Today’s blog post is about Elleanor Eldridge, a woman of color born in Warwick who owned property on Spring Street in Providence. In 1827. Wow! The life of Elleanor Eldridge is amazing. She was likely born in 1784, her father was a freed slave and her mother was part Narragansett Indian. Elleanor’s mother died when Elleanor was only 10. Elleanor went to live as a servant for a local family and…, Memoirs of Elleanor Eldridge, can be found online. The memoir, republished by the West Virginia Press , “because of Eldridge’s exceptional life as a freeborn woman of color entrepreneur…constitutes a counter-narrative to slave narratives of early nineteenth-century New England, changing the literary landscape of conventional American Renaissance studies and interpretations of American Transcendentalism.” Sadly, Spring Street…
Type: Article
Students, faculty, staff gathered at the Bravo Bistro in Providence Thursday to bid farewell to a much-admired colleague, Deborah Johnson, who has served since 2011 as RWU Law’s Director of Diversity and Outreach – not to mention a professor of insurance law and contract drafting, among the many other hats she wore here. Johnson will be fulfilling her lifelong goal of teaching full time, as she…
Type: Article
20th Annual RWU Law Alumni Association Scholarship Golf Tournament, Saturday, September 7, 2019, *Rain or Shine, All net proceeds benefit the RWU Law Alumni Association Endowed Scholarship Fund, 12:00 p.m. Registration & Lunch, 1:30 p.m. Shotgun Start, Cranston Country Club, 69 Burlingame Road, Cranston, RI, , Following tournament play ~ Reception, Dinner, Prizes, RWU Student and Young Alumni Rate* - $75 (*applies to 2018 - 2019) RWU Law Alumni Player Rate - $125 Firm/Corporate Foursome Rate - $1,000 (includes tee sign) Tee Sign Sponsorship - $150 Sponsorship Opportunities Available. , Tournament Co-Chairs:, Tom Pagliarini '14 & Layi Oduyingbo '14, Honorary Co-Chair:, Anthony Leone '97 Lunch sponsor: Marasco & Nesselbush logo for Marasco & Nesselbush Firm & Corporate Sponsors: logo CCK logo for HCC logo for Hinckley Allen logo for Pannone Lopes Trustee Linn Foster Freedman, Esq. and Dr. Steven Freedman logo for Schectman Halperin Savage For questions, please contact the Office of Law Alumni Relations at lawalumni@rwu.edu or (401) 254-4541
Type: Event
5:30 PM Registration 6:00 PM Program with Reception to follow Omni Providence Hotel One West Exchange Street Providence, RI Join us for our 2019 Professor Anthony J. Santoro Business Law Lecture Series where an experienced panel of lawyers and business people discuss what makes a good business lawyer. Our diverse panel brings together the in-house counsel, attorney in private practice, and…, Meet the Panelists: , Collin Bailey, , an alum of Roger Williams University School of Law, is the senior director for strategic procurement at CVS Health. In this in-house counsel role, he manages the CVS Health Procurement to Payment Program, as well as all non-merchandise contracts, supplier performance management, and non-merchandise purchasing compliance. Collin also brings his past experience as a solo practitioner and as a…, Tracy Baran, is General Counsel at Ocean State Job Lot, a regional retailer of 140 stores throughout New England, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. She has been named In-House Leader, Leaders in the Law by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly. Tracy also brings her experience as a former law firm partner focusing on commercial real estate and commercial lending. image of Mary Kay Koreivo, MaryKay Koreivo, is Senior Vice President and Senior Relationship Manager of Business Banking at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. She has a degree in finance and a Masters in Business Administration. MaryKay brings her over twenty-five years of business experience to the panel. , Anthony Marini, , also an alum of Roger Williams University School of Law, is Director of Contracts within Procurement at CVS Health. Anthony brings his experience of leading an in-house contract negotiation team. image of Alicia Samolis, Alicia Samolis, , an alum of Roger Williams University School of Law, is a partner at Partridge, Snow & Hahn and chair of the firm's Labor & Employment practice. Her practice includes advising company managers and executives regarding a broad range of employment issues, as well as defending employers against claims brought by their employees in court and administrative agencies. She is a Providence…
Type: Event
The RWU Law and Roger Williams undergraduate communities turned out in force Saturday for Providence’s 2019 Rhode Island PrideFest celebration, culminating in a unique and spectacular Illuminated Night Parade. Drawing heavy attendance from across the state and around the country, this year's Pride event—themed “Live Your Truth”—was billed “a celebration of love, respect and joy.” It has come to…, The Providence Journal, . “Now, it is everybody.” Banks and other corporate establishments hung out rainbow flags; Democratic politicians mixed and mingled with celebrants. Many speculated that the large turnout and high enthusiasm were in part a reaction to a recent statement by Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas J. Tobin of Providence that Catholics should not support Rhode Island Pride, as well as Washington’s more hostile…, Journal, . “People are feeling put upon, and to lessen that, the best thing is love.”
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As Roger Williams University School of Law celebrated its 25th anniversary over the past year, the school enjoyed the privilege of having become an integral part of the Rhode Island and regional legal profession and the community at large. Throughout the 2018-19 academic year,, RWU Law e-newsletter, examined different aspects of the school’s evolution over that period in the areas of diversity, experiential learning and public interest. In this final installment of the series, the focus is on affordability. Just over a decade ago, as the Great Recession ravaged the U.S. economy across multiple industries, the bottom fell out of the nation’s legal education sector. Applications dropped…, Affordable Excellence, In its most dramatic response to the changing landscape of legal education, RWU Law introduced its Affordable Excellence initiative, reducing tuition by 18 percent in 2014. In addition, the school guaranteed that tuition would not increase during a student’s three years of law school, and did not increase tuition for an incoming class until 2018. These moves made RWU Law the best-priced ABA-…, value, of a law degree was not in sync, in many instances, with the, cost, of that law degree; that the return on investment started to decrease when the recession hit. It seems an obvious adjustment to make in retrospect, but in real time it was unsettling because it was uncharted territory.” The results were swift and tangible: enrollment stabilized and then began to creep up again. The move also won the school recognition in national media. The, Wall Street Journal, called out RWU Law as one of “a handful of U.S. law schools” that had successfully boosted enrollment in a down economy by reducing tuition. The, New York Post, added, “Good for these law schools for working to give their students more bang for the college dollar,” again singling out RWU Law for praise. “The smarter schools will follow.” “It was a bold statement that we weren’t just like every other law school,” says Yelnosky. “We did something that virtually nobody else had done. And it gave us, I think, the sense that we could be more than just passive…
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Braxton Medlin ’19 has a history of getting outside his comfort zone. In 2017, the lifelong North Carolina resident took a chance and moved to Rhode Island – a place where he knew no one and had no connections – to attend RWU Law, when the Charlotte School of Law, where he’d begun his studies, closed down. Now that he’s graduated with a pocketful of honors and awards earned during an outstanding…, A Passion for Public Interest, Indeed, it was precisely RWU Law’s public interest credentials that first caught Medlin’s eye. “It all started for me when I did AmeriCorps for two years, in Greensboro, N.C.,” he said. As part of the program , Medlin – then a college senior – worked as a family support specialist at Centro La Comunidad, using his Spanish-language skills to advocate for indigent Latino populations. “ I knew going…, Man of the People, The same gregarious, people-loving quality that helps make Medlin a success in the courtroom also enabled him make a home for himself at Roger Williams. He was an active member of the Black Law Students Association, participated on the school’s Trial Team, and served on the Student Committee for Faculty Hiring. Along the way, his classmates voted him president of the Student Bar Association. “…, better, – because the faculty and the staff and your classmates are going to require you to become the best student that you can be. They are going to help you to grow, to become a really good attorney, and to truly impact the world that you live in.”
Type: Story
Did you know that Rhode Island was at one time the birthplace of the largest silver manufacturer in the world? The Gorham Manufacturing Company was founded in Providence in 1831 by Jabez Gorham. With Jabez’s retirement, his son, John Gorham succeeded him in 1847 and this would usher in the company’s era of prominence from 1850-1970. In addition to their chief product, silver spoons, Gorham…, Independent Man, that sits atop the Rhode Island State House. The largest collection of Gorham items, now resides at the RISD museum . From now until December 1st, RISD has put many of these items on display in their, Gorham Silver: Designing Brilliance 1850-1970, , exhibit. This exhibit is a must see for those curious about the history and beauty of this company and their impact on RI history. Tragically, the legacy of the Gorham Manufacturing Company is not all positive. The Adelaide Avenue facility in Providence’s Reservoir Triangle neighborhood operated for nearly 100 years during a time where there were few restrictions on what materials were allowed…
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Roger Williams University School of Law Proudly Presents, A Special Classroom Dedication, Honoring, Dorothy Russell Crockett Bartleson Rhode Island's First African-American Woman Lawyer, Admitted to the Bar in 1932, Keynote Speaker:, The Honorable O. Rogeriee Thompson, United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, Special Guest, : Ms. Dianne Bartleson, daughter of Dorothy Russell Crockett Bartleson RSVP | lawevents@rwu.edu, Special Accommodations: , Persons who, because of a special need or condition, would like to request an accommodation for this event should contact the RWU Law Office of Programs & Events, as soon as possible, but no later than 72 hours before the event, so that appropriate arrangements can be made.
Type: Event
For the past two weeks, the National Criminal Defense College (NCDC) has been conducting its annual Trial Practice Institute at Roger Williams University School of Law, and the verdict is in – the session was a resounding success. “We love it here,” said NCDC co-dean Natasha Silas. “From the warm welcome we received from your dean and staff, to the excellent facilities, the delicious food and the…, A Transformative Experience, The Trial Practice Institute is a two-week-long, transformative experience for public, private, military and federal defense attorneys. Participants are challenged to master courtroom skills by attending lectures, performing case exercises with live professional actors, and by watching demonstrations by NCDC’s nationally renowned faculty. “Our goal is to empower passionate and committed defense…, Local Connections, NCDC co-dean Karen Smolar , a Rhode Island resident – she's married to Jeffrey Peckham '06 of the Rhode Island Public Defender's office, himself an NCDC alum – played an instrumental role in bringing the Trial Practice Institute to Rhode Island. A longtime friend and colleague of Allen (as well as RWU Law Professor Andrew Horwitz, and NCDC alumna Laurie Barron, who is director of the law school's…
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