Maxine Nauhauser, a Member of the Firm in the Labor and Employment practice and co-founder of the firm's Women's Initiative, in the Newark office, and Jennifer Barna, an Associate in the Litigation practice, in the Newark office, were quoted in an article titled "Women's Networking Groups Develop Key Skills."

Following is an excerpt:

Seventy percent of the respondents characterized their involvement in workplace networks for women as time well spent. Fifty-three percent said their involvement in such networks would help advance their careers; 68 percent said their participation aided development of leadership skills. ?...

Women comprise roughly 46 percent of the workforce nationally, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, while representing 15 percent of top executives and 3 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs, according to the latest data. According to a World Economic Forum report on corporate gender diversity projects in 20 countries released in 2010, 28 percent of companies operated women-specific mentoring and career development networks. ?...

For attorney Jennifer Barna, the decade-old Women's Initiative at Epstein Becker Green, a national law firm, has been pivotal to her professional well-being as an associate at its Newark, N.J., office. She said her career growth resulted, at least in part, from participating in her firm's women's network, which has given her access to successful, influential male and female colleagues and put her work products in the spotlight.

Golf outings, wine tastings and presentations from Pulitzer Prize-winning authors on nonbusiness related subjects are among networking events the firm's networking group sponsors. It's one way for the firm to engage its employees as well as potential clients from other companies.

"We've made the business case for this," said Epstein Becker Green attorney Maxine Neuhauser, a co-founder of the Epstein Becker Green Women's Initiative. "It's a way for our women lawyers to meet people, learn how to market, get comfortable with marketing and to grow our clients in an efficient way," she explained. "To go out to lunch every day and meet one or two people is a tough way to market. Putting your business card into a fish bowl is not a particularly effective way of marketing."

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