 Welcome to Champions for Justice 2020. My name is Michael Yelnoski. I am the Dean, proud to be the Dean at the Law School here at Roger Williams University. I want to thank you all so much for being here. We gather again tonight in the dead of winter to honor and support lawyers and students whose work is strengthening our community by making it more just. A community where the promise of equal justice under law is made more real. A community that more closely resembles the beloved community, Martin Luther King Jr. Envision, the community where justice is the birthright of every human being. Justice, King said, is indivisible. We are here because we know that law matters, that it is consequential and that lawyers matter as well. We're also here because connecting our students with individuals and organizations in need is an essential part of our law school's mission. We've been recognized nationally for the breadth and the quality of our pro bono and experiential programs that make that proximity possible, and your support has been essential to their health. Thank you, thank you, thank you. So as luck would have it, there are current students at most of the tables here tonight who have participated in those programs. I hope that all of you will get to know them, hear their stories and offer them guidance. You'll also see testimonials this evening from students on the monitors. They are proof points that your philanthropy is making a difference. Before we begin dinner, I want you to meet some of our students and some of the people at the law school who are responsible for these remarkable programs. Andy Horowitz, our Dean of Experiential Education. Debbie Gonzalez, the director of our immigration clinic. Laurie Barron, the director of our Feinstein Center for Pro Bono and Experiential Education, and Eliza Warnberg, the director of pro bono and community partnerships. Gang, the podium is yours. Good evening. We're here tonight not only to celebrate our amazing champions for justice, but also to support the many public interest programs at Roger Ames University School of Law. Just to get a visual sense of the breadth and the impact of these programs, we're going to ask for your help. Each summer, we fund about 25 students with summer stipends so that they can work at unpaid public interest internships. If you've ever received a summer stipend, or if you are an alum who received a summer stipend, please stand up and remain standing. We operate free legal clinics serving indigent clients and we have a vast array of public interest externships at the law school. We'd ask you to please stand up if you've ever participated in one of our clinics or one of our externship programs at the law school, or if you've supervised our students in one of our externship programs, or if you did a clinic or externship in some other law school. Please join those who are already standing. Okay. There's one more category. We are so proud to tell you that every single student at Roger Williams Law School does at least 50 hours of pro bono legal service, and about half of our students do at least 100 hours or more. Our students complete their pro bono primarily through our PBC pro bono collaborative projects, Alternative Spring Break and Public Interest Internships. If you have ever participated in a pro bono collaborative project, Alternative Spring Break, Public Interest Internships, or if you've ever supervised a law student doing pro bono work, or if you are a pro bono collaborative attorney, please stand and remain standing. Okay. So I need to cover this. I need sunglasses. This is crazy. Every year I come to this event. This room is packed, and there are more and more people standing up, and you all need to give yourselves a round of applause because this is really impactful work, and we're doing social justice for those who need it. Okay. Judge Clifton told me that I need to come down, but I'm just so excited. I don't know that I can. Sorry, Judge, I just called you out, man. So go ahead and have a seat. But when you sit, I need you to all do me a favor. Even if you were seated already, please pull out your cell phones. Okay. Okay. Pull out your cell phone. I need to see the cell phone. I need to see it. All right. I got one. I got two. I got three. All right. I'm seeing some light. Please, I need more light. I'm not seeing a whole lot of cell phones here, folks. Come on. Cell phones. Let's go. Cell phones. Cell phones. Cell phones. Woo-hoo. Yeah. All right. Just so you know, we're at a fundraiser. Kasia didn't know. And we're here to meet a goal. And our goal is $10,000. Okay. And if everybody in the room gave about 30 bucks, we may meet our goal. So I'm going to ask all of you to follow Liza's instructions. So listen carefully. We're going to watch this go up because you're going to get on your cell phones and do the following, we hope. And there are students around the room who will help you if you have any questions or you know, you're old like me and don't know how to do this. All right. Send a text to this number. 41444. And in the message section, type CFJ20. Slower. Okay. Ready? It's starting again. CF is in... Oh. 41444. Everybody got that? 41444. Text C as in cat. F as in Frank. J as in justice. 2-0. Space. The amount that you would like to give to support our social justice programming here at the law school. Space. And your name. And like magic, we are going to see this. Oh, look. It's already happening. We already went to a... Okay. So, and just a friendly reminder, to please keep the messages appropriate and relevant to this evening's fundraiser as the honor code is in effect. If I can just ask for your attention just for a little longer because as you're all very excited about giving and I can't tell you how excited I am that you're all excited to give, I want to also bring up some students and right now we're calling, Ivan Kobe to talk to you about his experience at Alternate Spring Break. How's it going everyone? As she said, my name is Ivan Cody and coming into law school I didn't have any legal experience whatsoever. So I knew getting involved with Alternative Spring Break was definitely for me and I got to go to the New York City Commission for the waterfront and got to fight organized crime alongside those attorneys and being from New Jersey and having to deal with a little bit of organized crime on a day-to-day basis was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I can only really thank this pro bono office and all the people here at RWU. So please continue to donate and help fund people's dreams and people's experiences like mine. This year almost 50 law students applied to spend their spring break learning and doing public interest law. Our ASB program has become an incredible program. So text 41444. And now Zoe's gonna come tell you about her experience. My name is Zoe and thanks to the summer stipend program I was able to spend the summer in Phoenix, Arizona working with the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project. I was working with their children's team. Can everyone hear me? I was working with their children's team so mainly working with detained minors. We went into the shelters and taught the kids about their rights, tried to get them reunited with family members who were living in the U.S. and also potentially represented them. This experience is obviously incredibly emotional but so inspiring. There are so many children who are so resilient and amazing. So it was wonderful to be able to be part of their future. One child in particular that I remember is stuck with me. I actually met the week that I was leaving and he had been violently abused and assaulted in his home country of Guatemala and he was only 14 so he made the trip alone. No family in the U.S. so when he came here he didn't have anyone to go to so when I met him he had been in the shelter for four months all alone and he was obviously feeling a little bit hopeless at that point so I got to sit down with him and kind of give him a little bit of clarity about his future and tell him about what his future was gonna hold, what the procedures were and what his options were. And when I was leaving he asked me when I was gonna come back and since it was my last week I almost said no but I cleared my next day to go back to him because I really wanted him to understand that while he was alone there were people here who really cared about his future and were devoted to giving him a better future so that was really amazing. Now I have the pleasure of participating in the immigration clinic with Deb. I came to Roger Williams to be an immigration attorney so I think that this is really gonna help me in my future. I've accepted a position to be a staff attorney with the Florence Project next fall which is really exciting. So I just wanna thank everyone for their contributions and just know that your generosity has deeply impacted my future and shaped it so thank you so much. You know hearing stories like the one that Zoe and that Ivan gave and the ones that we're gonna continue here today really makes me feel, it makes my heart full and I don't say that just because I'm standing here asking for you to give I'm saying that because I really mean it. I think there's a lot of people out there that really need help, pro bono help because they can't afford it and it's because of all of you that all of these students and all of you have been able to help all these people and I cannot believe that we're at 8,900. Come on we only have $1,100 to go. All right but while you're doing that cause we only have 1,100 bucks Erin is gonna come up to talk to you about her experience. Erin Ferry. And because of your generosity I was able to participate in many of the programs that the pro bono office offers. Last year I was fortunate enough to go on alternative spring break where I was placed at the Brooklyn Defender Services. I was also fortunate enough to obtain the summer stipend where I was placed at the Vermont Defender General in their prisoner's rights office. The office handles various claims from inmates who are serving time in the Vermont Department of Corrections such as claims for improper medical treatment, appealing disciplinary convictions, post-conviction relief and as well as representing individuals who are on parole in the community. One particular experience that stands out for me, there was a young man who was barely 18 years old so freshly into the adult system he was on parole and was up for a parole revocation hearing because he had relapsed and overdosed and so the parole board was to determine whether he was gonna stay in jail for a longer period of time or if they were gonna give him another chance. Fortunately they did decide to give him another chance but because he did not have a stable place to go his parole officer wanted him to stay in jail and this terrified him. So fortunately I worked with an amazing attorney who was able to sort of wriggle a release plan where he was released to our custody and we were able to, because there was no treatment beds available that night we had to take him to a hospital where he was fortunately able to spend the night in a much more safer and freeing environment than a jail cell and we were able to secure him a treatment bed for the next day and it just opened my eyes to some of the issues going on in the criminal justice system such as a lack of treatment options for those struggling with addiction and mental health as well as the general stigma that surrounds those that have criminal backgrounds or convictions or currently serving time. So I'm really grateful that I had that opportunity and that certainly thank you to all of your generosity. Thank you so much for what you're able to give tonight. It really goes a long way. Thank you. Thank you, Erin. That was such a great example of the power of the law to help people who are incredibly disadvantaged and vulnerable. So thank you. And now we have Shea, she's healing the girl. I hope by the time I'm finished with my speech and my plug, I turn around and we're at 10,000 so we can make this happen people. So my name is Shea, I am a 2L and my first year I participated in street law. I also participated in ASB at the Bronx Defenders and in the summer I participated in the stipend program at the New Bedford Public Defender's office. So I participate in a lot of stuff and people always ask me, Shea, yes, thank you, clock. That's right. Yes, I did it. But I participate in a lot of stuff because it means so much to me to give back to the community. My family's from Washington Heights and the Bronx. Whoop, yep, yes. So we did not have any resources available to us the way that the law school provides resources to the communities that do not have it. I was so in awe of the impact we made in the street law program at the high school we were teaching last year. I had an amazing street law partner, Jessica, hopefully she's here. And I was so, where is she? Oh, okay. And I was so amazed at giving the students... Oh, I got it! I'll be quick, I promise. So I was so in awe of the street law program that I decided to apply to be a street law leader. And as a street law leader, what our plan was, I work with two other amazing students and partner, Hallie and Jessica, also. And what we do is that we put together the training and the program and we try to hype it up as much as possible. Why? Because when you go back to the community and something so simple as teaching someone like today's class, oh, I forgot to tell you, I also teach at street law again this year because when you go into the classroom and you just tell people the most basic things they can hear, you're right when you encounter a police officer or a student today. My vote doesn't count. That's why I'm not registered to vote. And you're like, oh my goodness. But it's teaching them how your vote does count and how your voice can be heard. And no matter where I'm at, no matter who I talk to, I always say this, champions are not born. We're made and it's from these programs. Thank you. All right, well, we're continuing on. So street law is one of our pro bono collaborative projects. And between street law and VITA and our license restoration project, our expungement project, and our work at the ACI, all of those programs are supported by your support tonight. So thank you very much. And here's Kim to tell you a little bit more. Good evening, everyone. My name is Aurora Paradisis, but my friends call me Kim because I like to confuse them. It would appear that our work is done, but it's not. Let's keep going. Let's keep going. Let's keep going. But I just want to personally thank everybody because I was able to work for the New York Attorney General this past summer because of the summer stipend program. It was great work. However, it was unpaid work. And so the summer stipend afforded me the opportunity to not have to worry about engaging in full-time employment elsewhere and dedicate my time entirely to the work at the New York Attorney General's office. I was in the Consumer Fraud Protections Bureau. And we were able to help a lot of vulnerable people who were being taken advantage of, in particular in the upper Manhattan area and in the Bronx. It was particularly gratifying because although we received many, many complaints on a daily basis, there was a particular case that I was involved with from the inception to the intake phase. And before I left for the summer, we actually filed the case in court. And so a lot of those people were able to take a step forward toward justice against a merchant who was doing some bad stuff in the neighborhood. And so I want to thank you because it wouldn't have been possible for me to immerse myself full-time in the experience, which was phenomenal, and get that hands-on training so that I can go out and continue to help vulnerable people in communities like I did this past summer. So keep going. Thank you, Kim. So last, but definitely not least, I have Zachary Carlson, who I spent some of today with at the ACI helping people in our civil legal clinic. But that's not what he's going to tell you about today, but he did a great job today. Thank you. Thank you, everyone. Pretty hard to follow Shea, so I'll try, though. I just wanted to echo what my peer has said, and thank you all for your tremendous generosity and really what it does for us as students and for the community. Through your generosity, I was able to do ASB, street law, and currently at the ACI Medium Security Clinic. But I'm here to talk about my summer stipend, which I was able to do at the Rhode Island Center for Justice. And the Rhode Island Center for Justice is the collaboration with the Law School and the Rhode Island Center for Justice is really vital to the community. And it does two things. And one, it helps the community. One particular story I have is I work mostly in the realm of landlord-tenant. And through landlord-tenant, yeah, table 36, and reopen the bar. And through this, I was able to help a lot of low-income tenants in their landlord-tenant issues. And in particular, I was able to help the tremendous staff at the Rhode Island Center for Justice keep a young family, a young mother with children in their home, and a hard time for the family. So it helps the people. And it also helps train the next generation of public interest attorneys. So please donate whatever you can. Really, it's all vital. And I think all of my peers and myself are an example of what you do for all of us. So thanks. And we open the bar. Wow. All right. This is what your cell phones did. Look at this. Give yourselves a round of applause. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I know I'm a little too excited. I'm going to come down in a minute. I really can't thank you all enough. All of the work that the students do, street law, ASB, VITA, pro bono collaborative, the clinics, is so important. We're spreading justice to where some might not be. So thanks again. Liza. I want to thank you as well. I want to say you have earned your dinner. So please take a few minutes tonight to talk with the students that are at your table and to hear their individual stories. We couldn't bring them all up here tonight, but they all have similar kinds of stories that they'd love to share with you. So bon appetit of giving the Alumni Champion Public Interest Award to Weona Nelson Davies. Weona has accomplished more good for the world in her 12 years as a lawyer than most of us will accomplish in a lifetime. Her good work started long before she was a lawyer. Weona was born in Liberia. And at the age of 16, she escaped to the US during the Civil War. As a result of that experience, Weona determined that she would commit herself to serving low-income clients in marginalized communities. And she has never wavered from that path. Before she even graduated from college, Weona had won numerous awards for her commitment to service, from the City of Providence, from the YWCA of Greater Rhode Island, from the Liberian Community Association of Rhode Island. And she also won the Greatness Award from City Year Rhode Island for being one of the two most exceptional core members. And then Roger Williams Law School got lucky enough to have Weona come to us to be our student, where her service, passion, and commitment continued to flourish. While in law school, Weona continued on her social justice path. She was an environmental justice fellow at Rhode Island Legal Services. She interned at the US Human Rights Network in Georgia. She received the highest grade in the community justice clinic. And she taught street law. After graduating from law school in 2007, Weona received the Bart Gordon Fellowship from the Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation, or MLAC, to begin her legal career at South Coastal County's Legal Services and Fall River. MLAC gives out one fellowship for the entire state of Massachusetts each year. And they chose Weona. In 2011, Weona became the lead staff attorney of a medical legal partnership at the Justice Center of Southeast Massachusetts. In 2014, she moved to Community Legal Aid in Worcester, where she launched a new medical legal partnership with UMass Memorial Health Care. In 2018, Weona became the managing attorney of CLA's Worcester office. She shares her knowledge by teaching students in the Master of Medicine program at Brown Medical School. She facilitates discussions about underserved patient populations and the social determinants of health. And she mentors students completing capstone projects at community health centers. In 2017, Weona received the Access to Justice Rising Star Award from the Mass Bar Association. They even created a podcast about her on the Mass Bar Beat. In that interview, Weona explained that she and her staff attorneys are literally the lifelines of their clients, the difference between living on the streets or in a home with a roof over their heads. She understands the power of being a lawyer, and she has used that power to help marginalize clients every single day of her legal career. Most importantly, and certainly not least, but last, she has a magnificent family. Her husband, Nathaniel, and their two children, Natasha and Nadia, along with her mother, Miss Cecilia Nelson, and her mother-in-law, Josephine Goodridge, who are all here, along with the whole table of friends and colleagues and an overflow table who are here to celebrate her tonight. Please join me in congratulating Weona Nelson-Davies. Thank you. Thank you, Lori. I was listening to Lori as she was talking. I'm like, wow, who is she talking about? That was really beautiful. Thank you. At the ripe age of seven years old, I learned two things about myself. I learned who I was, a crude girl, and I learned why I'm here to become a poor man's lawyer. It started in the third grade on the playground at a new school. The popular girls decided one day that they weren't going to play with one of our classmates until the rest of us not to play with her either. Well, I didn't think it was fair, and I think she deserved someone to play with. And so I decided I was going to play with her. Well, I got threatened that I was going to get beat up the next day after school. So I went home terrified. And I told my parents I did not like that new school, and I wanted to go back to my old school. After a while, they got the true story out of me. And then my father turned to me and said, did you tell them that you are a crude girl? My father is from the crude tribe of Liberia, of people known to be fearless, to stand firm, and to fight. And so the next day, this seven-year-old crude girl went back to school, still terrified. And I don't remember anything else that happened. I just know I didn't get beat up the next day. But what has stayed with me all these years is my father's lesson to still true to who I am, to stand firm, and to fight for what I believe in. As a child, and even now as an adult, outside of my legal profession, I have the repetition of being a poor man's lawyer. It's a term used by Liberians and others to describe someone who just cannot mind a business and who would jump in a fight with any stake in it without seeking an award. And a poor man lawyer I was in everybody's business. Little did I know that I would grow up to become a real-life poor man's lawyer. The Liberian Civil War shifted something in me. And I learned a third thing about myself. I learned that the deep voice I had inherited from my father could be used as a tool to fight for justice. I joined the legal aid world in 2008. And there I met a tribe of other poor people's lawyer. Charged to marshal the forces of law and the power of lawyers in the war on poverty to defeat the causes and effect of poverty. In the beginning of my journey as a legal aid attorney, I often wonder whether I was making enough of a difference like the Nelson-Madillas of this world. And then I started representing people, like my client who was diagnosed with breast cancer. She was then fired from her job, and she lost her health insurance. She wasn't eligible for Medicare, Medicaid, because even though she was a legal permanent resident, she did not meet the five-year's requirement. She then received an eviction notice from her landlord because she didn't have her job and could no longer afford to pay her rent. Her husband abandoned her and her two children. And she wanted to become a U.S. citizen. All of this while battering breast cancer, the causes and effects of poverty. As I advocated and got her her job back, which came with health insurance, as I negotiated with her landlord's attorney to dismiss the eviction lawsuit, as I represented her in her divorce case and help her become a U.S. citizen, I truly understood what marshaling the forces of law and the power of lawyers meant to everyday people. For some of them, like my client, it was a matter of life and death. She was cancer-free by the end of our journey working together. And my tribe of poor man lawyers does this every day. My dynamic colleagues, pro boner attorneys, and community partners advocate for basic needs like food and shelter for families. They stand by victims of domestic violence and victims of elder abuse. They call immigrants by their name instead of calling them illegal aliens. They give reference to those who have been discriminated against. They represent disabled children seeking special education services and help sick people obtain health coverage every day. So my fellow poor men, poor women, poor children lawyers in the legal aid world and my colleague at community legal aid, including my executive director and deputy director, Jonathan and Faye, who are here, the fight is worth it. And the crude tribe of Liberia welcomes you. So my creator, thank you for giving me this purpose. So my parents, my beautiful mother who is here today and my father who have long since passed, thank you for the solid foundation and the freedom to follow my dreams. So my angel, my older sister, Josephine and her husband George, who are my everything when I immigrated to the United States, thank you. To all my many siblings, thank you for being my role models and a constant reminder not to screw up. So my husband, boyfriend, baby's daddy of 19 years, thank you for your love and support and being by my side, hang in there, buddy. To my world, Natasha and Nadia, because of you, I can never give up. To my village, those who are here today, my other mother, my mother-in-law Josephine Goodridge, my bestie, Dr. Jimi Brooks, my sister friend, Mariel, my legal dad, my first supervisor of the law school, Brian and I don't know where Brian is, my Rhode Island carpool buddy Amy and her husband Andrew and all who could not be here today, I am who I am because of your stronghold around me. To the people I serve, our clients, I promise to always tell your stories with the dignity, respect and truth you deserve. To my alma mater, Roger Williams University School of Law, thank you for this award. It is special when it comes from home. Roger Williams University School of Law, you heard my story and you saw me. Because of you, this crude girl with the powerful voice have become a real-life poor man's lawyer. I thank you. Good evening. I'm Edward Clifton. I'm a member of the board of directors of the Roger Williams University School of Law, a recipient of the Champions Injustice Award a few years ago and I'm a retired judge of the Rhode Island Superior Court. It is my pleasure and it is my honor tonight to present the Community Partner Champion Award to the Rhode Island Office of the Attorney General. And here to accept the award are two Roger Williams University School of Law alum Robert Johnson and Maria Lins and they will both be speaking to you shortly. But let me tell those of you who may not know what the Attorney General is. Although the office of the Attorney General is probably most known for its criminal division, the Attorney General's office has, since its inception, been involved in many other aspects of law. It's involved with consumer protection unit. It has its environmental advocacy unit. It has the public records unit which is all or the open government unit is called which deals with public records issues. It has a civil rights unit and it also has the healthcare unit that they do commendable work in. But since the beginning of the inception of Roger Williams University School of Law, the relationship between the Attorney General's office and the School of Law has been a strong, strong relationship. 129 Roger Williams students have completed an externship for academic credit within the Attorney General's office. 195 students have completed their pro bono service credits at the office of the Attorney General. Currently, there are 42 Roger Williams School of Law alums who are employed by the Attorney General's department. And we all recall, yeah, that's worth it. And let us not forget that former Attorney General Peter Cole Martin was an alum of both these Roger Williams undergrad as well as the School of Law. The Attorney General's office has either taken the lead or been involved in significant national litigation. They started the lead paint challenges that have been successful in other states. It wasn't successful in the state of Rhode Island but we'll put that as an aside. They were involved in the tobacco litigation that has resulted in so many dollars being put back into the community to help those who are suffering from lung cancer. In the last three years, and this is not a statement offered as a political endorsement or an attack on anyone, but in the last three years, the Rhode Island Attorney General's office has been involved in a number of multi-state lawsuits such as opposing President Trump's immigration ban. They've also been involved in opposing President Trump's travel ban. The Attorney General's office has been involved in opposing family separation at the southern borders of the United States. It has been involved in opposing efforts to loosen the environmental laws involving coal restrictions. And this is an important issue that I want to bring to the attention of everyone because it's so critically important and this is a personal statement. But they've been involved in opposing the efforts of having census takers ask citizenship questions on the upcoming 2020 census. The office of the Attorney General has been involved in opposing the end of the DACA program. It has been involved in opposing cuts to student loans. The Rhode Island Office of Attorney General has been and continues to be engaged in progressive work within the criminal justice spectrum, such as expanding the use of diversion programs, trying desperately to reduce to the charge of simple assault, I'm sorry, simple possession of drugs from a felony to that of a misdemeanor. And it has been engaged with reentry organization efforts for a number of years. And on a deeply personal note, I want to bring to the attention of those who may not be aware of the following. That recently the Office of the Attorney General in an effort to attract talented, underrepresented lawyers and first generation law students to careers in public service, the office has recently established in honor of the first African-American special assistant attorney general, the William C. Clifton senior clerkship program. And that was named after my dear brother, Bill. At this time, I'd like to again present the award to Robert and Maria, and I'd like to invite them to say a few words on behalf of the office. Rob or Maria, who'd like to go first? I'll go first. Good evening everyone. As you heard my name is Rob Johnson, class of 2009, Roger Williams. When my office gave me the honor of accepting this award with Maria, it was a great honor. This office means a lot to me, so I wanted to give you some comments about just what this office means to me. When I was hired at the attorney general's office in the fall of 2010, I became acquainted with what we call within the office as the rules of the road. Now the rules themselves are not official policy, they're not codified in any statute, they're just an internal code of conduct with which we police ourselves and what is supposed to represent the best attributes of a successful prosecutor. The first time I heard the rules of the road was during a closed office meeting that's usually held once a year to show the new hires what's expected of them and to remind all of us young or experienced of the important life changing power wielded by members of the office. The first rule reads, quote, our mission is to do justice. Always be cognizant of the shortcomings of the criminal justice system and allure to the possibility of injustice. That's the first rule, it's the first rule for a reason. Striving to do justice is not synonymous with popularity, it is not the mission of attorneys general to seek the outcome that will appeal to the most people. The job is to make the right decision every time. Because each time we make a decision, there's an effect on three parties, a victim or complaining witness, a defendant and society. And the office always a responsibility to all three. The responsibility that flows to a victim of crime and trust the office with seeking justice in their matter, but on behalf of also the entire state of Rhode Island. It also flows to the defendant with, while they are an adverse party, nothing less but the utmost professionalism, ethical practice and humanity do they deserve. This responsibility also manifests itself in countless decisions that won't ever appear in a newspaper or on a newscast. These decisions may be to see that a flawed case never makes it out of our screening unit. These decisions may see that with continued investigation our prosecutors may see that an amendment to a charge is worthwhile and just. Or perhaps despite the facts of a case that there's mitigation in surrounding circumstances that warrant mercy and understanding rather than the full force of sentencing. Or it can manifest in a prosecutor calling a victim after hours and offering nothing more than an ear and help at seeking closure for a person whose life has been turned upside down. These are the untold stories of work and life in the Attorney General's office. They're not always glamorous, they're not always newsworthy. However, with the responsibility and power that come with being a prosecutor, it is what we do when no one is watching that matters most. This office means a lot to me and it means a lot to my colleagues. And if public service and community service are things that are important to you, there's a place for you at the office. I turn it over to my colleague Maria Lenz. Good evening, everybody. I'm Maria Lenz, class of 2011, and I'm here representing the civil division. Perhaps the lesser known of the two, but still a minister of justice. Rebecca Partington always touts the state versus lead case for a very important reason. And it's because there is a beautiful section in there that describes the roles and responsibility of the Attorney General, not as the usual advocate, but as someone with extraordinary power to protect and enforce the rules of the state for the protection of the people. And we can bring lawsuits that no one else can bring. For example, for environmental, we were the first state in the nation to bring a lawsuit against Chevron for climate related costs. And I believe Neil Kelly who's sitting at the table there will tell you that we were successful in keeping it in state court based on state court claims. That's significant. We have been involved in multi-state litigation against several policies of the current presidential administration, including defense of the Affordable Care Act, including his policies on immigration and everything that would hurt the citizens of the state. We stand in front of it and say no. We also, we also are the gatekeepers on the regulatory aspect. We have a fantastic office of the healthcare advocate who was actually an alum class of 2012 and we are the gatekeepers for quality and access charitable assets that come from hospitals and we are tasked with making sure that everything goes where it should for the benefit of the people of this state. We are involved in a myriad of other things but there is a real boots on the ground aspect to civil and that is in the Consumer Protection Unit. The Consumer Protection Unit is now housed in our offices building in Cranston and there is an open door policy. Anyone can walk in and you will be seen and you will be heard and you will be addressed and the Consumer Unit has done some remarkable things because we can and it's more global. We can bring suits if something is affecting a lot of people but even if you walk in and you were wronged by a company there have been instances where recovery has been pretty significant and that is in no small part to the hard work of all of the civil attorneys in the division and we are so honored to be able to do our civil part to administer justice, be ministers of justice and do what the ordinary lawyer cannot do. So thank you for this opportunity. We hope that if you ever need civil services we are a phone call away. And now we'd like to invite everyone from our office to come and take a picture with the judge. Let me just say before we move on to our last award of the evening that it is such an honor to be the Dean of a law school that counts as its alumni, Wayona and Rob and Maria. Congratulations and thank you all. So it is a truly great honor and pleasure for me to introduce the 2020 Champions for Justice Amato here and after Bud DeLuca and Miriam Weisenbaum. For over 40 years, one or the other or both of these supremely talented lawyers have been generously providing pro bono legal services and supporting others pro bono efforts as well. And in doing so demonstrably improving the lives of Rhode Island's less fortunate. Bud and Miriam, sometimes Miriam and Bud, DeLuca and Weisenbaum. For 25 years they've been practicing together and they are most often referred to as a duo like Fred and Ginger or for those of you who are under 50, Beyonce and Jay-Z. But I wanna decouple them for a moment so you can appreciate what each brought to this dynamic duo. I'm gonna start with Bud. He has had a truly remarkable career and life. Bud is the son of Italian immigrants. Tragically, his parents both passed before he was 13. He was raised by his older sister. Bud persevered and after graduating from college served two years in the army before attending law school. He was admitted to the Rhode Island Bar in 1973 after graduating from law school and as early as 1974, Bud was litigating pro bono cases, one in particular in federal court on behalf of a group of citizens prohibited from holding prayer services in the state house rotunda to protest the governor's decision to reduce welfare benefits. Just two years later, Bud was successfully representing independent presidential candidate Eugene McCarthy who had been excluded from the Rhode Island ballot. And in 1983, just 10 years after graduating from law school, let that sink in for a minute for the lawyers in the room. Bud, on behalf of the Rhode Island ACLU argued Lynch versus Donnelly before the United States Supreme Court. It's good that the applause line was there because Bud didn't win the case. Well, his client lost the case by a five to four vote. The majority held that the annual Pawtucket Christmas display which featured a crash, an activity scene, didn't violate the establishment clause. I listened to the argument last week. I didn't know this about Bud. And it was quite a thrill to hear Bud holding his own under relentless and repeated questioning by Justice Rehnquist, Chief Justice Berger and Justice O'Connor, 10 years out of law school. So meanwhile, in the Berkshires, Miriam was graduating from college and after graduating she went to Baton Rouge to work as a community organizer. Eventually she attended Temple University Law School in my hometown, Philadelphia. And there's a Philly, yeah, Amy, yeah. Graduated in 1986, went to work as a public defender. Eight years later she moved to Rhode Island and soon after arriving, formed a law firm with Bud. Since arriving in Rhode Island, Miriam created her own impressive pro bono portfolio representing students at Hope High School. She represented Occupy Providence, the ACLU and quite recently with Bud, a third grader who was taken by police off a school bus in Tiverton and questioned at the station before her parents were notified based on a false allegation that she had chemicals in her backpack. And I'm not even talking about their practice, their private practice. But as if that was not enough, Bud and Miriam conceived of, created and continue to support the Rhode Island Center for Justice, a civil legal services organization that will celebrate its fifth anniversary this year. They were motivated by a desire to help fill gaps in the provision of legal representation to Rhode Islanders in various civil proceedings and to fill gaps in organizing capacity on behalf of those individuals. The staff at the center has been working on, among other things, wage theft, utility shutoffs, eviction proceedings, prison conditions and school discipline. And they are providing services as part of the immigrant coalition and working with the lawyers and organizations asserting in federal court that Rhode Island's public schools are not providing the education required by the United States Constitution. And if that wasn't enough, the staffing model at the center is intentionally focused on increasing capacity through the training of young lawyers interested in practicing poverty law. The center is home to a fellowship program for graduates of Roger Williams University, and they learn that craft under the supervision of a group of very talented and experienced lawyers. The center is a place for our current students and others to work as externs and interns. And I'm proud to say that the law school played a small role in the success of the center. We are co-located with them at our one Empire Street location. Finally, from my work with Bud and Miriam, I just wanna say one final thing about each. Bud, I think, is truly one of the most empathetic people I have ever met. Just last week, I was in a meeting where there was a discussion about the use of solitary confinement by the Department of Corrections, and Bud was genuinely acting as if he was in solitary or someone he loved was in solitary. I get the sense that he understands and feels in his heart that we are all connected by our common humanity, and that is a real gift. There are a million things I could say about Miriam, but what I wanna share with you is that it is thrilling to watch her problem solve. She is creative, she is as smart as they come and she sees connections that other people just don't see. Law, organizing, strategy, alliances, politics, advocacy. When she is thinking about how to solve an issue, nothing is off the table. The Rhode Island Attorney General's Office has added a very deep thinker who is also a proven doer. So for showing us what it looks like to walk the walk, it is my great honor to present the 2020 Champions for Justice Award to Bud DeLuca and Miriam Weisenbaum. So really, it's real honor to be here this evening, obviously, and to be considered for the Champion of Justice Award. It's such a privilege, along with Miriam. Before, earlier in the evening, when everybody was kind of sitting and getting ready for dinner, I went to the back of the auditorium, I guess this is, or room, to see how well the people in the back can see, and I was terribly concerned that when I got up here, you wouldn't be able to see me. For obvious reasons, right? So at the very least, they'll be able to hear what I have to say. Certainly the university has been such a group of people who have been so good to us and so generous. They have, as Michael just pointed out, they have provided to us the facilities that we use for the Center for Justice. In addition to that, people like Michael and there are several others from the faculty that sit on our board and take the time, besides doing what they do for the university, take the time to sit with us once a month and be on our board and make significant contributions to how the Center should be run. Not to mention the fact that the law school provides us with law students to work at the Center. But you know, at best, for me, I've been blessed. I've been blessed because I'm a lawyer. I've been blessed because I came from a family who did really well by me. They were resilient, we were poor, but we survived and they supported me in everything that I did. I've been blessed to have a really good family, a good wife, a wife that supports me and helps me and my daughters also being very supportive of the things I do. Sometimes some of the things I've done over the years have not been so popular and caused some problems. But I come away from that having a little bit of success as a lawyer and I attribute that to the people around me, to the people that's believed in me and the people that love me. But you know, the bottom line is, and I think this is true for most of us in this room, we're just lucky. We're lucky. We're lucky to be born on the right side of the wall, right? We're lucky to live in a state like Rhode Island and have the kind of people that, like in the attorney general's office and another Rhode Island legal services, for example. All these people who do great work, we're really lucky to be where we are. But there are lots of people in this state, and this is what brought, I think, Miriam and I to thinking that maybe we could do something about it and talked about something like the center initially. Who are not so lucky, you know? They're not so lucky when they're trying to find a job or they're not able to get a job. They're not so lucky as to when they get their job, they're not being paid because maybe because of their last name or because they can't speak English. They're not so lucky because lots of families in this state are not able to keep food on the table or they're able to keep food on the table but they're not able to keep the lights on. They're not so lucky because they have to live in a place that's infested with rodents and with insects. And putting their families health at risk. And then when they turn around and they try to do something about it, when they go to the authorities, when they go to the city, the landlord then tries to evict them for trying to do something to protect their families. That's why Miriam and I created the Center for Justice. It was supposed to be small. That was my idea, it was supposed to be small. It didn't turn out that way. But what has turned out is that a dream we had has come to fruition not because of what we did, believe me, it's not because of what I did. It's because of what other people have contributed to making this dream come true. Because there are so many people who work so hard every day at this center, like Jennifer Wood and others, that work so hard at this center to make the lives of the people of this state better, to make their lives a little easier, to make people believe that they are just as important as the rest of us, that they have the opportunity to be able to go to court if they have to. And the center does that day in and day out. And I am just absolutely amazed. I am really amazed at the success of the center because of the people like Jennifer who are doing this on a day-to-day basis. And the students, I think everybody in this room, if you had the opportunity to be around them are just wonderful. It's like what you saw here tonight. It's inspiring. It makes you feel like everything you've ever done as a lawyer, at least for me. Every time I bang my head against a wall thinking I'm going to make a difference, and I haven't because I've lost time and again. When I see people like this come up here and give their stories and tell what successes they've had, it's just inspirational. It makes me feel that my life as a lawyer has done a little bit of good. And so what I'd like to leave you with is I'd like you to remember tonight, not because of this award, because you'll forget. And I don't blame you. But I want you to remember the center. I want you to remember the center. I want you to go home. I want you to Google the center. I want you to go onto their website. I want you to look at what they do because they're doing something for all of us that's going to make a difference for the people of this state, the people who need help. And so I want to thank the university and especially Michael for saying those nice things about me, I was really impressed. So thank you. Thank you. I know this is the end of the evening and you're ready to go. And I don't have a lot to say. And some of it was already mentioned, so what's up with that? But I just want to say that I am just so very humble to be part of the partnership receiving this award. It's an honor that I believe is actually a recognition of partnership. A recognition that any difference that any of us have been part of making is as much because of others as because of ourselves. And for me, any difference that I have made since being in Rhode Island is truly a result of my partnership with Bud who has always had my back, who's been the one to insist, don't tell me it's not admissible, tell me how I'm gonna get it into evidence. And who has been willing to act on the principle that if it's wrong, then let's work to change it. I mean, how lucky can a young lawyer be 25 years ago, I come to Rhode Island thinking, I'm gonna use the law for some good. And I land a job with a guy who goes all the way to the United States Supreme Court to, as it was reported then, take the Christ child out of Christmas in the most Catholic state in the country. And that kind of sets the bar really high in the courage department. But most importantly, Bud has been a partner who helped a bratty kid learn that no one does it alone and who was willing to do it together, which is I think really what is being honored tonight. And I think it's in the really profound wisdom of this institution, Roger Williams University School of Law, that it's partnerships, teams, that make changes through the law, the partnerships that are really in the DNA of the pro bono collaborative, the team that collaborated to create and sustain the Center for Justice, itself built on the absolute commitment that legal work for social justice be done in conjunction with community advocates. And the School of Law's recognition that we need to support and honor young lawyers as future teammates and partners as we honor tonight the already extraordinary achievement of Winona Davies Nelson. So I wanna thank Michael and the School of Law and the university for reminding me, for reminding all of us, the power of partnership and reminding us to quote a great civil rights lawyer and legal educator Theodore Shaw. We have to take the baton when it's past to us to gather run as fast and as hard as we can. And then pass it on to someone else. And there will be lawyers to catch and pass on the baton because of you. So thank you. I'd like to welcome President Mialis to the podium. Good evening. So I'm not part of the program and I don't have a script, but I wanted to take a moment to first tell you how impressed and I cannot find words. I am with this event and the passion you all have about the great service that the law school provides to the broader community. This is Michael's last time of presiding of this amazing event. And I'm a new president, I'm an engineer, I knew very little about law schools, but Michael was instrumental in making me feel passionate about the law school and great supporter of the law school. So I want to take a moment to acknowledge Michael for his great work as dean. And Michael has been a great friend and will continue being a great friend. And I want to reassure you, I'll be a dearest friend of the law school. Thank you. Thank you, Giannis. Anytime you want to get on the program to say nice things about me, you're welcome. So just a couple of quick announcements before we move on to dessert, the bars are back open. I want to thank our sponsors and the members of the event committee for their generosity and their hard work. Students, Caitlin Horbert in particular and Corey Lee who are the co-chairs of the Silent Auction. Please continue bidding on those items. I think there's about five minutes late, particularly for those of you who have been drinking, please swing by the auction table. Get home safely, but go ahead and bid. And safe home. Thank you so much for all of your support and we'll see you next year.