Law Review - Providence Business News

SITE INSPECTION: Jesse Reiblich, left, a University of Rhode Island professor in the marine affairs department, walks near the disputed property line along Roger W. Wheeler State Beach in Narragansett. He is joined, from left, by Nathan Vinhateiro, science director at the URI Coastal Institute, and Melva Trevino, assistant professor in URI’s fisheries, animal and veterinary sciences department.  PBN PHOTO/ELIZABETH GRAHAM

R.I. shoreline rights in legal limbo of sorts

Focus 05/22/2026

When Rhode Island passed a 2023 law strengthening shoreline access, some advocates felt a sense of relief as state and local authorities took a...

GROWING CONCERN: Lynette Labinger, a cooperating attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island Inc., says she’s concerned about the way strategic lawsuits against public participation, or SLAPP suits, are increasingly emerging in housing disputes tied to tenant organizing. PBN PHOTO/TRACY JENKINS

Tenant-landlord legal battle playing out amid a housing crisis

Focus 02/13/2026

A bitter dispute between a local landlord and a group of his former tenants over living conditions has entered a new chapter as the...

COMPENSATION DISCLOSURE: Nonprofits that receive more than $50,000 in taxpayer funding will be required to inform state legislators how much they’re paying their top five employees who receive more than $100,000.  PBN FILE PHOTO/NICOLE DOTZENROD

New law requires many nonprofits to reveal salaries of top executives

Focus 10/10/2025

A 2023 audit by the inspector general at the U.S. Department of Justice found significant deficiencies in financial management by the Pawtucket nonprofit Blackstone...

FREE TO ASSIST: A mix of attorneys and law students staff the eviction help desk at District Court in the Garrahy Judicial Complex in Providence. Such pro bono work has declined in some areas since January. In the photo are, from left, Brian Furgal of Rhode Island Legal Services; Roger Williams University law student Michael Dabramo; Suzanne Harrington-Steppen, clinical professor of law and associate director of pro bono programs at RWU Law; and law student Megan Graham.  COURTESY ELIZA VORENBERG

Lawyers try to adapt as pro bono needs rise

Focus 08/15/2025

As Trump administration policies target areas such as immigration, LGBTQ issues and voting rights, the demand for pro bono services among vulnerable organizations and...

MAKING IT WORK: R.I. Public Defender Collin Geiselman, left, and Matthew Toro, deputy public defender, discuss cases in their office in Providence. Now that higher pay rates have been approved, the public defender’s office is having a much easier time keeping and hiring staff.  PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

R.I. public defenders get helping hand, but still understaffed

Focus 05/23/2025

The workload has gotten easier for the attorneys in the R.I. Office of the Public Defender, but it’s still not case closed when it...

More eviction filings have these nonprofit legal services laboring

Focus 02/14/2025

Lawyer Steven S. Flores and his staff at the Housing Law Center at Rhode Island Legal Services Inc. are busy these days, and many...

WHAT’S IN STORE? A Sunshine Vape LLC location on Atwells Avenue in Providence. Owner Darin Tripoli says sales have declined 95% since Jan. 1, when a ban on flavored vape products went into effect in Rhode Island. PBN PHOTO/WILLIAM HAMILTON

Vape shops begin to fade with flavor ban in place

Focus 02/14/2025

Cinnamon fireball was among the many flavors at White Horse Vapor that Eugene DiSarro tried when he decided to stop smoking cigarettes for good...

R.I.’s new data privacy law will force some businesses to change...

Focus 10/11/2024

Lawmakers spent years crafting legislation to set data-transparency guidelines and improve customers’ online privacy. Now that it has passed the General Assembly, businesses should...

OFFICE ADVOCATE: R.I. Public Defender Collin Geiselman says he’s asking legislators to add $600,000 more in the R.I. Office of the Public Defender’s fiscal 2025 budget to raise the wages of staff attorneys as a recruitment and retention tool. PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

Understaffed public defenders struggling to cover cases

Focus 02/16/2024

R.I. Public Defender Collin Geiselman is accustomed to attorneys on his staff leaving to take higher-paying positions at private law firms, but now he’s...