Who Is Teresa Giudice's Lawyer, James Leonard? About Their Relationship

As Season 14 of The Real Housewives of New Jersey plays out, it has become increasingly clear that a major shift is necessary to bring viewers back to the franchise. The feuds have not only felt tiresome, but the influence of legal ramifications has led to the focus being on legal back-and-forths rather than hashed out the old-fashioned way of flipping tables. Season 13 saw Luis Ruelas allegedly looking into the backgrounds of his wife's fellow co-stars, and Season 14 has its own influence.

If there is someone within the RHONJ franchise who is no stranger to legal issues, it's OG Teresa Giudice. Longtime fans of the show have seen her go through her prison time for fraud to getting divorced from Joe Giudice. Teresa fired her former lawyer from the fraud charges due to his alleged negligence. Her current lawyer, however, is one that she clearly trusts, as she even brought him into the fold during Season 14 in an interesting sit-down situation. Who is Teresa's lawyer, James Leonard?

Teresa and Luis's family lawyer is James Leonard. He's known Teresa and her family long enough for him not to just be considered their lawyer but a close friend. In fact, Teresa decided to inadvertently or purposefully bring him into her feud with Margaret Josephs.

She had James there so that he could explain the activities that Margaret had allegedly been engaging in to get back at Teresa and Luis. On paper, the whole situation is fairly simple, so why did Teresa have James come to the meeting?

While the meeting itself felt redundant for most viewers, it also seemed relatively redundant for team Teresa. Jennifer Aydin, Jackie Goldschneider, Danielle Cabral, and Dolores Catania were joined by Teresa's daughter, Gia Giudice, for the meeting.

The goal was for the ladies to truly understand everything that Teresa's pain and suffering. It was more of a "Margaret is the bad guy ruining Teresa and Luis's life" meeting. It's clear James feels deeply for the struggle that Teresa thinks she's going through.

Teresa is not the only star on James's roster. He is also the lawyer of Jersey Shore star Angelina Pivarnick, who has had a few problems with the law over the past few years. One thing that is clear from James's Instagram page is just how much he cares for his clients.

He's developed close ties with Teresa and Luis, as well as Angelina. Now, one thing that viewers would certainly love to see is a crossover moment with Jersey Shore. Or, even better, a cast shakeup that brings the Shore ladies to the Bravo world.