Leslie is the Managing Director and a co-founder of MHA. He is the head of MHA’s Commercial Litigation, Constitutional and Administrative Law, and Alternative Dispute Resolution practices.

Leslie has built a reputation as a pre-eminent and trusted legal advisor to prominent South African businesses, government, industry regulators, and high-net-worth individuals. He offers specialist expertise in the areas of corporate and commercial litigation, as well as administrative, constitutional, and regulatory law. He has advised on numerous high-profile transactions and legal disputes spanning across multiple sectors. As lead relationship manager of the firm, he offers broad and knowledgeable insight into all the firm’s niche practice areas.

Leslie has over numerous years been recognised by Best Lawyer in his various practice areas. Recently, Leslie was recognised in the 2024 edition of Best Lawyer as Lawyer of the Year in Arbitration and Mediation. In the same edition, Leslie gained recognition in the areas of Litigation, Arbitration, Mediation, and Regulatory Practice.

In acknowledgment of Leslie’s leadership acumen, he has been appointed to serve on numerous boards, including as Chairman of the Limpopo Gambling Board and member of council of the National Film and Video Foundation. He is presently a board member of Eskom Holdings (SOC) Ltd, the Arbitration Foundation of Southern Africa (AFSA) and the China Africa Joint Arbitration Centre (CAJAC). Leslie was previously a member of the International Association of Gaming Regulators, and a Joint Trustee in the Second Bond issue of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality.

He has served as a specialist examiner of the Law Society of Northern Provinces, a member of the screening panel for candidate attorneys and as an instructor on the commercial law programme of the Black Lawyers Association and the International Senior Lawyers Programme.

Leslie obtained his B. Iuris and LLB degrees from the University of Limpopo (Turfloop) and was admitted as an attorney of the High Court of South Africa in 1996. In 2001 Leslie co-founded the firm which has now come to be known as MHA. Throughout the firm’s existence, he has been the firm’s strategic leader, has represented and advised a vast and diverse array of public and private sector clients in significant matters, and has been involved in numerous landmark cases.