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Leighton grew up in Riverside, attending Poly High School where he played football. He attended college in San Diego at U.S.I.U., then obtained his J.D. degree at the University of Southern California. While in law school, Leighton clerked at Thompson & Colegate during the summer of 1971. Upon graduation in 1972, he served in Riverside as the field representative for State Senator W. Craig Biddle. Finally, in 1973, Leighton rejoined Thompson & Colegate as a full time associate and became a partner in 1978. He was the managing partner for the Palm Desert Office of Thompson & Colegate since 1990. On July 1, 1998, he will be practicing law as a partner with the law firm of Tegland & Plott. In his professional career, Leighton has tried numerous Superior Court jury trials and became a member of ABOTA in 1981, being a past president of the San Bernardino-Riverside Chapter of that organization. Leighton is a member of the Riverside County Bar Association, the Desert Bar Association and is past president of the Riverside County Barristers. He is also a member of the Defense Research Institute, a sustaining member of the Association of Southern California Defense Counsel, (Board of Directors, 1991-92) and a member of the Southern California Association of Healthcare Risk Managers. Leighton has served as a referee on the State Bar Court for the past 10 years, is on the mediation panel for the Court of Appeals, Fourth District, Division Two, and he is often a court appointed referee in civil cases. Leighton has two sons, one attending college in Newport Beach, and the other attending college in Santa Cruz, as well as a two year old daughter. His personal interests, in addition to his family, include skiing, tennis, sailing, gun collecting, computers and auto racing. He resides in Palm Desert with his wife, Gina, and his daughter, Jessica.
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