Women in the Law 2026 – Leigh Riley, Foley & Lardner LLP

Leigh Riley is a partner at Foley & Lardner LLP in Milwaukee.

Riley has demonstrated significant leadership within the firm through her development and presentation of training programs, originally introduced while serving as vice chair of the firm’s Business Law Department. Among her most notable accomplishments, she created two firmwide training initiatives — How to be a Good Manager and Four Styles of Business Development — programs that expanded beyond the Business Law Department to all associates and became part of the firm’s new partner training program, which she spearheaded. She also served as an inaugural member of Foley’s Best Self Committee, an internal initiative focused on mental health and wellness for firm personnel.

In the community, Riley served on the board of the Task Force on Family Violence and served as board president during its combination with Sojourner Truth House, which led to the formation of Sojourner, Wisconsin’s most comprehensive provider of domestic violence prevention and intervention services. She currently serves on the board of the Wisconsin Policy Forum, an organization dedicated to data-driven public policy research and cross-sector dialogue.

Riley’s professional philosophy is straightforward: “If you take care of your clients and your colleagues, success will follow.”