Some of Leslie’s internships during college and law school allowed her to have different perspectives on serving hospitals and patients. She worked at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and the New York Department of Health and learned not only about medical procedures but also about the many dimensions, apart from direct medical care, that affected patient outcomes. After Leslie graduated from Albany Law School of Union University, she primarily represented treating doctors and hospitals. She learned a lot of law and medicine; she learned a lot about strategy and case management and evidence and picking a jury . . . but all along it seemed something was missing.

Early on, she recognized what injured parties were going through and often felt far more empathy for her opponents’ clients than her professional clients. They had been injured – many seriously – or were sitting at the table across from her because a loved one had died, and they were going through hell. These people needed a shoulder, an empathetic ear, and a strong and steady voice to tell their story. She knew she wanted to be the powerful messenger for them and get all of them to their next best place.

When she joined Carmody & Torrance LLP in Waterbury about four years into her career, she continued representing defendants but slowly began to expand her practice. She learned ‘the ropes’ of medical malpractice from the defendant’s perspective from a stalwart, namely, Gus Southworth, and the plaintiff’s perspective from the very best, Kathleen Nastri. Those two competing legal giants helped her form a unique perspective on injury cases that Leslie has never lost.

Eventually, Leslie moved completely to the plaintiff’s side and hung her own shingle. It was everything she thought it would be: challenging and rewarding. Here’s how she describes the difference: “to successfully bring a personal injury action, you have to build a house of cards; to defend a personal injury suit you only have to remove one card.” She prefers to build. Most of all, though, she found an avocation that not only utilizes her passions but demands them. In short, she passionately became an advocate for people who had sustained injuries that affected their freedom of choice and their ability to move and experience life on their own terms. She found her calling: to restore people to living their best life even when they had to overcome a huge spectrum of obstacles and setbacks. Her strength gave them reassurance and Justice.

Leslie can finally merge her passion for advocating and, when necessary, litigating for her clients with the entrepreneurial spirit she’s been imbued with since day one. She’s built on her skills of writing and persuasion she learned at the prestigious Boston University College of Communication. She advocates carefully and successfully, knowing what approach will resonate with different types of decision-makers. She does not believe in a one tone fits all or that one approach fits all cases. She customizes case strategies and regularly gets her client to their next best place.

What may best describe Leslie is contained within her X ‘bio’:
Lawyer, known for ‘gotta pick your brain’ accessibility, empathy, collaboration, will put the ‘jury’ in injury law if needed, empowering & thinks outside the box.

Leslie is a founding member and past Chair of the Connecticut Trial Lawyers Association Women’s Law Caucus; has been appointed to the Continuing Legal Education Committee of the CTLA; chairs and is a frequent lecturer at Connecticut Trial Lawyers Association seminars; and was a founding member of the Medical-Legal Committee of the New Haven County Bar Association.

In the last five years, Leslie has been advocating around the country for families who have experienced unnecessary barriers to parenthood caused by fertility clinics and sperm banks’ carelessness. To that end, Leslie co-founded and was appointed chairperson of the Fertility Clinic Litigation Section of the American Association for Justice. She is in the process of generating a book on the topic, When Fertility Treatment Goes Awry. One of her fertility cases will be heard by the Supreme Court of the State of Connecticut in the fall.

Leslie loves to talk, but prefers to listen, and cherishes the relationships she has developed with her clients, colleagues, members of the Bench and loves to mentor people looking to find their way in the legal profession.

She is admitted to practice in New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and U.S. District Court, District of Connecticut, and the Supreme Court of the United States.

Equally important as her career is her cherished family, her husband Todd, and her girls, Haley and Alexa. She adores her Shih Tzu pup, Teddy. She also loves traveling and poker.