Heidi Leithead Villa

Heidi Leithead Villa has been an associate and then a shareholder of Parr Brown Gee & Loveless for 31 years. In 2018, she transitioned to an Of Counsel position. She served as President of the Firm from 2012 to 2013.  She has spent 30 years counseling employers on various issues relating to employment law and personnel management and has presented at numerous seminars on various employment-related topics. 

She advises both public and private employers in the areas of employment discrimination, harassment, and retaliation; disability accommodation issues; employment policies and practices; disciplinary action and documentation; employee leave laws; plant closures and restructuring; protection of trade secrets and other confidential and proprietary information through the use of confidentiality, noncompetition, nonsolicitation, and employee invention agreements; wage and hour laws; whistleblower laws; and other employment-related issues. She represents both public and private employers before state and federal courts and administrative agencies.

Ms. Leithead Villa received her B.A. degree, cum laude, from the University of Utah and went on to receive her J.D. degree in 1987 from the University of Utah S.J. Quinney School of Law, where she was awarded the Order of the Coif and Leary Scholar academic designations and served as a staff member and on the Board of Editors of the Utah Law Review. 

Memberships:

Aldon J. Anderson American Inn of Court (former)

• Master of the Bench
• President, 2012-2013

Utah State Bar, Employment Law Section
American Bar Association, Labor and Employment Law Section

Recognition:

Ms. Leithead Villa was named the 2013 Christine M. Durham Lawyer of the Year by the Women Lawyers of Utah. In 2012, she was appointed by Utah Governor Gary Herbert to serve as a member of the Board of Directors of the Workers Compensation Fund, now Workers Compensation Mutual Insurance Company. She recently was re-elected to an additional four-year term on that Board and serves on the Board’s Risk Oversight Committee.

Ms. Leithead Villa was a Master of the Bench and also served as President of the Aldon J. Anderson American Inn of Court for 2012/2013 and as an Adjunct Professor, J. Reuben Clark Law School, Brigham Young University (Employment Discrimination Law) from 2010-11 through 2012-13 academic years. She also has been included in Utah’s Legal Elite, 2002-present, The Best Lawyers in America, 2008-present, “Lawyer of the Year” by Best Lawyers® for Employment Law in Utah, in Chambers USA – America’s Leading Business Lawyers, and has a Martindale-Hubbell AV rating.

Reported Cases:

• Boswell v. SkyWest Airlines, Inc., 381 F.3d 1263 (10th Cir. 2004)
• SCFC ILC, Inc. v. Visa USA, Inc., 36 F.3d 938 (10th Cir. 1994)
• Utah Public Employee’s Assn. v. State, 131 P.3d 208 (Utah 2005)
• Clarke v. Living Scriptures, Inc., 114 P.3d 602 (Utah Ct. App. 2005)
• YESCO v. UDOT, 110 P.3d 1118 (Utah Ct. App. 2005)