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....

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....

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., Contributor -

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!

Burlington, Vermont was in the news this week, recognized for being one of the top 10 locations for jobs in the green economy.  SustainableBusiness.Com hosts the "Green Dream Jobs" employment search site, where employers can post green job openings, as noted on the site.   The top city was Washington, D.C., and the others were described as having "aggressive green business incentives and policies": the San Francisco Bay Area, New York, Seattle, Boston, Chicago, Portland Ore. and Burlington.  Also this week, the green economy was discussed on my favorite news show, Morning Joe on MSNBC.  Read the full post....

Everyone is focused on economic development and Vermont is no exception.  International folks looking to contribute to economic growth in Vermont have an interesting option in the EB-5 visa program.  The EB-5 visa program under federal law allows internationals to invest $500,000 in a business initiative in Vermont that will lead to economic development, and in return become a permanent resident of the United States with a green card. Read the full post....

Live and learn! I recently learned that Vermont has a robust Outdoors Industry comprising a variety of businesses that, I confess, I had not recognized as an eclectic but discrete and dynamic business sector. I was enlightened by Matt Crawford, an outdoors journalist and free lance writer in Vermont who last year joined Pale Morning Media, a public relations firm in Waitsfield, VT that focuses on (you guessed it) the Outdoors Industry.  Read the full post....