Leslee Cohen of All Rise Legal Counsel on Helping Founders Through Their Early-Stage Funding Rounds

Please share a brief introduction about yourself and your business:

I am a startup lawyer with my own boutique firm, All Rise Legal Counsel, based in Chicago. We have an all-female team, and we are passionate about helping founders through their early-stage funding rounds.

What excites you about being an Entreprenista League member?

The opportunity to connect with and bring value to other amazing female founders!!

What made you take the leap to start your own business?

I felt like I was always going to be viewed as a surrogate daughter to the male equity partners in big law.

What was your background prior to starting your own business?

6 years on Wall Street and 13 more at a large Chicago-based law firm.

Did you always know you wanted to be an entrepreneur?

Nope.

Take us back to when you first launched your business, what was your marketing strategy to get the word out, and did it go as planned?

It was all networking based and it worked! However, it took 2 years to figure out where I fit in the market and then how to describe that in a way that was understandable and memorable to others.

What is the biggest challenge you have encountered along the way and what did you learn from it?

Hiring the right team. I learned that there are the most amazing big firm trained women out there who just needed a place that offered flexibility and understanding but are more than capable of providing outstanding legal services.

What is the accomplishment you are the proudest of to date?

Developing a robust client base made up of incredible entrepreneurs.

Do you believe in work/life balance? What are some of your best tips?

YES!!! Compartmentalize–when you’re at work, be present there and vice versa. When you are not at work, do things that feed your soul.

What’s a piece of advice you can share that you wish you’d known when you first started your Entreprenista journey?

I’m stealing this from a podcast–that it would all feel like throwing spaghetti against the wall but if you make sure to keep working ON the business and not just IN the business, it will start to come together eventually.

What have you achieved recently that you’d like to celebrate with our community?

One of our first startups had a very successful exit after 10 years of working together!

What’s next for your business? What can we expect to see over the next few years?

I would like to grow to about 10 lawyers and then continue to focus on representing growth-stage companies in raising money, day-to-day contract review, and mergers and acquisitions.

 Learn more about the Entreprenista League and join today!