Director Leon Rodriguez

Leon Rodriguez is the Director of the Office for Civil Rights of the Department of Health and Human Services.

From January 2010 until September 2011, Leon was the Chief of Staff and Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division. In addition to overseeing the administrative operations of the Civil Rights Division, Leon’s leadership portfolio includes civil rights matters involving discrimination based on national origin and immigration status, legislative affairs and community outreach.

From May 2007 to January 2010, Leon served as the County Attorney for Montgomery County, Maryland, in which capacity he was responsible for leading the 45-attorney legal staff of Montgomery County government in providing legal advice and service to all County agencies. In this capacity, Leon devoted a significant portion of his time working with the County’s Department of Health and Human Services as well as its Office of Human Rights.

From May 2001 to May 2007, he was a shareholder in the Health Law department of the law firm of Ober, Kaler, Grimes & Shriver. In 2004, Leon was named “Outstanding Health Care Litigator” by Nightingale Health Care News. While in private practice, Leon served on the board of the Montgomery County Primary Care Coalition, an organization that developed and implemented health care programs for uninsured County residents.

For thirteen years prior to entering private practice, Leon was a federal and state prosecutor in various jurisdictions. From 1997 to 2001, he was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania assigned to the prosecution of health care fraud cases. Leon served as the First Assistant U.S. Attorney from 1999-2001, and as the Chief of the White Collar Crimes Section from 1998-1999.

From 1994 – 1997, Leon served as a trial attorney in the Criminal Section of the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division. Prior to his first DOJ stint, Leon was an Assistant District Attorney in Brooklyn, NY for six years.

Leon is a graduate of Brown University and Boston College Law School and is fluent in Spanish and French.