After fifteen years as a partner at Rosenberg|Martin|Greenberg, LLP, Ms. Ries moved her office to the Mt. Washington Mill Center in January of 2007, where she continues her practice of law and real estate investments. Prior to Rosenberg Martin, she was a partner in the Real Estate Department of Frank, Bernstein, Conaway & Goldman. She formed Leslie S. Ries, P.C. in 1991, which has been certified as a women-owned enterprise by the City of Baltimore since that time.

A frequent teacher and lecturer on issues related to real estate transactions, Ms. Ries was an Adjunct Professor at the University of Maryland School of Law for 13 years where she taught a course on real estate transactions. She also served on the Real Property, Planning and Zoning Section Council of the Maryland State Bar Association for many years.

Ms. Ries has been active with some of the area’s leading non-profit organizations. She co-founded the annual Lawyers’ Campaign Against Hunger which has raised over $2,000,000 for poverty organizations, and Second Helping, a program that redistributes surplus food from restaurants and hotels to area emergency shelters. She also serves on the national advisory board of the Shriver Center at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

In 2004 Ms. Ries was diagnosed with breast cancer for which she successfully underwent chemotherapy and multiple surgeries. That life-altering experience inspired her to give up her positions as a partner at the growing law firm and a law school professor in order to focus her energies on just three major components of her personal and professional life that she enjoyed the most:

1. The fundamental elements of serving as a legal advisor and counselor to her individual clients and small to medium-sized businesses on transactional matters.

2. Ms. Ries and her husband, Tom Ries, and their daughters, Emily and Carly, started The Fuchsia Foundation, a donor-advised fund of the Baltimore Community Foundation, to develop products and initiatives that help people who have been diagnosed with cancer and their loved ones. Ms. Ries is currently helping establish a novel legal hotline for people who have health insurance and disability insurance issues to call in to speak with volunteer attorneys and patient advocates, as well as the expansion of practical life assistance services offered to people undergoing treatment, and their families. More information about the Fuchsia Foundation can be found at www.thinkbrighter.org.

3. Being an investor in several commercial and residential real estate projects in Maryland. Owning real estate has strengthened her understanding of the issues involved in the purchase, management, and sale of property.

Ms. Ries is a graduate of The Park School, Hampshire College, and the University of Maryland School of Law.