Leah Bates

Since graduating St. Mary’s Law School in 1991, Attorney Leah Bates has lived and practiced law in San Antonio. After a very brief attempt at insurance defense, she began practicing criminal defense in the Law Office of Ronald P. Guyer.

In 1996, by what she believes to be sheer happenstance (but it was actually because of George Scharmen’s persistence) she applied and became a DPS ALR attorney. After two years with the Department, an ALJ position became open and she began working for SOAH as an ALJ.

What was to be a part-time position quickly turned into full time Lead ALJ for San Antonio SOAH. Leah worked for SOAH for five years handling mainly ALR cases. In 2003, she decided that seven years of state government work was enough, so she went out on her own. Since that time her entire practice of law has been devoted to ALR defense.