Motion to diversify

PROVIDENCE — Emphasizing the importance of having judges who look like the people who appear before them, Gov. Gina Raimondo on Monday announced nominations to six judgeships across the state judiciary in what is probably the most diverse pool of nominees ever in Rhode Island.

At a State House ceremony marked by fanfare, Raimondo unveiled the six lawyers she selected to assume lifetime seats on the Superior, District, Family and Workers' Compensation courts. Three of the six nominees are black.

"If we continue on this path ... I really think we have a chance to change the makeup of the courts for the better," Raimondo said, flanked by the nominees.

Raimondo credited Judicial Nominating Commission Chairwoman Sally Dowling with cultivating a diverse pool of judicial applicants. Dowling leads the panel that helps vet and select the state's judges. The commission will be choosing candidates for three more seats in the coming months.

"We've made a lot of strides," Raimondo said as Dowling observed from the front row.

The governor named Melissa E. Darigan to fill the Superior Court vacancy created by the death of Walter R. Stone. Darigan is the daughter of retired Superior Court Judge Francis J. Darigan Jr.

A Providence native, Darigan largely represents insurance companies, financial institutions and corporations in commercial litigation in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, according to her résumé. She also specializes in contested trust and estate litigation. She earned a law degree from the Columbus School of Law at Catholic University of America.

Stone, a U.S. Marine veteran and one the state's first black prosecutors, died at age 73 in September 2017.

Raimondo noted that Darigan speaks fluent Spanish, is active in the community and would be giving up a very lucrative 26-year legal career to take up public service on the bench.

Christopher Knox Smith, an assistant public defender for the state, was nominated to fill the District Court opening created by the death of Judge William C. Clifton Sr. in March at age 75.

Since 2010, Smith has represented indigent clients facing misdemeanor and felony charges at the state public defender's office. He graduated in 2007 from the Roger Williams University School of Law and earned an advanced degree focusing on environmental and natural resources law from the University of Oregon School of Law in 2008.

The governor remarked that Smith is known for his outsized work ethic and said she expected him to become the "hardest-working" judge in the state.

The governor chose Melissa DuBose to fill the District Court seat left vacant by the retirement of Rafael Ovalles, after a disciplinary panel’s findings that he committed widespread misconduct and harassed female staff and lawyers.

DuBose since 2008 has worked as senior legal counsel at Schneider Electric in Foxboro, Massachusetts, providing in-house legal support for the company's global units, according to her résumé. From 2005 to 2009, DuBose worked as a special assistant attorney general in the criminal division of the state attorney general's office. She was a history and social studies teacher at the middle-school and high-school levels with the Providence School Department from 1996 to 2005.

She earned a degree from Roger Williams University School of Law in 2004.

What moved Raimondo about DuBose, the governor said, was her life story, with its beginnings on Camp Street. DuBose went on to teach in Providence, only to be motivated to attend law school after one of her students -- the head of the Student Council -- took a life, Dubose said. She later joined the attorney general's office as a special assistant attorney general.

"Rhode Island is going to be lucky to have you on the bench," Raimondo said.

Richard Merola, a Providence lawyer and municipal court judge in Smithfield, was selected for Family Court. Merola, who has a business background in addition to legal experience, is a managing lawyer with Martinous Law Associates. He earned a degree from the New England School of Law in 1993.

Raimondo picked lawyers Keith A. Cardoza Jr. and Susan Pepin Fay to fill vacancies on the Workers' Compensation Court. Fay would succeed Judge Hugo Ricci, while Cardoza would take the seat of Judge Debra Olsson.

Since 2016, Cardoza has represented employers, employees, insurance carriers and third-party administrators in all aspects of workers' compensation claims in Rhode Island and Massachusetts as a partner with the firm Izzo, Gardner & Cardoza. Prior to 2016, he did the same work as an associate with McKenny, Quigley, Izzo & Clarkin. He graduated in 2010 from Roger Williams University School of Law.

"As I told him, he's young, so I expect him to be here for a long time," the governor said of Cardoza.

Fay has represented employers and insurers before the Rhode Island Workers' Compensation Court, the Massachusetts Board of Industrial Accidents and the U.S. Department of Labor, according to her résumé. She earned her law degree in 1993 from Suffolk University Law School.

All the seats have lifetime tenure, and the nominations require approval by the state Senate. The seats on the District and Workers' Compensation courts carry an annual base salary of $153,340. The Superior Court position has a $158,340 annual base salary. Raimondo said she plans to forward the nominees to the Senate on Jan. 1.