Lear joined Susman Godfrey after clerking for Judge Danny J. Boggs of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and for Judge Colleen McMahon of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Lear is a graduate of Columbia Law School, where he was a semi-finalist of the Harlan Fiske Stone Moot Court Competition and a Notes Editor for the Columbia Law Review. His Law Review Note on campaign finance disclosure has been cited in amicus briefs on the issue before the U.S. Supreme Court. Lear is also a graduate of the University of Chicago, where he earned a dual degree in Economics and Political Science. In college, he was on the editorial board of the Chicago Maroon.