The Women's Initiatives Group 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 Initiatives Group 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 Networking Group provides educational information on all types of issues that women face and is a venue for professional women to connect and network with a large contingency of women. More than 500 professional women have attended events in the past year with attendance growing with each event. The group also provides a support and mentoring component for the women attorneys of Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge through their interaction with other professional women, and through internal programs and resources that facilitate the development of their own communication and networking skills.

Many of Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge's offices have active Women's Initiatives Groups including Boston, New York, Providence and West Palm Beach. The groups meet quarterly 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 social gathering place to foster networking and mentoring. The women attorneys meet regularly within and between offices to share ideas and experiences.

The Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge Women's Initiatives Group model has been instituted in other law firms in Boston, New Orleans, Denver and Seattle through women attorneys with whom our attorneys have become acquainted at national women's conferences , thus demonstrating its appeal and popularity among women attorneys and their female clients. 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).