Leslie J. Weiss

Leslie’s clients included fast-growth, technology, financial services, medical device, internet-based, communications and publicly traded companies. Throughout her career, she served as outside general counsel and primary legal adviser for numerous clients. Her experience included the representation of private and public companies, both domestic and international, in their general corporate and securities work. She has led teams on both the buy and sell sides for numerous mergers and acquisitions.

In addition to M&A, Leslie advised on various types of capital-raising transactions, venture capital transactions and angel rounds. She represented clients in numerous venture rounds, with multiple venture firms located in various parts of the country participating in each round. Her experience was primarily on the company side, but included fund representation as well. In addition, Leslie advised on private and public offerings and 1934 Act securities compliance filings. She also assisted her clients with complex intellectual property licensing deals.

Notably, many of the transactions in which she has been involved were international in scope, where she represented both U.S. and non U.S. participants in these deals.

Leslie represented many clients from the startup phase through their ultimate exit, handling multiple financing rounds and acquisitions and providing general corporate counseling as their legal needs expanded and became more complex. Leslie attended, and guided clients involved in, board meetings and understands the complexities of the relationships between founders and sophisticated investors. She was dedicated to serving as an instrumental adviser when helping clients plan business expansions, which often involves significant restructuring and recapitalization of their entities.

These experiences gave Leslie a deep understanding of the needs of growing businesses, the impact the different interests of management and the boards of companies have on those businesses, and the steps a business must take to prepare for a successful exit.

Throughout her career, Leslie represented participants in the financial services industry, including broker-dealers, investment advisers, hedge funds proprietary trading firms and futures industry participants. She advised such clients regarding regulatory compliance, capital raising transactions, acquisitions and dispositions, as well as on the issues raised by regulatory audits and enforcement actions, representing them before different regulatory agencies such as FINRA, NFA and various exchanges.