welcome to the belmont business report i'm your host toleration the belmont business report is a community service that highlights film on businesses so we can meet their own as you get to know them better law practice which she focuses on labor employment and general business law prior to her own practice law or served as in house counsel to several major corporations over twenty is a practice lawyer has developed a reputation for aggressive and effective representation welcome to the belmont business report thank you so much paul i'm really happy to be here how did you get interested in law you know is a little girl i just really wanted to be a lawyer i don't know whether it was perry mason or just watching too much t v but i started as an employee when i was sixteen and just really like the dynamic of it and thought i'd like to argue so i guess i just really wanted to be a lawyer so you know from the beginning i did i had definitely had an inkling ok and with that take you when you study in college well i was fortunate to work for a large corporation like i said when i was sixteen and worked there through college and law school i went at night and when i graduated from law school the legal department gave me a job and so i was able to work as a corporate lawyer for that company for six years and i worked in the house for about sixteen and when did you know you wanted to go on your own and why did you choose belmont well i wanted to go on my own after i had my son because i like the idea of controlling my hours and you know making my own destiny and i really felt it was time for me to be a business owner i was excited about that i lived in belmont for about seven years and i relocated the practice probably about five years ago of the reasons is that i grew up in the city i've never really been part of a community and moving to belmont i really felt this sort of tight knit community and i thought it would be great to move my practice here i wanted to start to build relationships i wanted to become involved in the p t o i've sat on some committees and just really started to feel like i really wanted to be a part of this and it was a natural fit when you have a son in the school system so it becomes the fabric of the service do you support and dissipate and well i've sat on the human rights commission i'm currently sitting on the belmont solid waste and recycling committee and you know i've been fortunate to have businesses as my clients as well as bell individuals and so it's been great to really start to build a relationship and have it move forward well you said that business clients and individuals and i think the audience is going to be very interested in knowing what type of law you focus on because it's business clients but it's also individuals and you'll see it's a lower explains the focus of the law practice that you deal with the individuals in terms of employee practices as well as business clients so want to tell the audience a little bit about the focused practice well because i was in house for so long i have a very broad experience and when i decided to go on my own i want to choose and narrow what i did some with something i liked and i had been an employee for so long it just sort of came naturally so i practiced primarily labor which is unions i have a very large unionized client that's sort of a niche practice employment in the general business and what happens is typically i'm hired for an employment matter a business may come in and say we need to terminate somebody can you help us with the paperwork and then it sort of morphs into a more general practice where they may have contracts or real estate issues that they need some consultation  on the individual side most people come to me when they're about to be hired or unfortunately they're about to be fired and i work with them to get them through that process in speaking with you earlier i picked up on the point that most people come to you too late some people come to you too late want to be a little more specific as to what situations an individual might be in that you can help them with before they even know that they have trouble before they try to go through it and solve it all on their own well i think that's very true you know when you're terminated from a company it's a very daunting experience and people live in their jobs now they spend eight to ten hours a day and so if the terminator they take it very personally and sometimes it really has nothing to do with their performance it just happens to be a budget cut and so if someone comes to you and gives you a packet of documents where you're waiving rights the documents say please consult a lawyer and most people don't think either they're nervous or concerned or they think it might cost too much in they have anxiety over it and what i like to do in my practice is say look it's best to have a professional even if it's an hour or two to walk through the documents and be able to help people understand that this ok given their circumstances given their position and what their salaries and how long they've been at the company that this is market that this is what people should expect we can sometimes try to negotiate additional health insurance  but help them you know understand that they shouldn't take it personally that they need to just look at it now from this point forward as a business transaction and that someone like me a professional can help make it so much easier and make sure that they're not waiving and i know that on your side of the employee practices you become a partner with your client and that it is so important for them to feel comfortable that a consultation is no downside to clients are very important to me they're the bedrock of my business and so it sometimes helps if you have an issue or you sense perhaps that you're about to be terminated something's happening to talk to a professional and sort of voice it out and say what do you think one of the first things i usually tell people is if you're sensing something's happening something's usually happening and i suggest they strongly start to you know keep a diary you think you've got to remember everything you can't possibly remember everything and so that they start to understand if they write things down the it may be nothing but at least protect yourself and understand what's happening in then you'll be able to look back and see you know is this a progression of something or was i just making something out of nothing but it doesn't hurt ever to talk to somebody and sort of tell them how they're feeling because i do this every day and you'll know from listening to this situation whether they're it's a hot button issue or whether they need some protection i need some guidance and if they don't you'll tell them that as well i time i can tell i want to ask you what specific needs you addressed you have business clients as well and i want to spend some time talking about some of the business  practice that you do but i am because we're talking with the belmont audience that i want to emphasize again that employee individual rights laura is very very experienced aggressive and very nice to deal with so again can you give us some specific examples of what practice you would  help an individual well mostly as i said people come to me when they're being hired and in this economy would people really need to do is make sure that everything that's been promised to them is in the four corners of the awful lot because  sometimes when companies have a wide range of candidates from which to choose they can sometimes not or make promises that they're not going to live up to in my advice to individuals is to make sure that everything that's been promised you bonuses such an emotional experience that one of the things that i really try to do with clients is to help them through the process and say look this isn't it let's not look back let's move forward and let's you know spend your energy in the next phase of your life don't spend your energy thinking about what could have been what should have been because you don't have control over it and it's ended whether it was your choice or not so i really try to help people through it and you know make it easier so the client become they become too emotional within to think clearly and that's why meeting with someone like you you helping them will give them some clarity in terms of the road that is supposed to take that's the goal yeah ok ok what about business clients what businesses would come to you for a specific well business is come to me for any kind of employment needs which includes the hiring of documentation terminations of policies you know one of the most interesting aspects for business clients has really been the political ration of emails in texas and facebook and how rapid communication is amongst the workplace and what companies have come to me now is to develop perhaps social media policies because if you think about it you know one of the issues that's really hurting employees is discrimination which had the largest verdict a few weeks ago and discrimination which is rampant now with social media it's been interesting to see that companies think if an employee criticizes them on facebook that they can terminate and it's a really cutting edge area of law we're really not able to terminate someone just because there are unhappy is protected activity and a lot of companies don't know that that there and they're unaware of it and to someone like you to clarify the situations that and you know all aspects of employment law really i'm happy to help in any way is social meeting and generally what are some of the current trends in your practice now well again to social media policies to sort of understand what companies can limit how they can tell their employees to position themselves if perhaps someone is on linked in  some companies are saying that it's a policy that you have to say if you're terminated that you're no longer a part of the company it's different things that you have to become aware of hiring you know if you're a company and you're hiring a new using social media you have to use  consistently you can't just decide that i'm going to look this person up on facebook or linked in you have to do it either for a job category or for everyone but you can't do it in a discriminatory fashion it's cutting edge you mentioned yeah really it's evolving all the time and you know that's what makes it fun even for the sake of repetition i want to ask you again what are some of the issues facing  guidance in but as i learned from lori you do you know everyone thinks can they do this to me that i'm being mistreated and absent a contract which about ninety eight percent of employees don't have an employment contract you're at will and in massachusetts you can terminate for any reason so long as it's not discriminatory and so many people come to me and say that they can't do this and companies have to follow their policies they have to abide by what they've given you you know it is a form of communication the rules and they may have progressive discipline and they have to cook comply with that but most companies can terminate you for any reason or no reason so long as it's not because of your age  your gender or any other protected category and so what i try to do is remind people of that and that you know if you're feeling uncomfortable there's you have free will you have the ability to look for another position too and that sometimes that's the hint that you need to start looking for something else that's probably better suited so there's comfort out there well individual that they come and see us and you know the trend really is thankfully that unemployment you know i'm seeing more jobs come up i'm seeing you know my corporate clients come and say that they have more open positions i'm seeing employees that i may have handled their severance six months ago that they're finding work because everybody has reached back i always make sure you know see how they're doing and i like to check in and so that's good that's you moving in a positive direction so that's good news you recently moved on screen don't be a web site and they'll also be a phone number and your name but on the second floor and people can reach me either through my e mail which is out panel set panels office through my telephone six one seven four eight four ninety six hundred and you know i'd welcome anyone to call if they have questions and really that i have an open door if people are calling saying you know should i came in and talk to you on the belmont resident i really want to encourage all my individuals and businesses to come and see me and so we can work together  i learned so much in spending time with you about areas that i really didn't give much thought to as far as the necessity of getting guidance and and professional advice so on i hope the audience is listening and also will will take take heed with the help that you offer i think what what would you like to leave with the belmont resonance as far as thinking about you and the needs that you provide i think when ever you hire a professional that shit is so important because someone's going to advocate on your behalf and you have to make sure that that person's ideas are aligned with yours because they're going to argue for you and so i've always felt that one of the best characteristics i have is that i'm very relatable i was an employee forever i understand it i also understand the dynamics in the politics involved in corporations and so i think it's you know i'm well suited for all situations why i think they should hire me i i'm driven i try hard and most of all i care i really do care in getting to know you i respect you as a professional i like you aggressiveness because it's well founded and well directed and i think you give effective representation to belmont people as well as you are of clients i'm sure i want to thank you for being on the belmont business report i'll also ask you if you want to leave the belmont residence with any other bits of advice that i might have missed well i think you have covered it all in i would just suggest to any person you know we all work for a living and to just be really cautious when you're getting into something and make sure that the promises that you've been made have been accounted for if you're leaving something to try not to take it personally and to truly have a professional look at any documentation so that you get the peace of mind that you're leaving on the  do me a favor and look up laura if you have a hint that you have a problem because she will be able to give you the clarity and the effective guidance that you need so i want to thank everyone for doing this edition of belmont business report and i look forward to seeing you in the next edition th