Leslie Miller Greenspan

Leslie Miller Greenspan focuses her practice on conducting independent investigations, including harassment, discrimination, retaliation, Title IX, student and faculty misconduct, theft, fraud, compliance, and other infractions or policy violations. With a strong background in high-stakes litigation and trial work involving higher education and corporate clients over more than 22 years, Ms. Greenspan brings a uniquely qualified perspective to investigative work.

Prior to founding Greenspan Patel with long-time friend and government investigator Twinckle Vaidya Patel, Ms. Greenspan was a trial lawyer and litigator, first at Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young and most recently as a Partner with the Tucker Law Group. Ms. Greenspan’s litigation work focused primarily on employment discrimination cases, civil rights litigation, and complex commercial disputes. Ms. Greenspan led trial teams in both state and federal courts and handled all aspects of litigation from the filing of the complaint through expert reports, dispositive motions, motions in limine, jury verdicts, and appeals.

Ms. Greenspan routinely and successfully represented clients in connection with preliminary injunction hearings, both in the corporate and university settings. She regularly speaks on topics such as Title IX, the FMLA, religious accommodations, pregnancy discrimination, deposition skills, jury selection, trials, and investigations.

Ms. Greenspan’s experience also includes serving as an Assistant District Attorney in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office’s Associate Prosecutor Program, where she prosecuted cases involving domestic violence and child abuse, and clerking for the Honorable Gary R. Jones, a federal magistrate judge in the Middle District of Florida.

Representative Experience

• Acting on behalf of a university, Ms. Greenspan successfully served as the Advocate for Misconduct Charges, resulting in the revocation of a professor’s tenure for neglect of duties and violation of university policy.
• Successfully defeated student plaintiffs’ attempts in federal court to obtain a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction that would reinstate them as students (in the Title IX context, after the student was found responsible for violations of the university’s sexual misconduct policy; in the ADA context, after a student was suspended for poor academic performance).
• Successfully obtained an injunction in favor of a global chemical company when a former employee with specialized and technical knowledge of the company’s proprietary information left to work for a competitor.
• Led a team to make new law in the Third Circuit by successfully arguing that an employer’s “honest belief” that an employee is abusing FMLA leave is sufficient to defeat an FMLA claim. The case also involved the interplay between the FMLA and the ADA. Greenspan briefed and argued the case before the District Court and won summary judgment. On appeal, and even despite the EEOC’s involvement and filing of an amicus brief, the Third Circuit – in a precedential decision – affirmed the entry of summary judgment and ruled in favor of the employer based on the “honest belief” defense. As of May 2026, this case, Capps v. Mondelez Global LLC, 847 F.3d 144 (3d Cir. 2017), has been cited nearly 450 times.
• Tried a case in the Middle District of Pennsylvania based on gender discrimination on behalf of a Fortune 500 company, where the jury returned a verdict that was a small fraction of the initial settlement demand and less than had already been offered in settlement and was the subject of a rejected offer of judgment.
• Tried a case in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on behalf of a non-profit hospital based on age and disability discrimination where the plaintiff claimed that accommodations previously granted had been revoked, resulting in a complete defense verdict after a very short jury deliberation and against a well-known plaintiff’s employment firm in Philadelphia.
• Represented a Court-appointed Receiver in an action commenced by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) against a registered futures commission merchant and a registered associated person for violations arising out of their mishandling of Cayman hedge fund accounts, resulting in a $75 million settlement.
• Represented a bio-statistical firm and contract research organization accused of fraud, negligence, and breach of contract in connection with clinical trial services for a medical device.

Professional Honors and Committees

• Attended the Association of Workplace Investigators’ Training Institute (May 2026)
• Certified in Title IX Investigation Foundations Level One: Procedures and Critical Skills for Higher Education through ATIXA (July 2025)
• Forum of Executive Women: Member (2019-present)
• Pennsylvania Bar Association: House of Delegates (2023-present)
• Philadelphia Bar Association: Federal Courts Committee (Chair: 2024 – 2025; Vice Chair: 2023-2024)
• Congregation Kol Ami: Board of Trustees (2025-present)
• Women Against Abuse: Board of Directors (May 2014-July 2025); Board Chair (2019-2024); Co-Chair of Nominations and Recruitment Committee (2025-July 2025); Co-Chair of Events Committee (2016-2019); Member of Events Committee (2012-2016)
• The Herb Cohen Memorial Fund: Board of Directors (2005-present)
• National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA): Faculty (2011-present)
• Super Lawyer (2020 to present)
• Rising Star (2006 to 2018)

Speaking Engagements

• Federal Bar Association CLE: Jury Participation & Jury Selection Challenges in the EDPA (May 2026)
• Employment Law Institute: “Investigations Gone Wrong” (Apr. 2026)
• Phila. Bar Association’s Federal Courts Committee: “Emergency Relief Needed! The Nuts & Bolts of Preliminary Injunctions and Temporary Restraining Orders in the EDPA” (Dec. 2025)
• Phila. Bar Association’s Federal Courts Committee: Moderator for two Panels of “My First Federal Trial 2025: Proper Procedure and Successful Advocacy” (July 2025) and won award for highest CLE attendance (Nov. 2025)
• Phila. Bar Association’s Federal Courts Committee: Moderator for Panel of “Yikes! Common Mistakes Lawyers Make in Practicing in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania” (Mar. 2025)
• Phila. Bar Association’s Federal Courts Committee: Moderator for Panel of “Practice Update: Introducing the New E.D. Pa. Judges” (Mar. 2025)
• Employment Law Institute: “Depositions in Employment Cases: Practical Tips” (Apr. 2025)
• Employment Law Institute: “The Future of the Honest Belief Defense” (Apr. 2024)
• Philadelphia Bar Association Federal Bench/Bar Conference - Conference Organizer (Nov. 2024)
• PBI Civil Rights Symposium - “Religious Accommodation After Groff v. DeJoy” (Dec. 2023)
• Philadelphia Bar Association Federal Bench/Bar Conference: Moderator for Panel of “Tips from EDPA Magistrate Judges” (Nov. 2023)
• PBI: “The Current State of Pregnancy Discrimination Law” (July 2023)
• Employment Law Institute: “The Evolution of the Honest Belief Defense, Expanding Beyond FMLA Abuse Cases” (Apr. 2023)
• “Civil Litigation (Employment Cases),” Civics Course at Community College of Philadelphia (Feb. 2022 and Oct. 2023)
• “Investigating and Litigating Title IX Sexual Assault Claims,” Bar Association (Oct. 2021)
• PBI: “Navigating the Murky Waters of the FMLA” (July 2020)
• PBI: “My First Federal Trial” (Sept. 2019)
• PBI: “Litigating the Employment Discrimination Case in Philadelphia” (Feb. 2019)
• PBI: “The #MeToo Movement’s Impact on Litigation, Counseling and Training” (Oct. 2018)
• DRI’s Annual Personal Injury Practicum Seminar: “Section 1983 Litigation” (Nov. 2017)
• Closing Arguments, Guest Lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania School of Law (2015)

Bar & Court Admissions

• Pennsylvania
• New Jersey
• Florida
• District of Columbia
• U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania
• U.S. District Court, Middle District of Pennsylvania
• U.S. District Court, Western District of Pennsylvania
• U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit

Education

• Emory University School of Law, J.D.
• John Hopkins University, B.A.