Tagged: legal issues

High-profile lawyer David Boies’ request to practice law in Rhode Island is expected to be considered by Superior Court Judge Sarah Taft-Carter early Friday, according to court spokesman Craig Berke. That’s the same morning when Taft-Carter is slated to hear a state motion to dismiss a union challenge to last year’s pension overhaul.

The granting of permission for an out-of-state lawyer to practice in Rhode Island is usually a formality.

Governor Lincoln Chafee says the uncertainty and cost of litigating a union challenge to last year’s landmark pension overhaul justify efforts to seek a settlement.

In a telephone interview from Washington, DC, where he’s attending a National Governors Association meeting, Chafee dismissed concerns that a settlement would dilute the pension overhaul to such an extent that it would hurt Rhode Island’s fiscal condition.

Susan Pedgen, best known as the press secretary for Charles Fogarty during his two terms as lieutenant governor, has gotten the nod to become chief legal counsel for House Speaker Gordon Fox. She’s slated to start $121,308 job next Monday, December 3.

Pegden will be the first woman to be chief legal counsel for a speaker, according to Fox spokesman Larry Berman. As a resident of Hope Street, she is also a constituent of the speaker.

Via news release: 

The emergence of super-lawyer David Boies in Rhode Island’s high-stakes pension fight — first reported yesterday by RIPR — was triggered by his interest in the even broader significance of the case.

Alison Frankel reports for Thomson Reuters:

Superior Court Judge Sarah Taft-Carter is slated to consider next month a motion by the state to dismiss the challenge filed by a series of unions against Rhode Island’s landmark 2011 pension overhaul.

A hearing on the matter is scheduled for December 7. It is not known how long Taft-Carter will take to make her decision on the motion.