Perspectives on Law

Remember when green was just a color and tweet was the sound a bird made? While the vocabulary of our ever changing world is a fascinating topic, even more interesting are the substantive changes sweeping through our economy and society that the new vocabulary represents. As I touched on in our last edition of Perspectives, change presents challenges, but also opportunities. To take advantage of those opportunities, one must recognize them and be willing to embrace them. That often means re-tooling one’s skill set, or at the very least, being open to learning new things.

At Carr, McClellan we have always welcomed the opportunity to learn new things. The law is ever evolving and the role of counselor and advocate requires us to be constantly learning and re-learning what it takes to provide effective legal services to our clients. Our lawyers are seizing the opportunities as many fundamental changes continue to unfold. For example, Lisa Stalteri is becoming LEED certified so that she can add to her real estate and environmental law expertise. Her new knowledge will assist clients in navigating the burgeoning set of laws and regulations pertaining to “Green” matters. Lisa’s articles on Green Building/Green Leasing and Energy Star requirements provide a primer on the issues related to the environment that owners and tenants need to anticipate as these laws and regulations are increasingly implemented. Recognizing the convergence of social networking sites with the workplace, Barry Parker’s article asks employers to question “what their employees are doing” and when they are doing it, on Twitter, Facebook, Plaxo and LinkedIn as well as other networking sites. As the line between these sites blur, Barry guides employers through the myriad of considerationsthey should address in adopting policies regarding workplace use of these electronic social media sites. Exploring the impact of changes in social institutions, Jeffrey Loew’s article explores the recent passage of Proposition 8, banning gay marriage; in particular, the rise of domestic partnerships and the posthumous challenges to domestic partnerships as well as marriages.  Finally, this edition of Perspectives presents three additional practical topics: Kendall Patton’s informative piece on the efficient use of transactional attorneys in completing business transactions, Michael Telleen’s article on the possible benefits of the “conversion” of the structure of your business entity, as well as Brendan Lund’s and Laurelle Gutierrez’ timely tax alert on reporting the existence of any foreign bank account information to the IRS.

Without doubt we will begin to see more and more opportunities created by the shifts in our society and economy as greater emphasis is placed on “green” matters, including building requirements, energy efficiency, tax incentives and
sustainable practices. The technology changes affecting the way we work, communicate and interact with each
other will continue to accelerate. We look forward to working with you, our clients and friends, to help you take
advantage of the open doors of opportunity that surround us.