The Chief Instructor of Lafferty Traditional Shotokan Karate-Do, Leonard Lafferty was born and raised in Hawaii. His first exposure to the martial arts was in 1957, when he began studying Kempo under Professor William Chow. Seven years later, in 1963, he joined Wado-Yu Ryu under Sensei K. Hirano and trained for five years. During this time Sensei Lafferty achieved the rank of Shodan (1st degree black belt). Impressed by the dynamic and scientific methods of Shotokan, he started training under Shihan Funakoshi at the Karate Association of Hawaii (now FSKA). He later moved to San Jose, CA in mid-1968, where he continued studying Shotokan under Sempai Okimura who ran an affiliate dojo of FSKA. Sensei Lafferty also started to teach at affiliated branches in Santa Clara County, including Berryessa Recreation Center, West Valley College Karate Club, San Jose State Karate Club, Los Gatos YMCA, and Kelly Park Recreation Center.

During this time, Sensei Lafferty became a deputy sheriff for the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department. During his 5 years as a deputy sheriff, he helped teach self-defense at the Santa Clara County Police Academy, also for the Palo Alto SWAT Team and San Jose Police Department.

Sensei Lafferty (in his younger years) entered many tournaments throughout the West Coast and Hawaii, and not surprisingly, won many 1st place championships. He has also been in the world's leading magazine of self-defense, "Black Belt Magazine". He now holds the rank of Shichidan (7th Degree), one of the highest ranks in Funakoshi Shotokan Karate Association, under Shihan Funakoshi.

In March of 1987, Sensei Lafferty opened his first dojo in the city of Milpitas. He kept this dojo until November of 1997. After Sensei Lafferty moved to Vacaville in October of 1997, he turned his dojo in Milpitas over to Shihan Funakoshi to be the new FSKA World Headquarters. He has now opened a dojo in Vacaville (the only traditional Japanese-style Karate in the cities of Vacaville and Fairfield). Now the Tri-City area (Vacaville, Fairfield and Suisun) will have a legitimate taste of traditional Japanese style karate.