We recently had the chance to connect with Leslie Marenco and have shared our conversation below.
Leslie, we’re thrilled to have you with us today. Before we jump into your intro and the heart of the interview, let’s start with a bit of an ice breaker: What makes you lose track of time—and find yourself again?
I lose track of time when I am teaching live and helping a family turn messy facts into simple decisions. Give me a legal pad, a stack of index cards, and a timeline to map, and I am locked in. The engineer in me enjoys building clean structures that real people can follow. To find myself again, I take a quiet walk, say a short prayer, sip a cafecito, and come back to the work with one aim, to serve well.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I am Leslie Marenco, an estate planning attorney with a civil engineering background, and I lead Trust Counsel in Coral Gables. I help families and business owners turn complex legal and tax issues into choices they can act on. My edge is the engineer’s discipline paired with a teacher’s mindset; I build plans that work in real life and explain them in plain English. I am working on a book for women on protecting their kids and money soon, and I am currently growing our Having Fun with Death and Taxes podcast and expanding education for the advisors who serve our clients.
Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
Before titles and credentials, I broke big problems into parts, tested the weak spots, and rebuilt until the plan held. Structure made sense to me, and I cared about whether it worked for real people, not just on paper. Civil engineering trained me to think in systems and consequences. Law gave me the tools to protect families and businesses when life gets messy. What grounds me is simple: earning trust, explaining choices in plain English, and standing with people from the first decision to the final signature. If you work with me, you will see the same builder at work, patient, precise, and focused on outcomes that hold up when it matters.
What did suffering teach you that success never could?
Suffering taught me to slow down, listen, and see the full picture before I move. It showed me who stands with me when there is nothing to win and no spotlight, which matters more than any award. It forced me to build systems that hold under pressure, not just when life is neat. It gave me respect for small steps, steady follow-through, and clear decisions made on hard days. Success can confirm a plan, but pain reveals the gaps, the boundaries I need, and the grace I owe others. That is why I lead with clarity and service, because I know what it feels like when the ground is not steady.
So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. Is the public version of you the real you?
The public me is the real me, just shorter and with a few details kept for my family. My values do not change, tell the truth, protect people, do the work. In a room I move fast. In private I listen longer and write before I speak. Either way you meet the same woman who builds a plan, asks the hard questions, and stays until you feel steady. If we met at a community event, over a cafecito, or across my conference table, you would hear the same voice. I show up as I am, a daughter, a sister, a lawyer, and a builder who believes women deserve clear choices and steady protection.
Thank you so much for all of your openness so far. Maybe we can close with a future oriented question. When do you feel most at peace?
I feel most at peace in the quiet early morning, before the phone starts, with coffee and a blank legal pad. My mind settles when a plan clicks into place and I can see the steps from first decision to final signature. After a signing, when a family knows their kids are protected and the documents match their values, there is a calm that lasts. A short walk, quick meditation, and the engineer in me checks the last box. That is enough.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://trustcounsel.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/legacylawyerleslie/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/trustcounsel/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TrustCounselPL
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@trustcounselattorneys
