POSITION: General counsel and director of alternative dispute resolution, R.I. Supreme Court
AGE:35
RESIDENCE: Cranston
LIFELONG AMBITION: Teaching her dog how to read and write
FAVORITE BOOK: “The Little Red Hen” (a Little Golden Book)
GUILTY PLEASURE: Eating copious amount of ice cream – and not feeling guilty at all
The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks shaped the lives of many people throughout the country for a variety of reasons. For Erika Leigh Kruse, it was for the experience she gained the wake of the attacks.
At a time when the state and nation were faced with critical emergency management issues, Kruse was employed as chief deputy executive counsel to Gov. Lincoln C. Almond. Her office was required to undertake “extremely urgent and accurate legal analysis” to determine the power the governor had, weighing any possible impact on personal liberties and quality of life for the state’s residents.
“It provided me with a tremendous sense of perspective, and an appreciation for the importance and value of public service,” Kruse wrote in her 40 Under Forty application.
A graduate of Suffolk University Law School, Kruse started her career in 1996 as a law clerk in the R.I. Superior Court. In 1998, she took a position as an associate at Viconti & Boren Ltd., a Providence-based general practice firm that concentrates in labor, employment, construction, taxation and estate planning issues.
She went to work for Almond in 1999 – first as deputy executive council, then as chief deputy executive counsel. In those jobs, she participated in civil litigation, both as a plaintiff and a defendant, on behalf of the governor and worked with cabinet departments on legal matters. Kruse also helped Almond select judicial candidates.
Since 2003, she has held her position at the R.I. Supreme Court, where she provides legal advice and counsel to Chief Justice Frank Williams and the court’s administrative offices. She drafts and negotiates contracts and agreements and works with the court administration on labor issues.
Kruse also worked to develop the court’s first Alternative Dispute Resolution Office, a court program that looks to mediate disagreements before they go to trial, and she is now researching and evaluating alternative resolution programs for possible expansion in the Rhode Island Judiciary.
