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Pannone Lopes Devereaux & O’Gara Celebrates 15 Years of Legal Excellence
For information, contact:
Clare Eckert at ceckert@pldolaw.com
401-855-2601
Rhode Island – March 1, 2021 – Pannone Lopes Devereaux & O’Gara LLC (PLDO) announced that the firm is commemorating its 15th anniversary, marking a significant and proud milestone achieved through innovation in the practice of law, teamwork, and collaboration in delivering quality legal services for clients despite the challenges, including last year’s unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic.
“Our success as a law firm is rooted in a commitment to excellence by our attorneys and staff, and we thank our loyal clients for their support and confidence through the years,” said Gary R. Pannone, a founder and Managing Principal. “Fifteen years ago, we decided to form a new entity that would combine business principles to the practice of law by encouraging collaboration by and among all of our lawyers and staff with a focus on building strategic alliances with other businesses and professionals in an effort to pool resources and develop creative and cost-effective solutions to complex business and legal issues. We are extremely proud of our accomplishments and thank our entire team and our clients for being a part of this success story.”
Pannone added, “Last year was uniquely challenging with the unprecedented pandemic; however, we were prepared for this type of event by making significant investments in technology and training our lawyers and staff to effectively discharge their responsibilities through the use of technology while working remotely. All the credit goes to the lawyers and staff for being prepared for the challenges that we have all faced and we are humbled and grateful to our long-standing client relationships.”
Founded in 2006, PLDO has become a highly respected, multi-state law firm with a business platform that is innovative, incorporates advanced technology in servicing clients, and relies upon a team approach to problem-solving for clients. In addition to Attorney Pannone, other founding members are PLDO Principals Matthew A. Lopes Jr., William P. Devereaux, and William E. O’Gara. All of the principals were formerly partners in an international law firm and collectively have more than 140 years of experience in the practice of law.
Over the years, PLDO has distinguished itself as one of the top-ranked law firms in the region and is annually selected as among the “Best Law Firms” in America by U.S. News – Best Lawyers®. PLDO attorneys are consistently recognized by their peers as Best Lawyers in America© and many of the firm’s lawyers have been recognized by their peers and judges with the Martindale Hubbell AV Preeminent rating, which is the highest level of achievement for professional skill and integrity.
The firm is also dedicated to being involved in the community and has supported hundreds of nonprofit organizations over the years in charitable giving, volunteerism and pro bono resources. It has been honored with several awards for its service such as being recognized for its volunteerism by the American Cancer Society at its Rhode Island “Toast To Hope” event and its contribution to the business community by being named “Corporation of the Year” by the Rhode Island Black Business Association. PLDO is also one of the law firms that is part of the Roger Williams University School of Law Pro Bono Collaborative.
The day the firm opened its doors it consisted of the four principals, two lawyers and a few staff members. Today, it is a prestigious, full-service law firm with over 60 attorneys and professional staff and a geographical footprint that includes offices in Rhode Island, Florida and Massachusetts. PLDO has thrived in spite of the economic downturn in 2008 and the pandemic of 2020 to become a highly respected full-service law firm.
PLDO clients include closely-held businesses, public companies, health care providers, public finance entities, nonprofit organizations, municipalities, software developers, universities, developers, construction companies, high-net-worth individuals, as well as emerging businesses including the cannabis industry. The attorneys have extensive experience in the areas of administrative law, business law, special masterships, civil litigation, public finance, estate planning, probate administration, white collar, health care, trust litigation, employment law, real estate development and commercial lending. The firm’s latest initiative is the creation of PLDO Strategies LLC, a consulting arm that provides services in the areas of legislative strategies, government affairs, lobbying, grassroots advocacy, strategic communications and crisis management.
As part of its anniversary celebration with the community, PLDO has created a multimedia “15th Anniversary” web page that includes a video and other material highlighting the firm’s growth and success. Please click Celebrating 15 Years of Legal Excellence to access the information. To learn more, visit www.pldolaw.com and follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.
About Pannone Lopes Devereaux & O’Gara LLC
The core values of Pannone Lopes Devereaux & O’Gara LLC include integrity, providing quality service and responsiveness. In addition to practicing law, the firm is committed to supporting the community in a meaningful way. The firm has offices in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Florida. For more information, visit www.pldolaw.com.
Berg’s Eye Communications
Leading by Example
Mary T. O’Sullivan’s new book examines the thread between how executives implement their corporate mission and the state of employee morale.
Anyone working at a job or having a career has dealt with management. Some people who lead do so primarily with the company’s interest in mind. Others put themselves first over everything else. The way people in charge perform impacts company morale and employee productivity. When executive behavior matches company and employee values, we achieve positive results for all parties.
In many cases, stories about horrible bosses far exceed those who are giving and inspirational. After all, there was a movie made called “Horrible Bosses” (two of them, actually) that depict some of bad or inappropriate behavior and tactics used to keep employees down or “in line.” Also, can we ever forget the 1980 movie classic “Nine to Five,” starring Dolly Parton, Jane
Fonda and Lily Tomlin? They tied their horrible boss up in a chair and left him there!
Mary T. O’Sullivan, an executive business coach based in North Kingstown, decided to do something about that: namely, chronicle examples of bad bosses and toxic workplaces in print. Her new book, “The Leader You Don’t Want to Be,” talks about those instances of poor judgment and bad decisions that seriously jeopardized the careers of the hard-working people in large organizations. With several decades of dealing with some heavy hitters throughout corporate America, O’Sullivan demonstrates the differences between an effective leader and one who fails are profound.
“Most people have been around bosses who play favorites, give preferred projects to ‘their’ co-workers, or dump undesired work on others. Those are all easy examples of being ineffective,” Sullivan said. “Management styles vary from industry to industry, business to business, and person to person. The way one deals with those around them has profound consequences—good and bad. It becomes evident when someone in authority doesn’t have the knowledge of the job and begins sinking.”
Her book details the good, bad and ugly stories of bosses in ideal and less than ideal circumstances. Some leaders dealt with the problems head on and with grace and dignity leading to a successful conclusion. Often times, the situation went the other way and led to feelings hurt, egos bruised and ultimately, personnel changes.
The book details some of the well-known cases of bosses doing the wrong thing. One such case was the Boston Archdiocese Child Abuse scandal. The Church sought to silence those coming forward accusing priests of inappropriate behavior and not addressing the problem. Instead, they
kept quiet and, in some cases, moved the accused priests to other parishes. The Church leaders reasoned that this would solve the problem and the issue would go away…
…or so Church Leaders thought.
Instead of the scandal being “swept under the rug,” more people spoke out against the Church and their blind eye to what happened. Confidence in the Catholic Church and their leaders took a massive hit. It ended with the Church having to pay out millions of dollars to abuse victims and the head of the Boston Archdiocese, Bernard Cardinal Law, to resign. The Church has still not recovered from their missteps in the form of fewer parishioners, donations and mistrustful feelings about the Archdiocese.
O’Sullivan said those leadership lessons need to be learned for future generations on what not to do in handling such a delicate and life-shattering issue.
“One thing that we learned from this example was to not hide information because it will eventually come out,” she said. “The Boston Archdiocese made a critical mistake in keeping everything internal and not addressing the problems when they came to light. When they did, they did little to nothing to do the right thing. The results of their decisions were swift and drastic in the eyes of the public.”
“Leaders who choose to skirt the truth staring them in the face are going to meet severe repercussions in the process,” O’Sullivan added.
Mary is the owner of Encore Executive Coaching in North Kingstown. Her work involves helping individuals and firms determine the right road in gaining traction toward workable solutions. Her years in corporate America, at Fortune 100 companies, have given her the backstories involving the internal workings of management machinations. Mary has seen and experienced first-hand what works and what doesn’t. She can support the career professional who is stuck in their job or the company that wants to encourage teams in growth and achieve an improved bottom line.
She has spoken extensively at numerous conferences and workshops about today’s workplace and its many complex issues. Some of her favorite topics include gender equality, the “glass ceiling” and uniting women together, rather than undermining each other. She has also written many articles on these and other workplace-related topics.
For more details about Mary and her services, please contact her directly at
mary@encoreexecutivecoaching.com or call her at 401-742-1965.
You may purchase O’Sullivan’s book on www.Amazon.com.
Devereux MA/RI staff appointed to Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology board
Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health Massachusetts and Rhode Island Director of Clinical Services Ashley Warhol, Psy.D.. and Coordinator of Diagnostic Services and Clinical Training
Rachel Schein, Psy.D., HSP, were recently appointed to the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology’s (SCCAP) Acute, Intensive and Residential Service (AIRS) executive board. SCCAP is a division of the American Psychological Association.
AIRS, a special interest group within SCCAP, is dedicated to the promotion of policy, practice, research, training, consultation and leadership related to the psychological assessment and treatment of individuals in acute, intensive and residential behavioral health settings.
Warhol was named co-chair of the AIRS executive board’s practice committee, which provides a forum for members to exchange ideas about clinical practices and respond to real-time challenges, such as mask-wearing compliance. Schein was appointed secretary of the board and is responsible for assisting with communications and other tasks. Warhol and Schein were selected to serve on the board as a result of their 10-plus years of behavioral healthcare experience.
“I am thrilled and honored to be appointed to the AIRS executive board,” said Warhol. “For the past decade, I have worked in residential care settings and, over time, I have learned about the challenges related to providing support and interventions that are unique to these settings. I am excited to share my experiences, observations and ideas with other clinicians, researchers, educators and administrators as we strive to improve the quality of care for the individuals and families we serve.”
Improving acute, intensive and residential services
AIRS develops, implements, measures and disseminates treatments and knowledge to improve the delivery of psychological services to youth and adults in acute, intensive and residential treatment settings. Specifically, AIRS aims to:
- Educate others about acute and intensive treatment settings
- Promote awareness of the services offered in these settings, and across levels of care
- Implement evidence-based assessments and treatments
- Support research related to the psychological assessment and treatment of youth
- Develop models of service delivery
- Define best practices for use
- Disseminate information about the psychological assessment and treatment of youth
“Being on the AIRS executive board is a fantastic opportunity,” Schein noted. “At Devereux, we are committed to providing innovative and evidence-based trauma-focused care to youth and adults with emotional, behavioral and cognitive differences. I am excited to discuss the great work we are doing with my fellow board members and learn about other trends and advancements in the field of behavioral healthcare.”
Learn more about Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health.
Local Start-Up Ohanga™ Inc. Seeks Interns
CITY, RHODE ISLAND USA—Ohanga™ Inc. (www.ohanga.com), is seeking several spring semester interns to work in the communications and marketing departments. Must be eighteen years or older to apply and currently enrolled in or have graduated from an undergraduate program.
Title: Communications Intern
Responsibilities: posting on and engaging through Ohanga Inc.’s social media accounts, primarily including Instagram and Facebook, but also extending to LinkedIn, Twitter, and exploring potential on Tik Tok. This includes designing attractive and on-theme graphics, writing captions appropriate for the current social media campaign, and finding the right hashtags. Ohanga posts 1-2 times a day (including weekends) on Facebook and Instagram; posts can be made manually every morning, or can be scheduled ahead of time under the guidance of a manager. The intern will also be expected to scout and recruit potential Ohanga Creative applicants through social media, brainstorm future social media campaigns, and research best practices for paid social media advertisements, giveaways, etc. Interns might also be asked to assist Ohanga Creatives with their personal social media accounts on a case-by-case basis.
Ideal qualifications: very comfortable with social media; ideally familiar with Canva; willingness to generate and pitch ideas; superior organizational skills; enthusiastic about understanding the Ohanga brand; exceptional ability to communicate and meet deadlines; detail driven and independent worker; flexible and easily adapts to the rhythms of a fast paced work environment.
Length: spring semester internship starting January 11th (negotiable) and ending on May 7th. Exceptional interns will likely be invited to continue working at Ohanga throughout the summer.
Time commitment: 5 hours per week for social media work. If an intern is also interested in gaining experience in other departments (marketing, editorial, magazine, business development, sales, HR, etc.) they are more welcome to extend to 10 hours a week.
Compensation: while the internship is unpaid, communication interns will gain invaluable experience in a young, intersectional, fast-paced company, and the chance to grow their portfolio. Ohanga’s status as a startup also offers interns the rare opportunity to work closely with the CEOs and small founding team, consequently executing tasks whose impact is immediately recognizable and important. Furthermore, interns are encouraged to pitch and spearhead projects both within and beyond their departments—at Ohanga, your ideas can come to life faster than anywhere else.
Title: Marketing Intern
Location: Remote
Responsibilities: Writing and editing Ohanga Inc.’s blogs and online content, primarily focusing on final top-level edits for SEO best practices. A marketing intern will also have the chance to tackle special projects as assigned, including lead generation and potentially copywriting. Researching trending topics and compiling analytics reports to monitor website traffic will be another area of work a marketing intern will gain exposure to periodically throughout the course of the internship. Training on using and coordinating CRM databases will be provided.
Ideal qualifications: Exceptional organizational skills, a genuine talent for creative problem-solving, and an interest in learning about the intersection between writing and marketing and where that fits in with the Ohanga brand.
Length: Spring semester internship starting January 11th (negotiable) and ending on May 7th.
Time commitment: 10 hours a week for content writing and edits. If an intern is also interested in gaining additional marketing responsibilities (or business development or editorial work) they are welcome to extend the number of hours in their work week depending on the responsibilities they assume.
Compensation: While the internship is unpaid, marketing interns will gain invaluable experience in a young, intersectional, fast-paced company and the opportunity to apply their marketing skills in a very hands-on approach. Ohanga’s status as a startup also offers interns the rare opportunity to work closely with the CEOs and small founding team, consequently executing tasks whose impact is immediately recognizable and important. Furthermore, interns are encouraged to pitch and spearhead projects both within and beyond their departments—at Ohanga, your ideas can come to life faster than anywhere else.
To learn more about Ohanga, visit www.ohanga.com.
For questions, please contact info@ohanga.com.
Interested in applying? Please send your resume to info@ohanga.com by January 6th, 11:59 pm.
