Joey P. Leniski, Jr

Joey’s paternal grandfather worked on the assembly floor at the Studebaker Automotive Company in South Bend, Indiana. When Studebaker shut its doors in 1963, it terminated the retirement plan for hourly workers, and the plan defaulted on its obligations.  The resulting hardships experienced by his grandfather and other employees would be one of the driving forces behind Congress passing the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), the seminal law protecting employee pensions and retirement plans to this day.  The plight of his grandfather, as well as his upbringing in a working class family in the Midwest, instilled in Joey the virtues of humility, decency, and fundamental fairness.  These principles guide his legal practice as he seeks to protect the rights of working individuals, consumers, and other victims of corporate greed and exploitation.  

Before becoming a founding partner of Herzfeld, Suetholz, Gastel, Leniski, and Wall PLLC, Joey attended the University of Notre Dame, where he double-majored in Government and Film, wrote for the Observer newspaper, and fought in collegiate boxing.  He then continued to Vanderbilt University Law School, where he served as President of the Vanderbilt Bar Association and won the Jordan A. Quick Memorial Award for Outstanding Leadership. Joey now serves as an ND Loyal Ambassador performing outreach to fellow alumni, and enjoys attending ND Football games both at home and on the road.  He has called Nashville, Tennessee home for the last twenty-plus years, and has three wonderful children, all of whom remind him daily of what is most important in life. He is also an Eagle Scout, and now serves as a Scoutmaster with Troop 217 in Nashville.