McElroy & Donaldson
Office: 21 Dryden Lane, Providence, RI 02904
Mail: 3 Cedar Meadows Drive, Smithfield, RI 02917
Phone: (401) 351-4100 • Fax (401) 421-5696
Email:  Michael R. McElroy Leah J. Donaldson

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MICHAEL ROBERT McELROY

Attorney at Law


 

FEDERAL PRACTICE
LEGAL EXPERIENCE:
 

1976 - 1981 

        TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY (TVA)
          
Knoxville, Tennessee 

Trial Attorney.  The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is the largest electric utility in the United States.  I spent four and one-half years in the trials and appeals section of the TVA legal department, exclusively handling litigation and regulatory matters in U.S. District Courts, U.S. Courts of Appeal, and regulatory bodies in Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, Georgia, North Carolina, Ohio, and Washington, D.C. 

PRIVATE PRACTICE
LEGAL EXPERIENCE:     June 1981 - Present
 

General Practice of Law.  My main areas of practice include public utility law; trials and appeals; property tax law; administrative hearings; and general corporate and commercial practice. 

From June of 1981 until December of 1985, I practiced with James A. O'Leary, Esq. under the firm name of O'Leary & McElroy in Providence.  Mr. O'Leary subsequently became a partner with former Rhode Island Governor Philip W. Noel in the firm of McGovern, Noel & Benick, P.C.  He is now in practice with his son under the name O’Leary Law Associates. 

From December 1985 until May of 1987 I was in solo practice in Providence. 

From May 1987 I practiced under the firm name of Schacht & McElroy in Providence.  My now-retired partner, Robert M. Schacht, was the former Director of Business Regulation for the State of Rhode Island, and also was Executive Counsel to former Rhode Island Governor (and later U.S. Senator) John H. Chafee.  In 2015, I added Leah Donaldson, Esq. to the firm.  In 2020, we renamed the firm McElroy & Donaldson.  

PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS: 

In 2022, I received the Ralph P. Semonoff Award for Professionalism from the Rhode Island Bar Association. This award is presented every other year to an attorney who has “exemplified . . . the epitome of professionalism in the law, advancing the calling of professional practice through leadership, high standards of integrity, commitment, and dedication.” 

In 2019, I was elected President of the Rhode Island Bar Foundation (the charitable arm of the Rhode Island Bar Association).  I was reelected President in 2020, 2021, and 2022.  I am a lifetime fellow of the Bar Foundation and I have been a member of the Foundation’s Board of Directors since 2014. 

I was the President of the Rhode Island Bar Association from 2012 – 2013.  When I ended my term as Bar President, U.S. First Circuit Judge Bruce M. Selya wrote saying: “I want to express my admiration for your spectacular leadership of the Rhode Island Bar Association over the past year. . . . all the members of the Bar are indebted to you for your labors.” 

I regularly practice before the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission and the Division of Public Utilities and Carriers, and I am an approved attorney for the Rhode Island Energy Facility Siting Board. 

I have been at various times a member of the Rhode Island Bar Association’s Supreme Court Bench/Bar Committee, the Federal Court Bench/Bar Committee, the Superior Court Bench/Bar Committee, and the Environmental and Energy Law Committee, among others.   

I was appointed by the President of the Bar Association to be the Chairman of the Superior Court Bench/Bar Committee for three consecutive fiscal years, from 2003 to 2006.  During my tenure, and working with the Presiding Justice of the Superior Court, we revised the Rules of Civil Procedure and we also established a mandatory medical malpractice mediation program.   The mediation program was a significant success.  When I stepped down as Chairman, the Presiding Justice wrote a letter stating that “In my 15 years as presiding justice, I cannot recall any individual from the bar who has worked as diligently as you have to improve not only the relationship between the bench and the bar, but also trying to make the judicial system more efficient and effective.” 

In 2006, I was elected to the Rhode Island Bar Association’s House of Delegates.  I was then elected by the House of Delegates to the Bar Association’s Executive Committee.  In 2013, I was appointed by the President of the Bar Association to the Nominating Committee.  In 2016 and 2020, I was appointed as Chair of the Victoria Almeida Servant Leader Award Committee.  In 2016, I was appointed to a 3-year term as Chair of the Nominating Committee.   

        I am a member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum, which is limited to trial lawyers who have achieved a verdict or settlement of $1,000,000 or more. 

        I have been selected for inclusion in New England Super Lawyers.  I have been selected as one of the top 100 trial lawyers in Rhode Island by The National Trial Lawyers.   

        I have been selected as one of The Best Lawyers in America (Tier 1 ranking)For 2015, 2018, 2021, and 2023, I was selected as the Best Lawyers’ Rhode Island Energy Law “Lawyer of the Year”.  In 2018, and 2021, I was selected as the Best Lawyers’ New England Energy Law “Lawyer of the Year” as published in the Wall Street Journal, April 2018 and April 2021. 

        I have been profiled in Who’s Who in American Law, Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in the World, and other similar publications.  In 2018, I received the Albert Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award from Marquis Who’s Who

        In 2022, Thomas F. Ahern, who served as Administrator of the Division of Public Utilities and Carriers (RIDPUC) for about 20 years, wrote a congratulatory note to me, saying that “I always said that you were the best attorney to appear before the RIDPUC.”

PUBLICATIONS:   

  • Introducing Our New Fellows, Rhode Island Bar Journal, Vol.71, No. 3, pp. 5-6 (2022). 
     
  • A Terrific Annual Meeting, Rhode Island Bar Journal, Vol. 71, No. 2, pp. 5-7 (2022).
     
  • Grateful, Rhode Island Bar Journal, Vol. 70, No. 6, p. 5 (2022).
     
  • Overcoming Adversity, Rhode Island Bar Journal, Vol. 70, No. 5, p. 7 (2022).
     
  • Kindness, Rhode Island Bar Journal, Vol. 70, No. 4, p. 5 (2022). 
     
  • Big Dreams, Rhode Island Bar Journal, Vol. 70, No. 3, p. 5 (2021). 
     
  • A Grateful Tribute to Our Volunteers, Rhode Island Bar Journal, Vol. 70, No. 2, p. 5 (2021). 
     
  • Your Bar Foundation’s Activities, Rhode Island Bar Journal, Vol. 69, No. 6, p. 5 (2021). 
     
  • Human Connections, Rhode Island Bar Journal, Vol. 69, No. 4, p. 5 (2021). 
     
  • Jim Jackson – The Foundation of our Foundation, Rhode Island Bar Journal, Vol. 69, No. 3, p. 5 (2020).
     
  • Heroes Among Us, Rhode Island Bar Journal, Vol. 69, No. 2, p. 5 (2020). 
     
  • Less than 5%?, Rhode Island Bar Journal, Vol. 69, No. 1, p. 5 (2020). 
     
  • Now, More Than Ever, Rhode Island Bar Journal, Vol. 68, No. 6, p. 5 (2020). 
     
  • Becoming a Fellow, Rhode Island Bar Journal, Vol. 68, No. 5, p. 9 (2020). 
     
  • Keeping the Lights On, Rhode Island Bar Journal, Vol. 68, No. 4, p. 7 (2020) 
     
  • The Good We Do, Rhode Island Bar Journal, Vol. 68, No. 3, p. 5 (2019). 
     
  • Representing Clients Before the Rhode Island Personnel Appeal Board, Rhode Island Bar Journal, Vol. 63, No. 5, p. 9 (2015).
     
  • It’s Pretty Damned Depressing, included in a book of essays entitled Befriending Death, published by iUniverse, Edited by Michael C. Vocino and Alfred G. Killilea (2014). 
     
  • Now You Know, Rhode Island Bar Journal, Vol. 63, No.2, p. 27 (2014).
     
  • Chief Justice Joseph R. Weisberger Tribute, Rhode Island Bar Journal, Vol. 62, No. 1, p. 9 (2013).
     
  • Help for Bar Members and their Families Suffering from Alcoholism, Rhode Island Bar Journal, Vol. 61, No. 6, p. 3 (2013).
     
  • Let’s Make Our Mothers Proud!, Rhode Island Bar Journal, Vol. 61, No. 5, p. 3 (2013).
     
  • Dangers of the Pro Se Explosion, Rhode Island Bar Journal, Vol. 61, No. 4, p. 3 (2013).
     
  • The Tragedy of Wrongful Convictions, Rhode Island Bar Journal, Vol. 61, No. 3, p. 3 (2012).
     
  • First Thing We Do, Let’s Kill All the Law Schools, Rhode Island Bar Journal, Vol. 61, No.2, p. 3 (2012).
     
  • Who is This Guy?, Rhode Island Bar Journal, Vol. 61, No. 1, p. 3 (2012).

PUBLIC APPOINTMENTS: 

1.          In 1981 I was appointed to serve as Special Assistant Attorney General under Attorney General Dennis Roberts II to serve as counsel to the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission.  

2.          In 1991 I was appointed by the Governor to serve as legal counsel to the State of Rhode Island Personnel Appeal Board and I served in that position through 2015.  The Board is a quasi-judicial body that hears appeals by Rhode Island State employees from job actions such as demotions, layoffs and terminations.  My duties involved advising the bipartisan board regarding hearing procedures and applicable law.  I prepared draft decisions for the Board and handled Superior and Supreme Court appeals for the Board. 

3.           In 1992 I was appointed by the Presiding Justice of the Superior Court as an Arbitrator of civil cases in the Rhode Island Superior Court.   

4.           In 1993 I was appointed by the Presiding Justice of the Superior Court as a Special Master/Commissioner of Real Estate.   

5.           In 1994 I was one of five persons nominated by the Judicial Nominating Commission to fill a vacant judgeship in the Rhode Island Superior Court. 

6.           In 1997 I was appointed by Governor Almond to the Planning Advisory Committee that assisted in preparing the State’s Master Development Plan for the Port of Galilee. 

7.        In 2000 I was selected as Special Legal Counsel to the Rhode Island Ethics Commission. 

COMMUNITY/POLITICAL ACTIVITIES: 

I served as Chief Legal Counsel to Bruce Sundlun in both his 1988 and 1990 Campaigns for Governor.  In 1988, Mr. Sundlun lost to the incumbent Governor by less than 1%.  In 1990, Mr. Sundlun was elected Governor.   

I have coached boys and girls youth basketball teams and Babe Ruth league baseball teams.  I was the statistician for the Classical High School Boys Basketball team for four years. 

In 2004, Jammat Housing and Community Development Corp., a non-profit community organization in Providence, named me to its Advisory Board and dedicated a room in its new community day-care facility in my name. 

In 2018, I was named to the Advisory Committee of Volunteer Services for Animals.
 

CRIMINAL LEGAL EXPERIENCE: 

1975-1976 

MASSACHUSETTS DEFENDERS COMMITTEE
Boston, Massachusetts 

Public Defender under Rule 3 of the Massachusetts Supreme Court.  The position involved responsibility for the preparation and trial of misdemeanor criminal trials in Dorchester District Court under the general supervision of an advocacy professor from Boston University Law School.  The position also involved responsibility for handling arraignments of both misdemeanor and felony criminal matters and probation and parole revocation hearings, including hearings at Walpole State Prison. 

OTHER LEGAL EXPERIENCE: 

Summer - 1975 

TOBIN, LEROY & SILVERSTEIN (now Hinckley, Allen & Snyder), Providence, Rhode Island 

Law Clerk.  The position involved preparing research memoranda involving real estate, tax, corporation and estate matters. 

1974-1975 

PROFESSOR ROBERT B. KENT
BOSTON UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW
 

Research Assistant.  The position involved detailed research and personal interviews with Rhode Island Superior Court Justices regarding implementing the Civil Discovery Rules of the Rhode Island Superior Court. 

NATIONAL CENTER FOR STATE COURTS
Boston, Massachusetts 

Research Assistant.  Position involved preparing a profile of the Rhode Island Judicial System.

PRELEGAL EDUCATION: 

1969-1973 

UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND
Kingston, Rhode Island 

B.A. Highest Distinction, 1973
Cumulative Average 3.76/4.0 

Major: Political Science 

Honors:  Captain of the U.R.I. Crew Team; Appointed by the U.R.I. President as the first student Ombudsman in U.R.I. history; Rhodes Scholar nominee; recipient of Honorary Danforth Fellowship. 

LEGAL EDUCATION: 

1973-1976 

BOSTON UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW
Boston, Massachusetts 

J.D. cum laude, 1976
Class Rank 12/427 (top 3%)
Cumulative Average 85.19 

ADVANCED EDUCATION: 

Summer 1982 

MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
East Lansing, Michigan 

Graduate Studies Certificate
Intensive Regulatory Studies Program in Public Utility Law  

1982-1987 

BRYANT UNIVERSITY
Smithfield, Rhode Island 

M.S.T. with honors (Master of Science in Taxation)
Degree awarded in May 1987
Cumulative Average 3.75/4.0

 

 

McElroy & Donaldson - Attorneys at Law
Office: 21 Dryden Lane, Providence, RI 02904
Mail: 3 Cedar Meadows Drive, Smithfield, RI 02917
Phone: (401) 351-4100 • Fax (401) 421-5696
Email:  Michael R. McElroy
Leah J. Donaldson
Map & Driving Directions
Conveniently located close to Route 95 with plenty of free parking.
 



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