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On the first Wednesday of every month, the family law office of Phillips & Peters celebrates Women Crush Wednesday! These are not sponsored or paid posts – just women business owners we think are crushing it in Hampton Roads that we love to support. 

Integrity. Experience. Efficiency. According to Melissa Howell, these are key values of a successful business, and she would know. As the founder of Howell Law Group, she works with a variety of local businesses while running a successful employment law boutique.

Raised and educated in Coastal Virginia Ms. Howell’s path with labor law started during her undergraduate studies. At the time Hooters was national news due to a sex discrimination lawsuit filed by men denied jobs as servers. This led Ms. Howell to an employment discrimination course at Christopher Newport University. The interesting aspects of that case caught her attention. The ever-evolving employment regulations for businesses motivated her career path.

Now she serves the local community’s small to midsized business with anything related to personnel.

Ms. Howell assists business leaders by protecting the integrity of their companies. She explains, “When disciplinary or counseling issues arise like someone taking trade secrets, I help owners focus. We focus on their business and preserve it while they’re handling the issue right in front of them at the moment.” Though it’s not always when a company is in trouble that they seek out her services.

When starting a business, it is important from the beginning to understand the framework of employment law. Some regulations don’t affect smaller businesses until they reach a certain number of employees. “I will meet with people who haven’t even started their businesses yet and outline their key milestones so they can call me when getting to that place” Ms. Howell elaborated. “At the very least it is good to know when to pick up the phone”.

Through her years of experience, Ms. Howell has incorporated the importance of valuing others into the way she runs her business and engages with the community.

She credits this to her upbringing. “My grandfather was a pastor and he taught me that everybody brings tremendous value to the table. What you do and how you invest in other people matters and is important.” This is why Phillips & Peters values the Howell Law Group. With her natural inclination to help others we are inspired by the way she uses her skills and experience to support Hampton Roads by serving our business leaders.

“It’s important to recognize businesses or individuals that are contributing positively to the community. If they have hurdles that I can help remove – that’s what I find satisfying. To me, that’s the definition of leadership. Paving the way for people who are trying to make a positive contribution to the community.” That’s what Melissa Howell is doing. Living and working from a place of integrity, experience, and efficiency. As a result, the businesses and the whole of our community are better for her contributions.