The Women's Business Collaborative of Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge, now one of the largest professional networking groups in New England, was initially formed in 1996 in response to the desire of our women clients to have a meeting place to connect with other women professionals. The Women's Business Collaborative is for women decision makers and business owners to promote business opportunities among one another. EAPD has a core commitment to helping women thrive in business. We believe that an effective way to do this is to provide a meeting place for women professionals to connect and share ideas for professional advancement and business generation.
The Women's Business Collaborative has evolved with the explosion of women entrepreneurs and women-owned businesses and the increase in women attorneys at Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge. Today, the Women's Business Collaborative provides relevant information on all issues that professional women face and is a venue for professional women to connect and network. The group also provides a support and mentoring component for the women attorneys of Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge through internal programs and resources that facilitate the development of their skill building and networking skills.
Many of Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge's offices have active Women's Business Collaborative Groups including Boston, New York, Providence and London. The Groups meet periodically in their own communities, providing educational speakers and seminars aimed at teaching valuable skill sets, holding informative meetings to address health and life issues and serving as a forum to foster networking and mentoring. In addition, the women attorneys work with each other between/among offices to share ideas and experiences.
The Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge Women's Business Collaborative model has been instituted in other law firms and businesses in Boston, New Orleans, Denver and Seattle through "word of mouth," based on our successes following national exposure through speaking engagements, thus demonstrating its appeal and popularity among women professionals. As groups like this grow and proliferate around the country, a critical mass of women owned businesses, women attorneys and their confidants create the necessary power base capable of affecting political and social change.
The Firm understands that our commitment to women is a commitment to excellence and helps to support other female and minority sponsored organizations and events. As an example of this, EAPD is a sponsor of the National Association of Women Judges (NAWJ), National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL), Women's Association of Venture & Equity (WAVE), the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession, and the Association of Professional Insurance Women (APIW).