Giving Back

East Greenwich native Matt Plain ’05 graduated from RWU Law fifth in his class and passed the bar exam for Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts. After serving a judicial clerkship with the Honorable George E. Healy, Jr., in the Rhode Island Workers’ Compensation Court, he joined the law offices of Barton Gilman LLP and, within just six years, made partner.     

While at RWU, he was a member of Law Review, was an Honors Program participant, a seven-time Cali Award winner for Excellence in Legal Research and Writing, recipient of a Feinstein Grant, and served as a legal intern at the Rhode Island Governor’s Office, a member of the Association of Public Interest Law and a research assistant for two professors.

Before attending Roger Williams, Matt attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he earned his B.A. in Political Science, while working 30 hours a week. Upon graduation he began work as a junior high teacher in North Carolina, coaching football, wrestling and baseball while working on (and earning) his M.Ed. in curriculum and instruction at UNC, Greensboro.  

As his high school alma mater’s newspaper recently enthused: “Matt Plain is nothing but active and has a list of accomplishments too numerous to mention here. He believes, though, in giving back to the community. He serves on the East Greenwich School Committee. He is on the Advisory Board to the Roger Williams University School of Education and serves on 14 other Boards of Directors, Editorial Boards and Advisory Councils. A published author of several article series, Matt has also won several awards, including: five-time Rising Star honoree from “Super Lawyer” magazine, the Mortar Board Award from the Segue Institute of Learning and the Providence Business News 40 Under Forty Award. It is for these, and many other accomplishments, that the East Greenwich Wall of Honor will warmly honor Matt Plain at its annual ceremony nest April [2018] in the East Greenwich High School Auditorium.”