Seasoned newspaper reporter Katie Mulvaney decided to take her legal-beat knowledge to the next level by entering RWU Law’s Master of Studies in Law (MSL) program. Here, Mulvaney talks about her decision: I have had the good fortune of covering the courts in Rhode Island for The Providence Journal since 2009. I relish the beat for both its emotional and legal elements. It keeps me engaged and…, New York Times v. Sullivan, came to mind. I also learned the elements of conspiracy and accomplice liability. And I finally understood what common law really was. As the jury deliberated in Dan Doyle’s trial for embezzling from his non-profit, the Institute for International Sport, I found myself contemplating the, mens rea, of the offenses with which he was charged. I even tried to explain, actus reus, and, mens rea, to a fellow reporter. He did not bite. "The MSL program is adding depth to my reporting and my understanding of the law. The courses are a challenge, but MSL students get to suffer through with law school students working side by side. We work hard. Very hard." One of the things that struck me most about the program, and something that seems to set the law school apart, took place during…
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Judge Edward C. Clifton joined the faculty of Roger Williams University School of Law, in part to collaborate with students on research regarding racial and ethnic fairness in the courts. Judge Clifton, who recently retired from the Rhode Island Superior Court in 2015 after more than two decades on the bench, has also served as a judge on the Providence Municipal Court and the Rhode Island…
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Judge Judith Colenback Savage joined Roger Williams University School of Law in 2014 as Distinguished Jurist in Residence. In 2015, she hosted a major symposium on mass incarceration that helped lead to significant changes in state law. She also advises students on their careers and assists them with legal research and writing. “Judge Savage has so much to offer our students,” said Dean Michael J…, A Practical Guide to Evidence in Rhode Island., Rhode Island Governor Bruce G. Sundlun appointed Judge Savage to the Superior Court bench in 1993. In 2010, she was one of five finalists for a seat on the state Supreme Court. During the selection process, fellow Superior Court Judge Susan E. McGuirl lauded her as “the smartest judge on the court. We go to her for advice. She’s a team player. She doesn’t have an ego. She’s a problem-solver.”…
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To David M. Holley ’99, managing director of Boston-based Berkeley Research Group, a global consulting firm, there’s a mounting body of evidence that compliance officers now have bull’s-eyes on their backs. “There’s this talk now of corporate culture and whether a company has a culture of compliance,” says Holley. “It used to be enough to say yes, the company has a culture of compliance. But now…
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Elizabeth Colagiovanni ’10 is a senior associate in International Tax at Kahn, Litwin, Renza & Co. Ltd. Certified Public Accountants, Providence. It’s such a complicated field that it’s easy for high-wealth individuals and corporations investing or working overseas to run afoul of foreign laws – or the I.R.S. That’s when they turn to Liz Colagiovanni, who has developed an expertise in helping…, The rich are different from you and me:, “One couple had to pay a million dollars because they were so far behind in paying their taxes, but if they hadn’t done an OVD, they’d have lost it all. You get shocked with these high-wealth individuals. I didn’t want to tell them, ‘It’s a $1 million tax liability,’ but they said, ‘Hey, you just saved me 15 or 20 million.’”, The Hollywood years:, Before law school, Colagiovanni, a native of Rhode Island with an undergrad degree from RWU, spent six years in California. She got an M.F.A. in Film Industry, then worked for a film company in the accounting department, which fostered her interest in tax law. “That’s when I started learning the business, that you have films that will be losses so you don’t have to pay as much taxes on ones that…, The horror, the horror:, “I was the production accountant for two movies, ‘P.S. I Love You’ and also for ‘One Missed Call,’ a terrible B horror movie where a demon comes through the cell phone,” she says, with a laugh., Back in the classroom:, She’s now teaching online courses for the BU’s LL.M. Graduate Tax Program. “So I’m on my way to my dream of teaching law!”
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Marek P. Bute ’05 has a business law dream job as corporate counsel with Amazon Web Services, Inc., focusing on the retail giant’s markets in Latin America, Canada and the Caribbean. (“Yes, it’s as cool as it sounds,” he allows.) But when Bute returned to RWU Law recently to deliver the school’s Stonewall Lecture – honoring individuals who have fought for LGBTQ equality and justice – his primary…, Sevcik v. Sandoval, , which successfully overturned Nevada’s ban on gay marriage (less than a year before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned such bans nationally in, Obergefell v. Hodges, ). In the Nevada case, after the ruling was upheld by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, a conservative group called the Coalition for the Protection of Marriage filed motions to stay marriage licenses pending appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States. A day later, those motions were withdrawn, and Small and Carrillo became the first same-sex couple to be granted a marriage license…, That, is freedom., That, is equality.
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Whether in Flint or New Orleans, “environmental racism” refers to the placement of low-income or minority communities in proximity to environmentally hazardous or degraded environments, such as toxic waste, pollution and urban decay. The term first came to national prominence in 2005, when Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans – in particular, the city’s lower 9th Ward, a community of low-…
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Katie Ahern ’07 leads RWU Law’s Business Start-up Clinic, which serves nonprofit and small business clients. Students in the clinic learn substantive business lawyering skills, work directly with clients, and interact with the Rhode Island nonprofit and small business community. Professor Ahern was previously an associate at Hinckley, Allen & Snyder, where her legal practice focused in all…
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Maria Viveiros was born in Rhode Island. Her mother is a Guatemalan immigrant who came to the United States to try to build a better life for her daughters. Maria graduated with distinction from Shea High School in Pawtucket, and then she attended Brown University, from which she graduated in 2008 with a B.S. in Sociology. Maria was just getting started. She went to work as a benefits…
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As an expert in National Security Law, Professor Peter Margulies focuses on the delicate balance between liberty, equality and security in issues involving law, terrorism, immigration policy and other areas of central relevance in today’s volatile political climate. He frequently appears in such prominent media outlets as the New York Times, Time, CBS, Fox and others. Recently, he has been cited…, Law’s Detour: Justice Displaced in the Bush Administration, (New York: NYU Press). When the Supreme Court heard, Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, (on what it means to provide “prohibited material in support of terrorism”), Margulies appeared on a Georgetown Law School panel discussing the case, was featured in a podcast for SCOTUS-blog, and was interviewed by the, National Law Journal, about his, amicus, brief in the case. Margulies has written more than a dozen articles discussing the War on Terror and has worked with RWU Law Professor Jared Goldstein – as well as litigators from the law firm Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge – representing Afghan detainees at Guantánamo Bay. He led a national conference held at RWU titled, “Legal Dilemmas in a Dangerous World: Law, Terrorism and National…
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