Burr Leonard, born Ellen Burr Leonard in Atlanta, Georgia on May 16, 1947, is a co-founder of The Bar Method®. Today Leonard is President of The Bar Method, and continues to fine-tune the technique, work on the franchise and produce media content for the live steaming library.

Leonard is the daughter of George Leonard, who was an editor of Look magazine and the older sister of Missy Leonard, who is a year and a half younger. As a young girl, Burr Leonard earned a reputation as a shy tomboy and was know by her peers for teaching herself to play the guitar.

Leonard attended the University of California at Berkeley where she studied Anthropology and Journalism. Following graduation she spent time studying at the American Conservatory Theatre in San Fransisco and then moved to New York City to pursue an acting career. While in New York she drifted from her acting aspirations and began focusing on journalism. She first worked as a reporter for Esquire and Forbes Magazine and later as a researcher for the TV show “Adam Smith’s Money World.” Here, Leonard was also first introduced to the Lotte Berk Method in 1981. She became a regular student and certified bar instructor. Later, she would meet Lotte Berk and open her own Lotte Berk studio in Greenwich, Connecticut and her first Bar Method studio in San Francisco, California.