A groundbreaking Harvard Law professor and onetime clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall will keynote the 2017 Commencement exercises at Roger Williams University School of Law, when some 119 graduates will be awarded their J.D. degrees. The processional will begin at , 1 p.m. on Friday, May 19, , on RWU’s main athletic field at the law school’s Bristol campus at One Old Ferry Road., Professor David B. Wilkins, of Harvard Law School, one of three luminaries who will receive honorary law degrees at the ceremony, is a leading voice on the diversification and changing nature of the legal profession. “Professor Wilkins is a perfect commencement speaker,” said , Michael J. Yelnosky, Dean of RWU Law, . “He is among the most influential legal academics studying and writing about the legal profession and lawyers. This law school is intentionally connected to the practice of law, and Professor Wilkins’ presence will help us underscore that important characteristic.” Honorary degrees will also be awarded to , Janet L. Coit, , director of the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management; and , Professor Bruce I. Kogan, , a founding faculty member at RWU Law who has twice (in 1998-1999 and 2001-2003) served as Dean of Rhode Island’s only law school, and is one of the state’s leading experts on alternatives to litigation. “I am very excited that the law school is able to honor three people whose work is so consonant with our values,” Yelnosky said. “Director Coit has spent most of her career working to protect…, RWU President Donald J. Farish, , “At Roger Williams University, we think it is particularly important to recognize those who have contributed to the public good and who reflect our institutional mission of strengthening society.
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The Pro Bono Collaborative's pro bono service model is unique in that it involves a three-way partnership—law firm/attorney, law school and community organization—to identify unmet legal needs and create pro bono projects that address those needs. All pro bono projects facilitated through the School of Law fall under the Pro Bono Collaborative. The Pro Bono Collaborative is recognized as an…, Access to Justice: An Agenda for Legal Education and Research, . In October 2012, the , Legal Services Corporation Report of the Pro Bono Task Force, described the Pro Bono Collaborative as “one great example of how much can be accomplished through collaboration.” Also in October 2012 the National Center for Access to Justice featured the Pro Bono Collaborative in its report , Model Projects & Structures To Strengthen Law Student Pro Bono To Increase Access To Justice, describing “law student pro bono models that do a good job of increasing access to justice by responding to the legal needs of vulnerable people in underserved communities.” For additional information about the Pro Bono Collaborative, please contact: Eliza Vorenberg at evorenberg@rwu.edu or 401-254-4597.
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Two Roger Williams University School of Law professors wrote an amicus brief that the ACLU of Rhode Island filed Wednesday to support Governor Raimondo’s petition for release of the 38 Studios grand jury records., Professor Jared A. Goldstein, and , Professor Andrew Horwitz, argued that while grand jury records are usually secret, the 38 Studios case – in which the state provided a $75-million loan guarantee for Curt Schillings’ ill-fated video-game venture -- represents exactly the kind of “exceptional circumstance” in which secrecy should not apply. “Unlike a typical grand jury investigation involving allegations of private crime by private individuals, the…, Goldstein and Horwitz wrote, . “In a well-functioning democracy, the people have a need to know how the state decides to spend public funds, and this need vastly outweighs any minimal interests in secrecy present here.” The Rhode Island Superior Court is weighing whether to release the grand jury records, and the office of , Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin, , '97, has objected to their release . In response to Kilmartin’s arguments, Goldstein and Horwitz said no one is claiming that grand jury records should be released “whenever” the public has an interest in grand jury proceedings. At issue, they say, is whether the 38 Studios probe represents the kind of exceptional case that should overcome the ordinary principle of grand jury secrecy, and they say…, Kilmartin suggests, disclosure might be appropriate in the future after all witnesses are dead, the , RWU law professors say, : “Rhode Islanders need to understand today what went wrong with 38 Studios so that they can properly oversee state government, prevent future abuses and avoid a recurrence of the mistakes that were recently made. It is not enough that our grandchildren may someday understand what happened. For representative democracy to work, Rhode Islanders need to know now what led public officials to make…, former Governor Donald L. Carcieri, , former Economic Development Corporation staff, members of the EDC board and almost every member of the 2010 General Assembly, Goldstein and Horwitz noted. “Rhode Island taxpayers have a right to know how these officials explained the decision to spend $75 million of their tax money on 38 Studios,” they wrote. Courts have ordered the release of grand jury records in other cases in which the…, Goldstein and Horwitz said, . They cited the release of President Richard Nixon’s testimony before the Watergate grand jury and, closer to home, the release of grand jury records related to the 2003 Station nightclub fire., Goldstein and Horwitz emphasized, that the strongest protection against government corruption and abuse of power comes not from laws or government institutions but from a well-informed electorate that keeps a close eye on its government. “The need to keep the public informed about what its government is doing is at the heart of representative democracy,” they stated. “As James Madison wrote: ‘A popular government without popular…, Goldstein noted, , "This case is about preventing misuse of government power. The people of Rhode Island can only stop the State from abusing power if they know how disasters like 38 Studios happened." , ACLU of RI executive director Steven Brown added, : "Many questions still swirl around the 38 Studios fiasco. The grand jury documents may not answer all of them, but their release will help bring some finality to this unfortunate chapter in Rhode Island’s history.", A copy of the amicus brief is available here .
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