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.  I had responsibility for handling the preparation, trial and appeal of litigation and regulatory matters involving TVA, whether as a plaintiff or a defendant.  

In my first six months at TVA, I worked in the power contracting/ratemaking section of the legal department.  I was then asked to primarily handle litigation and regulatory matters.  I handled several multimillion dollar trials, arbitrations, contract disputes, and related appeals while at TVA.  For example, I handled an antitrust suit, breach of contract suits, suits involving TVA's constitutional and statutory authority to set power rates, to control navigation in the Tennessee River, to reject low bids, to locate its headquarters, and a suit to close and operate TVA’s Tellico Dam and Reservoir Project.  I also handled wrongful death, personal injury and property damage suits of various types, as well as labor suits, product liability suits, condemnation suits, environmental suits, admiralty suits, land title and other real estate suits, and encroachment suits.  In addition, I represented TVA in bankruptcy proceedings as well as administrative proceedings before the United States Department of Interior Board of Land Appeals and the Merit Systems Protection Board (formerly the Civil Service Commission). 

PRIVATE PRACTICE

LEGAL EXPERIENCE:     June 1981 - Present 

General Practice of Law.      My main areas of practice include trials and appeals in federal and state courts; public utility law; education law; property tax law; administrative hearings; real estate; 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 then became a partner in Moses & Afonso, Ltd., and is now in solo practice. 

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

From May 1987 until the present time I have practiced under the firm name of Schacht & McElroy in Providence.  My semi-retired partner, Robert M. Schacht, is 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.  His areas of expertise include all aspects of financial and corporate law and regulation and estate planning.   

Representative Clients. Cardi Corporation; Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc.; Fleet National Bank; AT&T Corp.; Stonebridge Fire District; McDonald's Corporation; Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company; First Federal Savings Bank of America; Realty Financial Partners; Fafard Real Estate and Development Corp.; Providence Water Supply Board; Block Island Power Company; Interstate Navigation Company (The Block Island Ferry); Prudence Ferry, Inc.; Block Island Cable TV, Inc.; Town of Cumberland; Rhode Island Personnel Appeal Board; Rhode Island Ethics Commission; Jammat Housing and Community Development Corp; Miles Ave. Property Co. LLC; The Energy Council of Rhode Island (TEC-RI); ISO-New England, Inc. (ISO-NE); Bluewater Wind, LLC; City of Central Falls School District. 

PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS: 

I am admitted to practice before all Courts in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Tennessee; the United States District Courts for Rhode Island, Massachusetts and the Eastern District of Tennessee; the United States Courts of Appeals for the First, Fifth and Sixth Circuits; and the United States Supreme Court.   

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 am a member of the American and Rhode Island Associations for Justice (formerly the American and Rhode Island Trial Lawyers Associations).   

I am a member of the Rhode Island Bar Association’s Supreme Court Bench/Bar Committee, the Federal Court Bench/Bar Committee, and the Superior Court Bench/Bar Committee.   

I am certified to serve as (1) a Guardian (Personal Injury) in Superior Court, (2) a Receiver/Trustee in Superior Court, and (3) a Commissioner of Real Estate in both Superior Court and Family Court. 

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, we revised the Rules of Civil Procedure and we also established a mandatory medical malpractice mediation program.   The mediation program has become a significant success.  (See the 6/25/07 Providence Business News article attached hereto).  Moreover, when I stepped down as Chairman, The Presiding Justice wrote a letter to me 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 Bar Association’s House of Delegates.  I was then elected by the House of Delegates to the Bar Association’s Executive Committee. 

In 2008, I was elected Treasurer of the Rhode Island Bar Association which has over 6,000 members. 

I am an approved attorney for various title companies doing business in Rhode Island. 

          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. 

          In 2008, I was selected for inclusion in New England Super Lawyers.  Only 5% of the attorneys in Rhode Island are on the list. 

          I am profiled in Who’s Who in American Law, Who’s Who in America, and Who’s Who in the World, among other similar publications. 

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. In that capacity, I represented the Commission and the State of Rhode Island in electric energy hearings before the Power Authority of the State of New York. 

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 continue to serve in that position.  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 involve advising the bipartisan board with respect to hearing procedures and applicable law.  I prepare draft decisions for the Board and handle 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.  In this role I conduct arbitrations of civil cases involving $100,000.00 or less in damages and render decisions.  The civil arbitration program has greatly reduced the backlog of cases pending in the Superior Court.   

4.         In 1993 I was appointed by the Presiding Justice of the Superior Court as a Special Master/Commissioner of Real Estate.  In that role I can be authorized to conduct hearings involving real estate matters and report my findings to the Superior Court. 

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 the preparation of the State’s Master Development Plan for the Port of Galilee. 

7.         In 1999 I was named a Mediator for the Rhode Island Bar Association Mediation Program. 

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

COMMUNITY/POLITICAL ACTIVITIES: 

In 1982, I was an advisor and counsel to District Court Judge Robert Pirraglia in his primary campaign for U.S. Congress.   

In 1984, I served briefly as Chief Speechwriter to Warwick Mayor Joseph Walsh in his primary campaign for Governor.   

From 1988 to 1990, 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 was legal counsel to the Pawtuxet Valley Historic and Preservation Society for many years. 

I have coached boys and girls CYO basketball teams and Babe Ruth league baseball teams in Providence.  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 recognition of the many years of legal service I provided to them. 

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 the handling of 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 the preparation of 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 the implementation of the Civil Discovery Rules of the Rhode Island Superior Court. 

NATIONAL CENTER FOR STATE COURTS
Boston, Massachusetts 

Research Assistant.  Position involved the preparation of 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; Appointment 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 
Member of Delta Mu Delta Graduate Honor Society in Business. 

1993-1994 

          BRYANT UNIVERSITY
          Smithfield, Rhode Island 

In 1994 I successfully completed Bryant College's Microcomputer Software Applications Certificate program.