Dianne

Vicki Donahue elected to REBA Board of Directors NOVEMBER 18, 2011 Vicki Donahue has been elected to the Board of Directors of The Real Estate Bar Association of Massachusetts. REBA, an organization with a rich 150 year history, is the largest specialty bar association in MA with over 3000 members. In addition to serving on the board, Vicki has been appointed co-chair of the REBA Commercial Real Estate Finance Committee.

Cain Hibbard hosts Berkshire Chamber Nite NOVEMBER 01, 2011 Cain Hibbard & Myers celebrated its newly-renovated office by hosting the Berkshire County Chamber of Commerce’s October Chamber Nite. A large turnout and delectable menu (catered by Apogee) made for a wonderful evening. As a special bonus, chamber members were treated to the magical voices of the Berkshire Children’s Chorus, an award winning chorus of local area students. Cain Hibbard supports the Berkshire Children’s Chorus, as well as several other local nonprofits that provide extraordinary educational initiatives in the arts to Berkshire County students.  

Syd Smithers speaks at Massachusetts Association of Land Surveyors and Civil Engineers Seminar MAY 02, 2011 For more information download the full white paper Streets Ways May 2011  

Keeping Secrets: Securing the crown jewels in a down economy APRIL 01, 2009 I got a panicked call last week from a client who had just laid off one of his senior managers. New to this heartwrenching process, this CEO had spent weeks running the numbers and hammering out what he thought would be a fair severance package. He had drafted his announcement to the staff and mapped out a transition scenario. He had scripted, rehearsed, and re-rehearsed the termination interview. He had carefully timed the interview, which, while painful, had gone essentially according to plan. Believing that he had handled the termination as well as he could, my client finally was able to get a full night’s sleep. But while driving to work the following morning,my client realized that there was one very important thing that he had missed: he had done nothing to secure the highly confidential and valuable company information to which his former manager had had free access, information that could cause my client irreparable harm were it to fall into the wrong hands. In the world of intellectual property law, confidential information that provides a company with an advantage over its competitors is protectable as...

 JANUARY 01, 2009 Volunteering time and expertise is an important component in our vibrant community-and good business to boot. Helping lead a great nonprofit organization is a privilege and an investment in our quality of life, personally and professionally. It’s hard to say who gets more out of it. Community service is a habit. Several years ago, when I lived in Windsor, Massachusetts, I served on the finance committee, Board of Selectmen, and Planning Board at various times. Those experiences and my work as a real-estate attorney have given me firsthand experience in the development pressures facing towns across the state. But more to the point, municipal service grounded me in my community and helped me understand the disconnect residents sometimes feel between a vibrant business community and our quality of life in the Berkshires. A healthy economy, healthy people, and healthy communities are all inextricably linked, and my community service today is focused on the organization I chair, the Trustees of Reservations. Despite the odd nineteenth-century name, the Trustees is very much an organization for today – and tomorrow – helping to preserve Massachusetts’s landscapes and landmarks for everyone, forever. Being involved – offering my time and expertise –...