Our firm's Social Responsibility Committee has been working hard and we have proven a standard Corporate Social Responsiblity (CSR) maxim that being a socially responsible business can save money. Our SR Committee identified our weekly deliveries of water in large plastic bottles for our water coolers as an area in which we could improve our level of CSR.  For businesses that have reliable access to satisfactory munipal water, deliveries of water to the office involve additional truck traffic to our downtown location, truck exhaust  emmisions, use of truck fuel, plastic containers that must be replaced periodically, water and chemicals to sanitize recycled plastic containers for re-use, and so forth.   We converted to a filter system to replace our water coolers with plumbed-in filter spigots dispensing cold and hot filtered water directly from our city water.  Read the full post....

Leigh Polk Cole, Esq.

The EB-5 program allows international investors to obtain permanent residency in the United States (green cards) for themselves and their immediate family by investing in a new or struggling business venture in the United States.  The State of Vermont was approved one of the first Regional Centers some years ago.  The Regional Center here is administered by the State of Vermont which is a unique feature compared to other Regional Centers in the nation which are administered by private organizations. With the current challenges in the U.S. economy, more and more U.S. business interests are looking to EB-5 investors from outside the United States as a source of capital, and international investors are responding. 

EB-5s have become a hot topic in Vermont and across the nation, leading to a realization that investors, lawyers and EB-5 project sponsors are not necessarily aware of the related Securities law compliance obligations.    Read the full post...

David R. Gurtman, Esq.

Continuing my discussion of energy-efficiency tax credits at the local, state and federal levels, today I am highlighting an incentive unique to Vermont.  It is the Business Solar Tax Credit, available for both business and individuals. Read the full post...

Leigh Polk Cole, Esq.

The Shriver Report (see prior post) made me reflect anew on the success of women professionals at our firm.  Women may now be 50% of the national workforce and equal or primary bread winners for most families, but women still are not equally represented in leadership and management positions of U.S. businesses nationwide.  Law firms are an interesting example.  Law firms in particular tend to have a good number of female employees overall because legal secretary, legal assistant and paralegal are professions in which women have been successful members of the workforce, and even dominant in the workforce in many markets, for years.  Where our firm diverges from the norm is among the attorneys.  Of our 27 attorneys, 12 are women, including Karen McAndrew who is one of our 3 named partners and is on our 3-person management committee.  Of our 19 partners, 7 are women; of our 6 associate attorneys, 4 are women.  Read the full post....

Leigh Polk Cole, Esq.

A fascinating report issued last month explores a new social and economic reality that is startling and yet intuitive: women now are 50% of the U.S. workforce.  "The Shriver Report: A Women's Nation Changes Everything" (October 2009) is based on a study by Maria Shriver, a journalist and currently California's First Lady, and the Center for American Progress.  The report is named after Maria Shriver and her mother, Eunice Kennedy Shriver (1921-2009), both formidable women and role models.   The Shriver Report includes chapters by a variety of authors representing a range of perspectives.  The primary message is that "women are half of all U.S. workers and mothers are the primary breadwinners or co-breadwinners in nearly two-thirds of American families.... Quite simply, women as half of all workers changes everything." (Shriver Report, page 17).  Most men and women in the United States are living with this reality as part of their daily life and recognize that women are primary or co-equal breadwinners in most households.  However the U.S. economy was built on a foundational model that no longer exists: a workforce dominated by single-career families with a caregiver (generally female) who does not work outside the home.  Read the full post....

Leigh Polk Cole, Esq.

I just attended the annual meeting of the Employment Law Alliance (ELA), a close association of U.S. and international employment and immigration lawyers.  It felt like the United Nations of employment and immigration lawyers.  The ELA has one member law firm from each U.S. State and Canadian province, and one member law firm from each of another 113 countries around the world.  ELA firms are chosen to represent the best in client service, so that together ELA firms can offer the best client service available around the world.  The group meets several times during the year so the attorneys can develop collegial working relationships and personal ties to bind the ELA network together as a cohesive unit.  Read the full post....

There are a lot of seasonal or otherwise temporary jobs in Vermont and in many cases it's hard to fill them with Vermonters, many of whom seek year-round long term employment.  Growing up in a ski town in southern Vermont, this dynamic is very familiar to me.  An article today in the Burlington Free Press highlights the challenges of using the H-2B temporary worker program for seasonal workers.  The article mentioned that it's reasonably simple to hire international students for seasonal positions but the article didn't explain how that works.  Read the full post....

My friend Janice Shade at True Body Products is proving that Vermont is a great place to launch and produce a natural consumer product for the national market.  Her company True Body Products created and sells True Soap, a simple all-natural bar soap for the general consumer market, priced like the national brand soaps in the grocery store.   What a concept!  It's no surprise Janice came up with such a smart product and it's taking off with national sales.  Read the full post....

David R. Gurtman, Esq.

Not only is winter quickly approaching but so is tax season and people are talking about tax credits for energy efficiency.  I thought it would be worthwhile to highlight some of the state, federal and even local energy efficiency and weatherization tax incentives that are out there for readers.  First up is a pretty simple one.  It is a federal tax credit of up to $1,500 for homeowners who install energy efficient products in their home.  While this can involve a substantial weatherization project like new windows or insulation, it can also be used for something as simple as purchasing an energy efficient storm door or hot water heater.  Read the full post.... 

I work with lots of interesting and fun people at our firm including some of the best lawyers around.  One of my colleagues, Dave Gurtman, is inspired to contribute to this blog.  Dave is in our Business Group, he handles commercial real estate and business transactions.  We can look forward to Dave's ongoing posts about things like energy efficiency and LEED construction and other things are particularly interesting and current in real estate and business law.  Welcome Dave!