Leah Pappas Porner

Leah has extensive experience leading and defending legislative efforts, including building coalitions and working with stakeholders and trade associations. She has counseled clients regarding issues affecting higher education, Medicaid, utility, charter school, banking, environmental, gaming, technology and housing industries as well as tort reform and civil procedure reform.

Leah has been a well-regarded lobbyist in Ohio since the early 1990s.

She is recognized as a Leading Lawyer in Government Relations: State & Local by Chambers USA 2024 in Band 1 in USA-Nationwide. Clients provided the following feedback to Chambers USA, "Leah is an excellent resource and very responsive. She's a strategic thinker who is smart, experienced, creative, and well-connected. Her network of resources is unmatched. Leah is very impressive. Leah is a pleasure to work with; she is thoughtful and strategic, always keeping in mind our ultimate goals. Leah is one of the most respected professionals in the government relations arena and always provides value and expertise."

Leah has been recognized for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America^® for Government Relations Practice (2013-2025). In 2023 and in 2014, Leah was named "Lawyer of the Year" in Government Relations (Columbus, Ohio) by Best Lawyers. She also was named one of the “Most Effective Law Firm Lobbyists” by Opinion Strategies Inc.

Currently, she enjoys serving on the COSI Board of Trustees and on the Capital Square Foundation Board. She was selected by Ohio Governor DeWine as a Founding Board Member of the Ohio Governor’s Imagination Library.

Leah served as Assistant Deputy Legal Counsel for Ohio’s governor from 1992 to 1995, and she was the Director of Special Counsel for the Ohio Attorney General from 1995 to 1999.

She began her tenure with Calfee in 1999 and was elected Partner in 2002. Leah was elected to the firm’s Executive Committee in 2009 and the Management Committee in 2011. She was named Partner-in-Charge of the Columbus office in 2012.

Honors & Recognitions

• Chambers USA, Government Relations: State & Local, Band 1, USA-Nationwide (2023-2024)
• The Best Lawyers in America^®, Government Relations Practice (2013-2025)
• The Best Lawyers in America, "Lawyer of the Year," Government Relations (2023, 2014)
• Opinion Strategies Inc., “Most Effective Law Firm Lobbyists” 

Education

J.D., Capital University Law School, 1992

B.A., Miami University, 1988

Experience

• Serving an American real estate technology company as the client’s representative in Ohio in all government-related matters. We are assisting the client in obtaining an amendment to the state’s operating budget bill to prohibit certain predatory right-to-list sales agreements. As part of the larger realty industry, the client advocated for laws to prohibit right-to-list sales agreements where the agreement runs with the land or otherwise purports to bind future owners or the agreement purports to be a lien, encumbrance, or other security interest. We also kept the client abreast of developments and assisted in their participation in legislative hearings and interested party meetings and facilitated one-on-one meetings with legislative sponsors on bills of interest.
• Provided ongoing government relations services to an Ohio university for more than 20 years and currently serving as the client’s representative in the state in all government-related matters. We recently helped the client maintain several million dollars in direct state funding for the client’s medical school during state budget negotiations. We have closely monitored and advised the client on proposed state legislation regarding the teaching of “divisive concepts” and diversity in education and successfully helped ensure that the legislation will not apply to private, nonprofit universities.
• Representing television provider clients before the General Assembly monitoring legislation that impacts the clients' business. In the past year, we have worked with the clients, their in-house legislative counsel, and their legislative representatives from approximately 12 states to enact legislation to prevent the application of cable franchise fees to streaming video services offered by the clients over the internet. We helped review and edit draft legislation and supporting materials to fit our political and policy climate, conducted legislative outreach efforts, obtained legislative sponsors, worked on amendments with interested parties, and saw the legislation successfully amended into a legislative vehicle and passed by the General Assembly, all over a five-month period.
• Assisted in an effort to modernize the state’s lease-to-own laws from an older, in-person model of consumer sales and disclosure to allow a business model of partnering with online retailers and providing digital disclosure for in-store purchases. Calfee worked with the client to customize the nationally agreed-upon language to reflect Ohio laws. We also connected the client with the Ohio Attorney General, the enforcement office for the state’s consumer protection laws, to gain their support for the language. We obtained legislative sponsors for an amendment to the language in the state’s biennial operating budget bill and conducted an educational campaign with legislative members. Despite only having a couple of months and starting after the budget bill was introduced and passed by the Ohio House, we obtained inclusion of the amendment in the Ohio Senate’s version of the budget and maintained its inclusion through to passage.
• Serving as the representative in Ohio in all government-related matters for an affiliated organization of one of the largest business associations in the U.S. Calfee's focus for this client is tort reform, which this year has included collaborating with local business partners to support two pieces of legislation. We serve as the client’s local Ohio representative to bring a national perspective to promote uniformity in state laws for businesses. We monitor the legislation, coordinate client participation in legislative hearings and interested party meetings, provide feedback on legislative edits, and help set the collaboration’s legislative strategy.
• Serving as a technology company’s representative in Ohio in all government-related matters. Calfee has assisted the client with its introduction to the Ohio government and our legislative process. We assisted the client in meeting and educating Ohio elected officials on the important aspects of the client’s industry-leading technology. During the process, we have helped elected officials separate fact from fiction regarding both the client’s history and its business model, untangling the complicated social media industry for officials who are seeking information. We have helped the client establish relationships and lines of communication, which will allow the state and the client to productively address concerns raised with fast-moving technology. In addition, we have connected the client to legislative members to provide input on a number of pending legislative proposals.
• Serving as the representative in Ohio in all government-related matters for a gaming company client. An important recent matter was advocacy in the state’s biennial operating budget bill, Ohio House Bill 33. The operating budget bill is Ohio’s most important policy bill of the two-year session and contains a multitude of provisions that impact the gaming industry. Along with other industry lobbyists, we advocated for or against the inclusion of gaming provisions during the House, Senate, and Conference Committee phases of the legislative process.

Professional & Community

• COSI, Board of Trustees
• Capitol Square Foundation Board, Trustee
• Calfee Women LEAD, Committee Chair
• Bipartisan Judicial Advisory Commission, Member
• Ohio Governor’s Imagination Library, Board of Trustees

Client Feedback

• "Leah is one of the most respected professionals in the government relations arena and always provides value and expertise." – Chambers USA 2023
• "Leah is an excellent resource and very responsive. She's a strategic thinker who is smart, experienced, creative, and well-connected. Her network of resources is unmatched. Leah is very impressive." – Chambers USA 2023
• "Leah is a pleasure to work with; she is thoughtful and strategic, always keeping in mind our ultimate goals." – Chambers USA 2023