Bar Association 2012-2013 Officer Profiles

Michael R. McElroy, Esq., President

Michael R. McElroy, Esq. is President of the Rhode Island Bar Association. He is a resident of Providence and Narragansett and is a partner in the Providence law firm of Schacht & McElroy. A graduate of the University of Rhode Island, where he was Captain of the crew team and the first student Ombudsman at URI, he earned his law degree from Boston University School of Law and his Masters Degree in Taxation from Bryant University.  He is a former three-term Chairman of the Superior Court Bench/Bar Committee.  He is a member of the House of Delegates and the Executive Committee of the Bar Association.  He is a Fellow of the Rhode Island Bar Foundation.  He is admitted to practice in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Tennessee, as well as various United States District Courts, Courts of Appeal, and the United States Supreme Court.  He is a member of the Rhode Island Association for Justice.  He is a former trial attorney with the Tennessee Valley Authority and a former Special Assistant Attorney General.  He is currently Legal Counsel to the Rhode Island Personnel Appeal Board.  He and his wife Christine have three children and two grandchildren.

J. Robert Weisberger, Jr., Esq., President-Elect

J. Robert Weisberger, Jr., Esq. is President-Elect of the Rhode Island Bar Association. He is counsel with Edwards Wildman Palmer, LLP serving in the firm’s litigation management department representing CVS as national litigation counsel. Bob is a member of the Rhode Island Bar Association’s Executive Committee and House of Delegates. He has chaired the Bar’s Government Relations Committee and the Annual Meeting Planning Committee. He has also served on several of the Bar’s standing committees. Bob is a Rhode Island Bar Foundation Fellow and a member of the American Bar Association. For many years, he served as a member of the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of McAuley House. He serves his town of Smithfield as its Town Moderator. He and his wife Gail have two children.





Bruce W. McIntyre, Esq., Treasurer

Bruce W. McIntyre, Esq., is Treasurer of the Rhode Island Bar Association. He has been legal counsel to the Rhode Island Department of Health, Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline since 1991. His legal expertise is in the areas of medical regulation of physicians, physician assistants, chiropractic physicians, and acupuncture and oriental medicine.  He is an immediate past Director at the Federation of State Medical Boards of the US, Inc., Dallas, Texas. Bruce also advises the Rhode Island Director of Health on legal and legislative issues. He has served as an administrative hearing officer for the Boards of Pharmacy, Nursing, Dentistry and Certificate of Need.





Melissa E. Darigan, Esq., Secretary

Melissa E. Darigan, Esq. is Secretary of the Rhode Island Bar Association. She is a partner in the Providence law firm of Partridge Snow & Hahn LLP and chair of the firm’s Litigation Practice Group, specializing in complex commercial, business and regulatory litigation. She is a mentor in the firm’s mentoring program and co-founded and assists the administration of the firm’s Women AdVocates for Enterprise (WAVE) initiative helping women in business advance professionally. She is a graduate of George Washington University, and she earned her law degree from Catholic University of America. She is co-chair of the Bar’s Superior Court Bench/Bar Committee, a member of the House of Delegates, served as Chair of the 2012 Annual Meeting Committee, and, since 2007, has served as a member of the Executive Committee. She was also a member of the Bar’s Strategic Planning Committee which developed a five-year plan to guide the Association. She is a Rhode Island Bar Foundation Fellow and a New England Bar Association Board member. She is admitted to practice in the: U.S. District Courts of Rhode Island and Massachusetts; the U.S. District Court of Appeals, 1st Circuit; and the U.S. Supreme Court.