college I started my career running two federal business development programs for the Wisconsin Department of Commerce.  It was through this experience that I learned how much I love working with businesses.  In 2006 I received my J.D. from Drake University Law School with high honors.  I have worked at BrownWinick my entire legal career. I have been selected for inclusion in Best Lawyers® in America in the areas of Leveraged Buyouts and Private Equity Law and Securities/Capital Markets Law. 

I currently provide securities compliance services to four publicly reporting companies.  I am also very involved with Plains Angels, an angel capital group operating in central Iowa and I work closely with many companies in the Global Insurance Accelerator and the Iowa State Startup Factory. These relationships allow me to work with early stage companies from around the world. 

My Specialties

• Corporate Finance / Securities
• Start-up and High Growth Companies
• Corporate and Business Law