Immigration Reform Bill Includes New Options For Retirees

Among the many provisions of the 800-page bill, the Senate's immigration reform proposal would help the many vacation home owners and renters hailing from Canada and other countries. The bill creates a new Retiree visa category for individuals over age 55 who buy real estate in the United States worth at least $500,000 and reside in the United States for at least 180 days per year in a home worth at least $250,000. It's a temporary visa category renewable every 3 years.  The Senate's immigration reform bill also allows for "Canadian retirees" (defined as individuals over age 55) to be admitted as visitors for up to 240 days per stay, rather than the current 180-day limit per stay, as long as they continue to maintain a residence in Canada.  Read the full post...

Senate IMmigration Reform Proposal Unveiled

Eight U.S. senators from both parties unveiled a much-anticipated bipartisan immigration reform bill yesterday. A bipartisan group of Members of Congress is prepared to introduce a companion bill in the U.S. House of Representatives. The 844-page bill introduced yesterday contains a variety of reform measures, including mandatory E-Verify participation, a new agricultural worker visa that finally will enable dairy farmers to employ migrant farm labor legally, new employment-based and investor visa options, provisions to eliminate visa queues and backlogs, a legalization for undocumented individuals, and changes to the H-1B visa program for specialty occupation workers, among others. Read the full post....

Trademark Clearinghouse Offers Protection for Trademarks as Launch of New gTLDs Approaches

Elizabeth A. Kleinberg, Esq., Contributor

The new gTLD program for domain names is proceeding, and we are getting closer to the launch of hundreds of new gTLDs. A gTLD is a generic top-level domain name, such as .com and .org. With new gTLDs will come new opportunities for trademark infringement as people try to register second-level domain names containing trademarks belonging to others. The Trademark Clearinghouse is an attempt to decrease these potential problems. If you are a trademark owner, registering your marks with the Trademark Clearinghouse can help you protect your marks. The Trademark Clearinghouse is scheduled to open on March 26, 2013. Read the full post...

Dreaming of Immigration Reform on Campus

The results of the 2012 national election raised comprehensive immigration reform to a national priority.  There is consensus among Republicans, Democrats, business organizations, unions and immigration advocates that immigration reform is imperative.  Congress and the Obama Administration are working on an immigration reform proposal and (dare I say it?) it seems likely that a major immigration bill will pass Congress and be signed by the President this year.   “Comprehensive immigration reform” is understood to include measures that will address the scarcity of employment-based visas for skilled, unskilled and professional workers and address the population of illegal aliens who have no prospect of legalization under current law, including “childhood arrivals.” 

Of particular importance to educational institutions are the issues of childhood arrivals, immigrant visa backlogs for outstanding professors and researchers, and immigration benefits for same sex spouses.  Read the full post....

Update on Women at Dinse

One of the things we are most proud of at the firm is the success of women at Dinse.  I blogged about this over 3 years ago.  Our track record with respect to women attorneys was impressive at that point and it's only improved since then.  Currently we have 21 partners in the firm, of whom nine (43%) are women, and two attorneys of counsel, of whom one is a woman (50%). We have seven associate attorneys, of whom three (43%) are women.  We have nine Practice Group Leaders at the firm, of whom five (55%) are women.  This remarkable profile of women's success at a law firm is in stark contrast to experience of women at law firms nationwide and even in Vermont.   The fact that this trend has improved over the past few years shows that it isn't an aberration at a singular point in time but rather a significant and durable characteristic of the firm.

Department of Labor Issues Final Rule and New FMLA Poster

Sophie E. Zdatny, Esquire, Contributor

On February 5, 2013, the United States Department of Labor("DOL") marked the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Family and Medical Leave Act("FMLA") by issuing a Final Rule to implement two important expansions of FMLA protections, benefiting military families and airline flight crews. Several of the changes go into effect on March 8, 2013. Read the full post...

New Year, New Trademark Audit

Elizabeth A. Kleinberg, Esq., Contributor

With the New Year, many people reflect on the past and resolve to take steps in both their personal and business lives. As you focus on your business resolutions, examine your trademark use to ensure you are sufficiently protecting your brands. A trademark audit is an invaluable annual step for both for-profit and nonprofit companies. Here are some things to consider.  Read the full post...

Clearing up the "180 day rule" for Canadians

Lately we’ve had reports of questions at U.S. ports of entry about a “180 day rule” which are confusing to Canadian visitors who spend a lot of time in the United States for business or holiday.  To make sense of the confusion, it’s important to clarify the distinction between U.S. immigration law and U.S. tax law. 

First, the immigration rule: Canadians are allowed to enter the United States as visitors and remain here for up to 180 days (6 months) after each entry.  As a practical matter, if someone spends more than half the year in the United States as a “visitor”, it raises a question whether the person actually lives in the United States and needs immigration approval to do so.  

Now here’s the tax rule:  Individuals who remain in the United States for an aggregate of more than 180 days on average in a given tax year may be treated as a tax resident of the United States, for tax purposes only. Read the full post....

Dinse Helps VT Hospitals Recover Medicaid Underpayment

Linda Cohen, Esq., Contributor

Vermont hospitals will soon be receiving a communication from the Department of Vermont Health Access (DVHA) saying hospitals will receive reimbursement for underpayments relating to high level emergency department claims (99284 and 99285) from July 14, 2009 through September 30, 2010.  The decision to reimburse these claims is a result of ongoing negotiations with DVHA jointly initiated by Central Vermont Medical Center and Rutland Regional Medical Center who worked our firm to pursue their claims.  My colleague Maggie Platzer and I represented the hospitals.  After exchange of significant legal and reimbursement analysis, we were able to convince Commissioner Larson that the claims had not been properly paid, and then we worked cooperatively with him to correct the error for the hospitals.  These efforts were so successful that they resulted in a decision to reimburse all hospitals for the identified underpayments.  Read the full post....

Good Time To Focus On Nonprofit Board Accountability

We've been following the Penn State situation closely.  The responses of the university and its various constituents and the NCAA to this unprecedented institutional disaster as described in the Freeh Report will inform our advice to our college, university, institutional and nonprofit clients going forward in so many contexts, including employment matters, athletics compliance, board governance and leadership, campus security, campus threat assessment, institutional structure and reporting, and compliance generally, among others.  And like the Sarbanes-Oxley reforms years ago, which were mandatory for publicly held companies and accepted to a large extent as best practices for private businesses, institutions and non-profits, the Penn State case raises awareness of nonprofit board accountability generally.  

This is a subject of great interest at our firm, because we not only represent a large number of institutional and nonprofit clients, but virtually all of us are directly involved in the nonprofit community as engaged directors and volunteers, supporting and leading nonprofits through good times and challenges.  Read the full post....