Leslie Thiele, partner, joined Whiteman Osterman & Hanna in 1992 as one of the founders of the International Trade and Business Practice Group. She leads the Firm’s Immigration Practice Group.

Her practice is concentrated in the areas of international business trans­actions, inter­national trade, and business-related immigration matters. She also spent four years as an executive with an interna­tional trade and development consulting company in Philadelphia, advising domestic and foreign businesses on international investment and personnel transfer issues. She is fluent in German

Representative Accomplishments

• Numerous successful immigration cases for international investors as well as for outstanding researchers, aliens of extraordinary ability, and other professionals. Expanded the legal grounds for a "national interest waiver" of the labor certification requirement in an immigration case for a physician.
• Drafting and negotiation of agency and distribution agreements for U.S. and foreign companies seeking sales and distribution channels overseas.
• Negotiation of international joint ventures and licenses for the commercialization of U.S. technologies or manufacture of licensed products.
• Establishment of overseas business operations for small and medium-sized U.S. companies in Europe, Asia and Latin America.

Representative Speeches and Presentations

• Union Internationale des Avocats (UIA), Dresden, Germany, Confidentiality in Negotiations: Protection through the General Law or Specific Regulation?, November 3, 2012
• International Distribution Institute, Venice, Italy, The Critical Clauses in General Conditions of Sale, May 19, 2012
• NYS Personnel Council & HR Academy, Albany, NY, Employment Eligibility Verification, I-9 & E-Verify Compliance, November 22, 2011
• Union Internationale des Avocats (UIA), Miami, Florida, The 'Entire Agreement' Clause in Civil and Common Law, November 1, 2011; The CISG in the Courts: Common Law Interpretation in a Civil Law Context, November 3, 2011
• International Distribution Institute, Amsterdam, Netherlands, Establishing Distribution Channels in the U.S., June 17, 2011
• Tech Valley Global Business Network, Albany, New York, Incoterms 2010: The New Shipping Rules, January 20, 2011
• Center for Economic Growth, Albany, New York, Expert New York Program, Legal Aspects of International Business, May 14, 2010

Recent Publications

• Co-Author: “Residence in the United States Through Investment: Reality or Chimera,” 3 Albany Government
  Law Review 103 (2010)
• “The ‘Accidental Franchisee’ Under U.S. Law”, 3 JURISTE 35(July 2009)(Union Internationale des Avocats)
• "Investment and Trade: E Visas”, Business Immigration Law: Strategies for Employing Foreign Nationals (Malpert & Petersen, eds., Law Journal Press 2000-2010)

Memberships

• American Immigration Lawyers Association
• International Bar Association
• Union Internationale des Avocats: Secretary, Contract Law Commission
• U.S. Expert for Agency & Distribution Issues, International Distrbution Institute, Turin, Italy
• German-American Law Association
• American Bar Association, International Law Section, Export Controls & Economic Sanctions Committee
• New York State Bar Association