Telephone: 802-864-5751
E-Mail: lcole@dinse.com
vCard: Download
Blog: Leigh Cole's Vermont Business Blog, Vermont Business Newsroom
Areas of Practice Concentration:
Corporate and Commercial Transactions, Global Business Migration, Immigration for employers in Business, Education and Healthcare.
Description of Practice:
Ms. Cole, a director of the firm, advises businesses and institutional clients, including hospitals, colleges and universities, applying her broad ranging experience in contracts, corporate transactions and start-ups, government regulations, financings, litigation and immigration matters. Ms. Cole serves as general counsel and advisor to businesses as they navigate legal issues in diverse industries including matters relating to business formation, mergers and acquisitions, financing, commercial transactions, global migration and immigration.
- Corporate and Commercial; Business Migration
Ms. Cole is an experienced business lawyer. Her clients range from start-ups, sole proprietorships and family businesses to large employers and publicly held companies. She serves as general counsel to Vermont businesses and to companies from abroad doing business in the United States. She advises business owners and management in the legal issues that arise as companies conduct business, enter new markets, undergo changes in ownership, obtain financing, and manage growth. - Business and Institutional Immigration
Ms. Cole represents companies from abroad with business matters and immigration in the United States, and healthcare and educational institutions employing and educating internationals. Ms. Cole represents clients from Canada and Mexico entering the United States to do business or work under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). She advises clients regarding U.S. immigration laws and options available to international business owners, professionals and skilled workers to pursue opportunities in the US market. She counsels clients seeking to employ non-U.S. citizens in the United States, and prepares visa petitions to authorize international business owners and executives, managers, employees with specialized knowledge, professionals, health care workers, and other eligible workers for employment in the United States.
Prior Experience:
Ms. Cole joined the firm after practicing with Gravel and Shea in Burlington, Vermont from 1996 to 2000. Ms. Cole started her law practice in upstate New York with the law firm of O'Connell and Aronowitz in Albany and Plattsburgh, New York. Prior to attending law school, Ms. Cole was employed as a legislative analyst for small business economic development with the New York State Assembly and as a paralegal.
Education:
- Albany Law School of Union University (J.D. 1991)
- Editor-in-Chief, Albany Law Review, 1990 to 1991
- Cornell University (B.A. 1985), Goverment; Agricultural Trade Policy
- Phillips Exeter Academy (1981)
Admissions:
- U.S. District Court, District of Vermont
- U.S. District Court, Northern District of New York
- U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit
- Vermont Supreme Court
- New York Appellate Division, Third Department
Professional Affiliations:
- Member, American Bar Association
- Member, Vermont Bar Association
- Member, New York Bar Association
- Member, American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA)
- Member, National Association of College and University Attorneys (NACUA)
Professional Activities:
- Vermont Business Blog http://cole.dinse.com
- Vermont Business Newsroom http://cole.dinse.com/the-vermont-newsroom/
- Director, Wake Robin Corporation, August 2007 to present; member, Finance Committee
- Chair, Far Post Soccer Club, Inc.; director, 2003 to present
- Director, Leadership Champlain, a division of the Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce, August 2007 to present
- Creator and leader, Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility (VBSR) Circle of discussion group on socially responsible business practices (January 2007 to present)
- Member, AILA Committee on Health Care Professionals (Non-Physicians), 2007 - 2008
- Director, Lake Champlain Land Trust, 2001 to 2007 (term limit)
- Senior Editor, Immigration & Nationality Law Handbook published annually by the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) (1999 to present)
- Founding Director, South Hero Land Trust, 1996 to 1998
- Leadership Champlain, Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce, Class of 1998