Class of 1974
Leland D. Sterling graduated cum laude from Biola College where he served as the Men’s President, the Graduating Class Speaker, and the captain of the baseball team. He went on to graduate magna cum laude from the California Baptist Seminary with a Bachelor of Divinity degree. There, he also served as student body president and the Graduating Class Speaker.
Next, Leland earned a Master’s degree in Sacred Theology from the Andover Newton School of Theology at Yale Divinity School. He also completed graduate programs in psychology and counseling at both Claremont Graduate School, and Harvard. Leland served internships at four separate hospitals, completing the mandatory 3,000 hours for the Marriage, Family and Child Counseling license.
As an ordained minister who had pastored several churches, Leland served as a marriage, family, and child counselor at Lemoore Naval Air Station. There he saw first-hand, a gap between the needs of people in crisis, and the ability of the legal system to address them.
When, in 1969, a new law school opened in Fresno, Leland saw an opportunity to help fill that gap by studying law and the legal process. As a distinguished member of SJCL’s very first graduating class in 1974, Leland was active in student affairs, wrote for the school newspaper, won the faculty scholarship award (three years in a row), served as student body president, and as valedictorian. He graduated from SJCL with highest honors.
He attended his law classes at night, so he could spend his days teaching English, psychology, speech, and debate at Kingsburg Union High School.
After graduating from law school, Leland first worked as a deputy district attorney for Fresno County. He quickly showed skill as a prosecutor and was assigned to several high-profile cases. In 1977, he and two colleagues formed the first Sexual Assault Team and Victim Witness Program at the Fresno County D.A.’s office. For many years he spoke at mental health facilities, churches, and schools against domestic violence. He trained volunteers in counseling victims, and installed a red hotline phone at his home, so victims in trouble could call him 24-7.
In 1981, he joined the law firm of Brewer and Montgomery in Tustin, California, as a litigator. When his daughter Lisa graduated from Santa Clara University School of Law in 1989, the two of them opened a practice in Newport Beach: Sterling & Sterling, Attorneys at Law. Their firm was a general practice with both civil and criminal matters, some family law, and some entertainment law. Leland rarely turned down a case, taking many as pro bono when necessary. Drafting contracts for entertainers, including luminaries like Gwen Stefani, was just a part of his daily work. While in Southern California, Leland also served as a mediator for the Orange County Bar Association and sat as Judge Pro Tem. In addition, he joined the legal team on a radio show called “Talk to Terrell,” which was broadcast out of Victorville. Leland was known as “The Silver Fox of the Desert,” as he answered legal questions live on the air.
In 2007 he was invited to apply for a position with the Tulare County District Attorney’s Office. He worked there for eight years, first in White-Collar crimes and then in the Juvenile Court, as a Senior Deputy District Attorney.
Leland and his wife LaVone have been married for 66 years. They have three adult daughters and six grandchildren.