Tried Cases Before the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veteran Claims
Retired Veteran (Lt. Colonel, U.S. Air Force) with 18 years of service
Master’s in Healthcare Administration in addition to her law degree
Attorney Leah Parady
Personal injury and workers’ compensation attorney Leah Parady joined the Law Offices of James Scott Farrin in 2024 after serving 18 years in the Air Force. Now, she channels her energy and efforts toward seeking justice and compensation for individuals harmed by others’ negligence.
Leah’s journey began in New Hampshire before taking her to California, all over the world, and eventually to North Carolina. During college, she completed Air Force R.O.T.C. while studying for her Bachelor’s in Human Development and Family Studies. While on active duty, she continued her studies and obtained a Master’s in Healthcare Administration.
The Person Concerned With What Happens After Combat
Over her career in the Air Force – her callsign was Chairman – Leah was sent to some of the world’s hotspots and later served as a medical planner for U.S. operations in Europe. She served as the U.S. liaison to NATO for medical planning, making sure soldiers had the necessary medical facilities, supplies, and care.
Hospital administration is complicated enough without having to account for the limitations and eccentricities of different nations and questions of who they’d treat, and for what. It taught her the arts of navigating cultural boundaries and nuanced negotiation.
Profound Perspective at a Cost
Leah retired due to combat-related PTSD and spent significant time in treatment. Her battle with it became a powerful motivator, and she decided to enroll in law school to help others going through difficult times.
After obtaining her JD from Campbell University School of Law, Leah started her own firm and provided legal services and free advice to veterans seeking benefits. She also helped those who did not need legal services but who might otherwise have fallen prey to scams and profiteers waiting to charge them for what should be free advice.
Fairness Is Never Optional
Each day, Leah is motivated by an iconic Knute Rockney quote: “Win or lose, do it fairly.”
Leah’s life experience, desire to serve, and powerful sense of fairness power the work she does for injured people. She is driven to help personal injury victims, people seeking workers’ compensation benefits, and other people in need. She finds it particularly rewarding to assist people with the complicated issues that accompany so many injury cases.
Her experience representing other veterans before the Department of Veterans Affairs – a sprawling bureaucracy – has come in handy when taking on private insurance companies. For Leah, understanding an insurer’s corporate policy documents and how it defines “terms of art” such as medical necessity and durable medical equipment is critical to helping clients level the playing field with powerful corporations.
The Beauty Is in the Details
Leah enjoys art and the meticulous beauty of beadwork. Details matter.
Meticulous also describes her work in challenging cases. In one case, she helped a young veteran suffering from PTSD – a difficult thing to prove because it is often “embarrassing” for veterans to admit and report – obtain the help and care he needed.
This outcome required the careful, tireless, and meticulous collection of enough circumstantial and corroborating evidence to convince a skeptical agency to provide care. It paid off, and Leah and the veteran are still in contact to this day.1
Outside of the office, Leah and her twin sister have a birthday tradition of giving gifts to close friends instead of getting them. Leah says the tradition makes birthdays “a true celebration of friendship.”