Summary: The influence of transverse leakage into a pressure-driven laminar flow in an infinitely long square duct is investigated. By a simple decomposition of the resulting three-dimensional pressure field, the leakage-induced secondary flow problem decouples from the primary flow problem. The numerical study reveals that two qualitatively different secondary flow patterns may occur, depending on the leakage flow rate. For a given streamwise pressure gradient it is observed that the axial mass flow rate may reduce by about 30 percent under certain leakage conditions, accompanied by a corresponding 50 percent increase in the Darcy-Weisbach friction factor.