Leslie Abramson was among the most recognized criminal defense attorneys in the United States during the 1990s. She was best known for representing Erik Menendez, who was accused, with his brother Lyle, of killing his wealthy parents in their Beverly Hills home. Abramson has represented clients in many high profile cases. Her list of clients included Khalid Parwez, a gynecologist accused of murdering his son; Peter Chan, who was charged with the death of a police officer during a robbery; Ricky Sanders, one of the killers in the Bob's Big Boy Massacre; and Jeremy Strohmeyer, a 19-year-old charged with the sexual assault and murder of a seven-year-old girl in a Las Vegas casino bathroom.

The second of three children, Abramson was born in 1943 in New York City and was raised in Queens, a borough of New York City. She attended a local four-year college and graduated in 1964. After...