Our seasoned and energized team of legal experts and HR professionals come from an array of backgrounds, ensuring that The AR Group has the depth and breadth of experience and knowledge to deliver practical and tailored legal, HR, and compliance solutions. Your business gets the benefit of working with a team of professionals who can quickly identify issues and assess how those interrelate to other legal, compliance, or business operational matters. This means that your business effectively gets the equivalent of three professional rolled into one — at rates unmatched in the field.
Now, meet our team…
VICTORIA T. AGUILAR, Esq., SPHR
Founder and Managing Partner
Ms. Aguilar established The AR Group after more than 17 years of providing legal, human resource, and compliance counsel to Fortune 500 companies including GE, Time Warner Telecom, and US WEST. She also served as the VP of HR and General Counsel to a 2000+ union/non union employee construction firm with operations in four states and managed HR and Legal for two high tech start-up enterprises experiencing rapid growth.
As a result of these experiences, Victoria recognized the need for sophisticated and strategic legal counsel, HR support, and compliance management. This recognition was in part borne out of her professional experience and in part borne out her recognition of increased regulation and penalty enforcement by government agencies in conjunction with employee and contract management. In considering the need for these services, Ms. Aguilar evaluated the degree to which these needs were being served by the existing legal or HR consulting marketplace. She immediately saw that they were not: Law firms were too costly and seemingly unapproachable with their $300, $400, and $500 an hour fees and most HR Consulting firms were unable to bring the legal and/or compliance expertise to the table with their service offerings. The AR Group was founded to ensure that businesses would have available sophisticated yet practical and comprehensive legal, HR, and compliance management services by a collaborative and cost effective provider.
Victoria holds an undergraduate degree in Psychology from Boston College (Summa Cum Laude), where she was also awarded the distinction of “Scholar of the College.” After BC, Ms. Aguilar attended The University of Michigan Law School where she graduated in 1992. Ms. Aguilar is licensed in Colorado and Minnesota, is certified as a Senior Professional Human Resource Executive (“SPHR”), and is a member of the American Bar Association and The Society of Human Resource Managers.
Representative Clients: United States Postal Service; Denver Water; WealthTouch, Inc.; ZeaChem, Inc.; The Hispanic Chamber of Metro Denver; LegalZoom, Inc.; Rocke Orthodontics; IMA; InTandem, LLC; and The Girls’ Athletic School of Denver.
BLAIR A. ROSENTHAL, Esq., SPHR
Founder and Partner
After 18 years of legal practice, Blair recognized the opportunity to provide the small to emerging market with innovative and creative counsel and advice as significant and so co-founded The AR Group. Mr. Rosenthal brings specialized experience in regulatory counseling, litigation, advertising and consumer protection, risk assessment and mitigation, as well as significant contract negotiation and drafting experience. Mr. Rosenthal graduated from The University of Minnesota, summa cum laude, and went on to attend The University of Michigan Law School. Mr. Rosenthal is currently licensed to practice law in Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska, New Mexico, and Wyoming.
Representative Clients: Xcel Energy; Factory Design Labs; and LegalZoom Inc.
VERONICA M. AGUILAR, Esq.
Legal Services
Veronica brings a unique perspective to The AR Group having spent the last 20 years as a practicing lawyer whose focus and expertise is as a business litigator. Since she has represented both consumers and companies as both plaintiffs and defendants, she brings significant insight and creativity to developing practical solutions to client issues. In addition, Ms. Aguilar has significant experience in managing insurance issues and programs as well as in representing clients on unemployment benefits and employee termination matters.
Ms. Aguilar holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from San Diego State University and a law degree from The California Western School of Law. Ms. Aguilar is a member of the California Bar and offices out of our San Diego, California location.
AUDREY JOHNSON
Legal, Process Management, and Compliance Consultant
Audrey offers over 30 years of hands-on professional experience including 30 years at Qwest Communications, Inc. (a Fortune 500 Company) where, as a Large Business Development Analyst, she was integral to the development, implementation, and management of QWest’s carrier contract compliance process. Audrey’s keen analytical and strategic compliance skills were later put to use when she served as Senior Compliance Specialist for Republic Financial Corporation. At Republic, Audrey developed and managed the company’s compliance program and processes and was responsible for monthly, quarterly, and annual compliance reporting and management. Audrey is particularly adept at identifying process issues to promote efficiency in overall management of compliance programs and audits. Ms. Johnson holds a Paralegal Certificate from the Minnesota Paralegal Institute.
JOSHUA HEROLD-OLSON, Esq.
Translation Services
As a multi-linguistic legal professional, Joshua developed his specialization in Translation Services while working on a FCPA (Foreign Corrupt Practices Act) compliance investigation of global infrastructure projects funded by the World Bank. Presented with the challenges of language barriers and time deadlines for complex legal documents and global interpersonal communications, Joshua pioneered a specialized in-house translation and localization division side-stepping the delivery delays and exorbitant fees of outside translation service providers. Focused on industry-specific multilingual translation, company-customized localization, and a legal understanding of HR compliance issues, Mr. Herold-Olson provides valuable support to clients in need of policy translation for cultural, practical or compliance reasons. Joshua is a graduate of Denver University where he also received his dual Masters and Juris Doctorate degrees. He works in Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, French, Mandarin, Cantonese, and Arabic.
CASSANDRA GRANT
HR Management Consulting
Cassie provides hands-on support to clients in need of audit work or compliance review related to on-boarding, off-boarding, FLSA, FMLA, I9/E-Verify, DOT programs, and 401K administration. Cassie also works with clients in need of additional support related to open enrollment efforts and is experienced at establishing employee communication initiatives through creation of employee newsletters or communiques. Ms. Grant served as the Regional HR Manager for a multi-state, multi-location, construction firm for several years. During that time Cassie was responsible for employee dispute resolution, employee file maintenance, I9/E-Verify compliance management, and 401K and benefit plan administration. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Metropolitan State College of Denver.
JIM LABBIENTI
HR Management Consulting
Jim brings over 30 years of experience as an HR Officer, Staffing and Classification program manager, Senior Employee Relations Specialist and HR Audit program manager. Mr. Labbienti has worked at both the national and regional levels developing and writing HR policies and evaluating HR programs. He has extensive experience working with supervisors, managers and high-level executives. His areas of special expertise include HR policy, organizational development, employee dispute resolution, performance management program development and improvement, writing and presenting training, and working with supervisors and managers to implement executive decisions. Jim graduated Summa Cum Laude with a BS in Psychology from Southeastern Massachusetts University.
LAURIE GRAVES
Business Assessments and Program, Process, and Project Planning and Implementation
Laurie has 30+ years of experience in comprehensive process, program, and project planning, implementation, and communications for small and large public and private sector entities. She provides research, analysis, process design, and project management services related to job performance, compensation and benefits systems; insurance coverage; compliance initiatives; leases and contracts; proposal coordination; and financial / organizational impact assessments. With multi-industry employer experience, Lauri understands the time and knowledge constraints in handling these matters as well as the concerns about lack of full knowledge and unintended outcomes. She graduated with a BS Degree in Consumer Sciences from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an MBA from the University of Denver.