The 20-year-old got off to a good start as he produced a flawless kicking performance to come away with a 23-point haul and the man of the match award in his side's narrow 29-28 defeat to Scarlets on Friday.
Laidlaw has been forced out of the two most recent Edinburgh games after being injured in their 45-0 defeat to Saracens in the Heineken Cup although Gregor Hunter was preferred in their next match - a 33-0 defeat to Munster.
But with Leonard's impressive performance after taking the No.10 shirt off Hunter, the Brighton-born youngster knows he is in a fight to fashion a role in the absence of Scotland half-back Laidlaw, who should be fit for the autumn internationals.
"The next few weeks present a great opportunity for me to work hard for a more regular spot in the team with Greig [Laidlaw] away for three or four games and I'll be working hard to get some good games under my belt," said Leonard.
"Greig is awesome for me and Gregor and he talks me through my game. To watch him play and how he controls the game, and then talk to him is invaluable for our development.
"It is great for me but I put the man of the match award down to the forwards. I kicked a couple of penalties but they come from the forwards' hard work and they really fronted up.
"Lately our performances haven't been good enough and I felt we put a lot of things right.
"There were obviously bad things but I think there was positives to take from the game, and one of them was major positives was the forwards."
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