Leonard A. Bennett

Nationally renowned consumer lawyer Leonard A. Bennett received the National Consumer Law Center’s 2025 Vern Countryman Award.

Founding Partner of the Virginia law firm Consumer Litigation Associates, Bennett has been a fierce consumer advocate for decades, winning multimillion-dollar judgments against payday loan businesses, debt collectors, credit reporting agencies, and scam lenders. He also devotes considerable time and resources to training a new generation of consumer advocates. 

Bennett has been a trial attorney and consumer advocate since 1994 in Newport News, Va. He serves on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Consumer Advocates (NACA), on the National Consumer Law Center’s Partner’s Council, as a Williamsburg Society member of the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association, and as a member of the Trial Law Institute and Diversity Law Institute.

He has directed sizable cy pres awards from his successful class action lawsuits to support legal aid and public interest organizations working for consumer justice, including the Virginia Poverty Law Center, Public Justice, Legal Aid Justice Center, and NCLC. He co-founded Hampton Roads Refugee Relief and has sustained numerous organizations supporting low-income Virginians.