PROFILE
Bob Bower adds value to the firm’s institutional clients by providing practical legal advice to senior management to solve both routine – and extraordinary – human resource challenges. Bob knows from more than 30 years in practice, that gearing down on personnel issues before adverse employment action occurs limits exposure to the risk and liability of potentially valid claims. When otherwise irresolvable issues arise and litigation is the only solution, Bob vigorously defends the firm’s clients in state or federal court, and before administrative agencies responsible for enforcing employment and labor laws.
Concentrating his practice in labor and employment law advice and litigation, Bob provides counsel to some of Maine’s largest public and private corporations, in collaboration with their in-house counsel and human resources personnel. He also represents many companies too small to have dedicated human resources personnel, which may only have very rare employment law challenges. Bob helps these smaller companies get up to speed quickly, and nip issues in the bud when those rare problems arise.
Bob provides formal labor law advice and litigation services to both governmental entities under the Maine Labor Relations Act and non-governmental employers covered by the National Labor Relations Act.
Bob also chairs the firm’s Labor and Employment Law and Workers’ Compensation Practice Groups. He serves on the firm’s Management Committee. He has litigated some of the most significant cases in the evolving jurisprudence of Maine’s Workers’ Compensation law.
In 2012, Bob was appointed by Governor LePage to two separate state boards, the Maine Board of Civil Service Appeals and the Maine Board of Arbitration and Conciliation. In 2014 he was appointed to the Maine Labor Relations Board as the primary Employer Representative. In those roles he decides litigated disputes between state employees and the State of Maine, and is the Arbitrator of disputes between public employee labor unions and state, county, and municipal employers.
Bob’s practice is currently divided between litigated defense of various forms of employment and labor law disputes, and advice to management regarding employment contracts, human resources issues, general employment and labor law, and labor negotiation and dispute resolution. He has lectured frequently on various employment and labor law topics.
EDUCATION
University of Maine School of Law, J.D., 1985
Colby College, A.B., 1980
EXPERIENCE
PRACTICE AREAS
Our attorneys have been recognized in their specialties and honored by their peers locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally and are trusted by clients to provide sound, common-sense advice and solutions.
Admitted to Practice
- State of Maine
- U.S. District Court, District of Maine
- U.S. Court of Appeals, First Circuit
Member, Past and Present
- American Bar Association, Member
- Maine Bar Association, Member
- Cumberland County Bar Association, Member
- Defense Research Institute, Member
- Kieve-Wavus Education, Inc., Chairman, Board of Trustees
- Maine Board of Arbitration and Conciliation
- Maine Civil Service Appeals Board
- Maine Labor Relations Board, Primary Employer Representative
Selected Reported Cases
- Sanders v. Seaside Nursing Home, 2004 ME 135, 861 A.2d 1283.
- Lydon v. Sprinkler Services, 2004 ME 16, 841 A.2d 793.
- Coulombe v. Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Maine, Inc.,2002 ME 163, 809 A.2d 613.
- Boehm v. American Falcon Corporation, 1999 ME 16, 726 A.2d 692.
- Pendexter v. Tilcon of Maine, Inc., 1999 ME 34, 724 A.2d 618.
- Legassie v. Securitas, 2008 ME 43.
Awards, Merits & Honors
- AV Rated by Martindale Hubbell
- Recognized by Best Lawyers in America – Labor Law and Workers’ Compensation Law 2008-2024
- Best Lawyers “Lawyer of the Year” – Labor Law and Workers’ Compensation Law (Employers) 2024
Designations
