Rhode Island Bar Journal Rhode Island Bar Association Volume 67. Number 4. January/February 2019 Rhode Island Code of Regulations My Ex Took My Pet! – Now What? Replevin as a Possible Remedy Holistic Representation to End Poverty Book Review: The Schoolhouse Gate: Public Education, the Supreme Court, and the Battle for the American Mind New IRS Private Letter Ruling Provides for 401(k) Student Loan Repayment Articles 5 Rhode Island Code of Regulations Mary-Rose W. Pellegrino, Esq. Editor In Chief, Mark B. Morse, Esq. Editor, Kathleen M. Bridge 13 My Ex Took My Pet! – Now What? Replevin as a Possible Remedy Editorial Board Victoria M. Almeida, Esq. Keith G. Langer, Esq. Jerry Cohen, Esq. Kayla E. Coogan O’Rourke, Esq. Eric D. Correira, Esq. 17 Holistic Representation to End Poverty James D. Cullen, Esq. Nora Salomon, Esq. William J. Delaney, Esq. Thomas M. Dickinson, Esq. Nicole P. Dyszlewski, Esq. 23 Book Review – The Schoolhouse Gate: Public Education, the Supreme Court, Matthew Louis Fabisch, Esq. and the Battle for the American Mind by Justin Driver Keith D. Hoffmann, Esq. Anthony F. Cottone, Esq. Meghan L. Hopkins, Esq. Matthew J. Landry, Esq. Christopher J. Menihan, Esq. 33 New IRS Private Letter Ruling Provides for 401(k) Student Loan Repayment Lenore Marie Montanaro, Esq. Daniel J. Procaccini, Esq. Marc J. Soss, Esq. Matthew David Provencher, Esq. Steven M. Richard, Esq. Joshua G. Simon, Esq. Angelo R. Simone, Esq. Stephen A. Smith, Esq. Hon. Brian P. Stern Elizabeth Stone Esq. FEATURES RHODE ISLAND BAR ASSOCIATION 3 Resolutions for Your Practice 32 Good Business for Good Lawyers LAWYER’S PLEDGE Build Your Practice with the Bar’s Lawyer 4 Try the Bar’s dynamic List Serve! As a member of the Rhode Island Bar Association, Referral Service! I pledge to conduct myself in a manner that will 6 Letters to the Editor reflect honor upon the legal profession. I will treat 33 Bar’s Government Lawyers Committee Offering all partici pants in the legal process with civility. 11 Bar’s VLP-Sponsored Seminar Series Helps Free, 1-Credit CLE In every aspect of my practice, I will be honest, to Place 50 Pro Bono Cases courteous and fair. 34 Thanks to Our CLE Speakers 12 50-Year Club 34 Lawyers on the Move Association Officers Carolyn R. Barone, President 15 New Rhode Island Bar Association Membership 35 Online Attorney Resources (OAR) David N. Bazar, President-Elect Benefit: Virtual Consulting Service Richard P. D’Addario, Treasurer 35 Seminar Offers Perspective on Startup 15 Rhode Island Bar Foundation Seeks Law School Lynda L. Laing, Secretary Strategies Scholarship Applicants Executive Director 35 Publish and Prosper in the Rhode Island Helen Desmond McDonald 20 The Legend of Judge Michael A. Silverstein Bar Journal Direct advertising inquiries to the Editor, Kathleen 22 Now Accepting 2019 Rhode Island Bar Award M. Bridge, Rhode Island Bar Journal, 41 Sharpe 36 SOLACE Drive, Cranston, RI 02920, (401) 421-5740. Nominations USPS (464-680)ISSN 1079-9230 38 In Memoriam 25 House of Delegates Letters of Interest – Due Rhode Island Bar Journal is published bimonthly February 15, 2019 41 Justice Assistance Honors Six Rhode Islanders by the Rhode Island Bar Association, 41 Sharpe Drive, Cranston, RI 02920. 27 Casemaker Tip: Narrow by Circuit 42 Cartoon PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID AT PROVIDENCE, RI 28 Seeking Law Related Education Program 42 Updating Your Attorney Directory Photo Is a Subscription: $30 per year Attorney Volunteers! Snap! Postmaster Send Address Correction to: 29 VLP Honor Roll 42 Rhode Island Probate Court Listing and Judicial Rhode Island Bar Journal Communications Survey on Bar’s Website 41 Sharpe Drive 13 Continuing Legal Education Cranston, RI 02920 www.ribar.com Front Cover Photograph by Brian McDonald Sachuest Beach (Second Beach) Middletown, RI Sachuest Beach, locally known as Second Beach, is a south-facing, mile-long beach located on Sachuest Point Road in Middletown. Resolutions for Your Practice Happy New Year! How are you doing with the ing you? If you answered any of these questions resolutions you made on this past New Year’s in the affirmative, then resolve to take advantage Eve? Join the gym club, yet? Stopped smoking? of the Bar Association committees and sponsored Spending more time with the family? Drinking programs that can assist you with designing and more vitamin water and less adult beverages? creating a successful practice. Following are three The beginning of the New Year is the perfect time examples of how the Association provides care to take stock in ourselves and our law practices. and treatment for your law office’s management My immediate predecessor, Linda Rekas Sloan, and profitability. focused her year of Bar presidency on lawyer We are all familiar with the adage, “Time is health and well-being. Her President’s Messages Money.” Do you keep track of your time? How addressed the necessity of lawyers taking care do you keep track of your time? What time do Carolyn R. Barone, Esq. of their bodies and minds. She provided us with you report? Is the time you are devoting to your President reminders of the Association’s outreach programs clients earning you a profit? Are you even measur- Rhode Island Bar Association including Lawyers Helping Lawyers, a premier ing your profitability? With the reasonable cost program providing confidential and personal of time and billing software, there is no excuse guidance before life and practice issues become for sole practitioners and small firms not to follow critical, and where to turn in the crush “Big Law” and invest in a time/billing system. Be- Without detracting from the of turmoil and crisis. Linda was the ing faithful to a program provides three measur- catalyst for engaging a professional able benefits: first, you will get an immediate idea need for all of us to put into wellness coach to write about how of how much time you waste in any given day do- action what we have learned we can stay healthy and still enjoy life. ing anything but law work (for example, perusing during the past year on health A couple of months after I took office, your FB page, reading the latest twitter feeds, do- and wellness and the need to Aon presented its cost-free seminar to ing the Jumble puzzle); second, your bills will be our membership. The guest speaker accurate and complete and you will know when stay on this track, I am shift- wasted no time and minced no words your initial retainer or fee advance is about to be ing gears and focusing on the when warning us about the prevalence or has been exhausted (repeat after me: “retainer, health of our law practices. of mental illness and substance abuse refresher, remainder”); and, third, you will have in the legal profession. We have been no excuse not to send out bills in a timely fashion. bombarded, and rightfully so, with the warning Need help with selecting a billing package that signs of how our best legal practices buckle and meets your needs or maximizes an existing pack- collapse under the weight of a distressed mind age but have nowhere to turn? The Bar Associa- and body. tion has immediate relief for you. Take advantage I recently reviewed the American Bar Associa- of your membership benefit and contact Red Cave tion’s Report of its National Task Force on Lawyer Consulting. (What’s a “membership benefit?” A Well-Being.1 I urge all Bar members to read this FREE benefit.) Red Cave has over ten years of law Report. Digest its import on our profession. With- firm business management consulting experience out exception, our emotional and physical well- and has advised over 3,000 law firms. Red Cave being has a direct impact on the well-being and can assist you with issues surrounding law office profitability of our practices. Without detracting technology, marketing, financial management, and from the need for all of us to put into action what more. The Bar’s website also features regular tips we have learned during the past year on health from the company related to practice manage- and wellness and the need to stay on this track, ment, including client relations, data management, I am shifting gears and focusing on the health of revenue goals, marketing, using social media and our law practices. Are your billable hours getting disaster prevention and recovery. billed? Are you paying your office staff before Join the Bar Association’s Lawyer Referral paying yourself? Do you fall asleep at night won- Service. This service is a great source for increas- dering if tomorrow will be the day that you break ing your clientele. Through the Bar, you will the cold streak and potential clients start contact- receive referrals only in practice areas you select Rhode Island Bar Journal January/February 2019 3 and from persons who may have the financial then let’s have a nice chat; and, when we do, Rhode Island Bar Journal ability to pay for services, as well as obtaining ask me about “billing by the inch.” Editorial Statement referrals on contingency fee matters. Don’t dis- The Rhode Island Bar Journal is the Rhode Island Bar Association’s official magazine for Rhode Island ENDNOTE count the benefits received from accepting case attorneys, judges and others interested in Rhode 1 referrals through the Association’s reduced fee See ABA website, NATIONAL TASK FORCE ON LAWYER Island law. The Bar Journal is a paid, subscription WELL-BEING; August 14, 2017. ◊ programs. Expand your thought-process and magazine published bi-monthly, six times annually and sent to, among others, all practicing attorneys consider that clients who retain your services and sitting judges, in Rhode Island.