Leslie Montano Thompson

Leslie was born and raised in New Mexico, and was anxious to return to her hometown, Albuquerque, after suffering too many harsh Chicago winters.  Leslie eventually convinced her husband, Jeff, an Illinois-native to raise their twins in the milder climate of Albuquerque, close to Leslie’s family. 

Leslie worked with a global bank in Chicago immediately after law school, in Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities, acting as Custodian and Trustee for Wall Street investment firm clients in Global Securitization Trust Services. Leslie then worked as a commercial litigator with a local Bankruptcy firm for several years, continuing to develop a specialty in real estate law, before opening her solo practice focusing on estate planning, real estate and transactional law.  She also worked closely with her father’s CPA firm in Albuquerque, advising the firm on many areas of tax and transactional law.  During that time she began taking many tax audit representation cases in her practice and had much success defending cases both against the federal and state government. 

Leslie earned a Juris Doctor (J.D., 2005, while living in Chicago) and a graduate law degree (LL.M., Master of Laws in Estate Planning, with honors, 2015, exclusively via online study) from The John Marshall Law School in Chicago, IL.  Leslie attended graduate law school while working full time as a practicing attorney, running her own business, and raising young twins with her husband, all while staying active in the local community that remains the focus of her dedication. 

Leslie enjoys working with clients, and helping them plan for their most precious loved ones, possessions, and passions; and finds that assisting clients at the time of the loss of a loved one to be an especially meaningful and needed area of her practice.  She strives to emphasize the positive benefits an effective estate plan can provide the client, to minimize risks and expense both to the clients and the estate.  She is also well equipped to assist clients with the many real-life issues that develop in the context of estate planning, such as business succession planning, strategic tax planning, estate and gift tax filing preparation, real estate transaction issues, contract negotiation issues, financing and other trancsactional issues.

Leslie offers a free initial consultation to clients, and when possible, offers flat-fee billing so there are no surprises to the client.