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PROVIDENCE, R.I. – RWU Law’s Feinstein Center for Pro Bono & Experiential Education honored on Friday two outstanding legal luminaries and a legal organization as Champions for Justice in recognition of their impact and accomplishments in supporting the school’s public interest programs.

The special awards dinner preceded the law school’s annual Public Interest Auction at the Omni Providence Hotel, with both events “shining a light on RWU Law students and alumni, and celebrating their dedication to serving low-income and disenfranchised communities in New England and around the country,” said the Feinstein Center’s executive director, Laurie Barron.

This year’s Champions for Justice honorees are:

2016 Champion for Justice: Judge Judith Colenback Savage

Judge Judith Colenback Savage joined RWU Law in 2014 as distinguished jurist in residence. Over the past several years, she has taught innovative and relevant courses such as Criminal Procedure: Adjudication and The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Color Blindness, as well as advising students on their careers and assisting them with legal research and writing. In March 2015, Judge Savage hosted a standing-room-only symposium on mass incarceration and has since then been a prominent leader in the state’s efforts to constructively address the issue. Prior to joining the RWU Law faculty, Judge Savage served on the Rhode Island Superior Court from 1993 until her retirement in 2013. Previously, she was executive counsel to R.I. Gov. Bruce Sundlun and practiced law at Edwards & Angell. Savage is also a co-editor of A Practical Guide to Evidence in Rhode Island.

Alumni Public Interest Champion: Dena Castricone ’98, ’02L

A leader in the LGBT community, Dena Castricone ’98, ’02L graduated second in her class at RWU Law, won “Best National Oralist” in the Saul Lefkowitz Moot Court Trademark Competition and served on Law Review. She also founded the school’s The Alliance – LGBT group. After clerking for Chief Justice Frank J. Williams at the Rhode Island Supreme Court, she joined Murtha Cullina as a litigator in 2003 and is now part of the firm’s Long Term Care/Health Care practice groups. In 2007, Castricone founded the Connecticut Alliance for Business Opportunities, an LGBT chamber of commerce, which has since won national awards. The National LGBT Bar Association has recognized Castricone among the “Best LGBT Lawyers under 40”; she is on the executive committee of the LGBT section of the Connecticut Bar Association; and she was recently appointed as one of nine commissioners of the governing body of Connecticut’s Office of State Ethics. 

Community Partner Champion: Dorcas International Institute of Rhode Island

Dorcas International Institute of Rhode Island empowers individuals and families – especially the underserved, immigrants and refugees – to become self-sufficient and fully participating members of society through innovative programming and advocacy that promotes education, training and cultural understanding. Dorcas International provides client-centered services, advocacy and opportunities centered on family literacy and adult education, employment services, refugee resettlement, translation, interpretation, U.S. citizenship and immigration services. It is committed to building on the diversity and strength of the people it serves as an investment in a stronger and more connected community. Established in 2012, the institute was a merger of two established Rhode Island institutions: the International Institute of Rhode Island, which had served area immigrants and refugees since 1921, and Dorcas Place Adult and Family Literacy Center, helping low-income adults to realize their full potential since 1981.