Leslie litigates complex insurance and commercial cases at the trial and appellate levels in state and federal courts nationwide on behalf of U.S.-based and international clients. She also arbitrates reinsurance and commercial disputes in domestic and international proceedings.

Overview
Representative Matters
Insights
Awards

Leslie has significant experience representing reinsurance companies and insurance companies in dispute work, with a focus on life insurance/reinsurance, catastrophe insurance/reinsurance, and high-stakes property and casualty issues, such as mass torts and sexual abuse/molestation claims. She regularly represents insurance and reinsurance companies in negotiations, mediations, court lawsuits, and arbitrations arising out of their reinsurance relationships.

Leslie works with clients to develop strategies for addressing portfolio-wide issues and issues with significant, potentially multibillion-dollar impacts. She has extensive experience in federal bankruptcy, district, and appellate courts, and regularly represents clients in high-stakes commercial litigation.

Insurance/Reinsurance

  • Achieved a significant victory for a reinsurer in an arbitration concerning its contractual right to increase nonguaranteed reinsurance premiums and secured a final award worth upwards of $115 million.
  • Counseling and representing reinsurers in disputes involving their obligations and their ability to increase premiums on books of yearly renewable term life insurance.
  • Representing insurers in litigation involving coverage for Amtrak’s environmental liabilities and various bodily injury claims arising out of repetitive stress, asbestos, and other substances.
  • Counseling and representing insurers in litigation regarding coverage for concussion-related injuries involving the National Football League, the National Collegiate Athletic Association, and World Wrestling Entertainment.
  • Representing London market insurers with respect to coverage issues for various professional liability matters, including crime, technology and media, and architects and engineers.
  • Representing insurers in litigation regarding coverage for General Motors’ historical environmental and asbestos liabilities.
  • Played leading role in trial and appeal representing insurers in the nation’s most significant asbestos bankruptcy cases, including Combustion Engineering, Congoleum, Federal-Mogul, Flintkote, JT Thorpe, Mid-Valley, Owens Corning, Plant Insulation, Quigley, Skinner Engine, Specialty Products, Thorpe Insulation, and W.R. Grace.

 Specialized Litigation

  • Successfully represented global petroleum and petrochemical trading company in a 10-day trial that resulted in holding a contractual counter-party company’s affiliates, managers, and owners liable under veil-piercing and alter-ego theories for a multimillion-dollar judgment against the company.
  • Prevailing in several arbitrations for clients seeking contractual indemnification for multimillion-dollar losses, including obtaining awards of attorneys’ fees and interest from the other contracting parties.
  • Representing a global petroleum and petrochemical trading company in multiple U.S. and international contract disputes involving the purchase or sale of biodiesel fuel, chemicals, and other energy products.
  • Representing an international biopharmaceutical company in arbitrations concerning contractual licensing disputes.
  • Legal 500 United States: Insurance: Advice to Insurers (2025)
  • Best Lawyers in America®: Insurance Law (2023-2026), Reinsurance Law (2026)
  • Benchmark Litigation: “Local Litigation Star” in Washington, D.C. (2025)

Leslie has significant experience representing reinsurance companies and insurance companies in dispute work, with a focus on life insurance/reinsurance, catastrophe insurance/reinsurance, and high-stakes property and casualty issues, such as mass torts and sexual abuse/molestation claims. She regularly represents insurance and reinsurance companies in negotiations, mediations, court lawsuits, and arbitrations arising out of their reinsurance relationships.

Leslie works with clients to develop strategies for addressing portfolio-wide issues and issues with significant, potentially multibillion-dollar impacts. She has extensive experience in federal bankruptcy, district, and appellate courts, and regularly represents clients in high-stakes commercial litigation.

Insurance/Reinsurance

  • Achieved a significant victory for a reinsurer in an arbitration concerning its contractual right to increase nonguaranteed reinsurance premiums and secured a final award worth upwards of $115 million.
  • Counseling and representing reinsurers in disputes involving their obligations and their ability to increase premiums on books of yearly renewable term life insurance.
  • Representing insurers in litigation involving coverage for Amtrak’s environmental liabilities and various bodily injury claims arising out of repetitive stress, asbestos, and other substances.
  • Counseling and representing insurers in litigation regarding coverage for concussion-related injuries involving the National Football League, the National Collegiate Athletic Association, and World Wrestling Entertainment.
  • Representing London market insurers with respect to coverage issues for various professional liability matters, including crime, technology and media, and architects and engineers.
  • Representing insurers in litigation regarding coverage for General Motors’ historical environmental and asbestos liabilities.
  • Played leading role in trial and appeal representing insurers in the nation’s most significant asbestos bankruptcy cases, including Combustion Engineering, Congoleum, Federal-Mogul, Flintkote, JT Thorpe, Mid-Valley, Owens Corning, Plant Insulation, Quigley, Skinner Engine, Specialty Products, Thorpe Insulation, and W.R. Grace.

 Specialized Litigation

  • Successfully represented global petroleum and petrochemical trading company in a 10-day trial that resulted in holding a contractual counter-party company’s affiliates, managers, and owners liable under veil-piercing and alter-ego theories for a multimillion-dollar judgment against the company.
  • Prevailing in several arbitrations for clients seeking contractual indemnification for multimillion-dollar losses, including obtaining awards of attorneys’ fees and interest from the other contracting parties.
  • Representing a global petroleum and petrochemical trading company in multiple U.S. and international contract disputes involving the purchase or sale of biodiesel fuel, chemicals, and other energy products.
  • Representing an international biopharmaceutical company in arbitrations concerning contractual licensing disputes.
  • Legal 500 United States: Insurance: Advice to Insurers (2025)
  • Best Lawyers in America®: Insurance Law (2023-2026), Reinsurance Law (2026)
  • Benchmark Litigation: “Local Litigation Star” in Washington, D.C. (2025)
  • Co-chair, ABA Business Bankruptcy Committee; Member, Mass Torts and Environmental Claims Subcommittee
  • Claims and Litigation Management Alliance

Education

  • University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, J.D., with honors, 2002
  • University of Maryland, B.A., 1996

Bar Admissions

  • District of Columbia
  • Maryland

Court Admissions

  • U.S. District Court, District of Maryland
  • U.S. District Court, District of Columbia
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit
  • Speaker, “Insights Into Energy and Construction,” Troutman Pepper Locke International Arbitration Forum, May 15, 2025.
  • Speaker, “US Revival Statutes and Insurance/Reinsurance Considerations,” AIRROC Chicago Regional Education Day, April 10, 2025.
  • Speaker, “Reinsurance Contract Interpretation,” Reinsurance Association of America’s “Re Contracts: The Art of Designing Reinsurance Contracts and Programs” Conference, July 24, 2024.
  • Presenter, “U.S. Sexual Abuse Revival Statutes and Insurance/Reinsurance Considerations,” Troutman Pepper, 2023.
  • Panelist, “Recent Developments in Insurance and Reinsurance Arbitration,” AtlAS Tertulia Sessions, October 2, 2023.
  • Speaker, “Interactive Workshop on Reinsurance Contract Interpretation,” Reinsurance Association of America, July 26, 2023.
  • Presenter, “U.S. Revival Statutes and Insurance/Reinsurance Considerations,” Brokers & Reinsurance Markets Association, BRMA Lunch and Learn, March 22, 2023.
  • Panelist, “Set Up, Design and Tactics in Value-Driven Negotiation,” ABA Women in Litigation Joint Conference, November 16, 2017.
  • Panelist, “Insurance Coverage Issues: Loss Portfolio Transfers, Retroactive Reinsurance, Legacy Liabilities, Long Tail Losses, Trigger, Allocation, Successor Rights After Mergers, and More,” ACI 22nd National Advanced Forum on Asbestos Claims and Litigation, January 13, 2017.
  • Panelist, “Garlock Decision/Transparency Issues – the Bankrupt Legacy Insured and the Double Dipping Claimant,” AIRROC’s New York Regional Education Day, New York, NY, April 21, 2016.
  • Panelist, “Asbestos – A Perspective From the Direct Side: Current Trends and Future Predictions,” ARIAS•U.S. Webinar, April 22, 2015.
  • Panelist, “Insurance Coverage Issues: Pursuing Claims Against Bankrupt, Dissolved, or Defunct Entities; Issues Involving Joint Insurers and Non-Settling Insurers; Trigger, Exhaustion and Allocation Nuances; Assignment of Policies and Proceeds; and Developments With Respect to CUMIS Counsel,” ACI 18th National Advanced Forum on Asbestos Claims and Litigation, January. 16, 2015.
  • Panelist, “Asbestos Bankruptcy Cases, Tort Litigation and Discovery Issues,” National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges, October 10, 2014.
  • Panelist, “The Effect of the Estimation Ruling in the Garlock Bankruptcy Case on the Future of Asbestos Litigation and the Latest on Courts and Legislatures Providing for Greater Transparency Between the Trust Claim and Civil Tort Systems,” ACI 17th National Advanced Forum on Asbestos Claims and Litigation, June 26, 2014.
  • Panelist, “Jargony – Insurance Basics for Business Lawyers,” ABA Business Law Section Spring Meeting, April 10, 2014.