Leslie Gill has been a principal in her own practice since her graduation from The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Art and Science in New York in 1982. She has been an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University for over 20 years and a Visiting Critic at Harvard University Graduate School of Design, Parsons School of Design and Cornell University. She served as an External Examiner at the Architectural Association in London and has been a board member for the Cooper Union. She is a founding trustee of the Van Alen Institute: Projects in Public Architecture, and is currently on the board of the Architectural League of New York. She served as co-chair of the Chrysler Design Awards from 1998 to 2004, a program dedicated to recognizing outstanding innovation.
Ideologically, her practice shies away from the current trend toward specialization. Instead, it is dedicated to architecture as a synergistic melding of disciplines — art, engineering, and construction always mindful that architecture is a lived-in medium. The firm has received numerous national and international design awards, including awards sponsored by The Architectural League of New York, The American Institute of Architects, Architecture Magazine and Architectural Record. She has twice been named a fellow of the New York Foundation for the Arts and has received a variety of grants and prizes for her work, including a Citation of Outstanding Contribution in the Field of Architecture from The Cooper Union.