Verrill Dana sets up craft beverage, Arctic practice groups
courtesy of Verrill Dana
Roger Clement, a commercial lawyer in Verrill Dana's new North Atlantic and Arctic Group.
Portland law firm Verrill Dana recently set up a craft beverage industry group with eight attorneys and soon plans to announce another group with 12 attorneys focused on increasing North Atlantic and Arctic trade and commerce that is expected once shipping routes open due to the melting Arctic Ocean.
“We see the expansion of commercial shipping in the Arctic and North Atlantic as a tremendous opportunity for Maine’s economy,” Roger Clement, a commercial lawyer in the new North Atlantic and Arctic Group, told Mainebiz in an emailed statement. “In particular, the shortened shipping routes between Asia [and] Europe are likely to fuel significant investment in infrastructure in Maine, including port and rail development. This presents an opportunity for shipbuilding and other marine trades industries, as well as opening the doors to research and development that will lead to new products and services.”
Clement said Maine is poised to serve as a shipping and logistics hub, with the potential for spawning new businesses and industries. He added that Verrill Dana has expertise in rail, maritime law, land-use permitting, commercial finance and mergers and acquisitions.
The law firm also has attorneys focused on life science and bio-sciences from intellectual property, academic and clinical research perspectives, which is relevant as many of the emerging businesses are developing new marine-based products and technologies, Gretchen Johnson, Verrill Dana’s director of marketing, told Mainebiz in an email.
The Arctic and North Atlantic team also will have attorneys who specialize in government contract-related work and compliance issues relating to non-military products and other foreign-trade issues, she said. The team also includes members of Verrill Dana’s Maine Street Solutions affiliate that have coalition-building experience targeted at potential large projects.
Johnson added that three Verrill Dana attorneys will represent Maine at the upcoming Arctic Circle Conference in Reykjavik, Iceland, this October. They hope to learn a lot more about what the needs will be as commerce increases in the North Atlantic, she noted.
“We’re also talking to Dana Eidsness at MENADO to help prepare for the October 2016 Senior Arctic Officials meeting that will take place in Portland,” she said. Eidsness is director of the Maine North Atlantic Development Office, or MENADO, which was formed as a Maine International Trade Center initiative in 2013 to focus on North Atlantic and Arctic trade and affairs.
Verrill Dana said in a statement that the North Atlantic and Arctic Group also will host an international discussion and networking event next week with seven other law firms, each representing one member nation of the Council of Arctic Nations.
Separately, the law firm recently set up a group focused on the craft beverage industry and anchored by partner William Knowles and associate Colin Hay.
The Breweries, Distilleries and Wineries Group already had been advising Allagash Brewing Co. Inc. and other Maine craft brewers for years, Johnson said, but formalized its activities in the past couple months. It provides legal guidance in corporate, intellectual property, real estate, labor and employment issues.
Johnson noted that special regulatory and compliance issues come up in the burgeoning industry.
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