(Melissa Darigan, Class of 1992, and William H. Clendenen, Jr., Class of 1967)
CUA Law alumni are often tapped to head county and state bar associations and the 2015-16 term is no exception. This year, both the Rhode Island and Connecticut Bar Associations will be directed by CUA Law alums, Melissa Darigan, Class of 1992, and William H. Clendenen, Jr., Class of 1967.
The Rhode Island Bar Association, the largest non-profit membership organization in Rhode Island with over 6,000 member lawyers and judges, welcomed Melissa E. Darigan, as its new President in July.
Darigan is a partner in the business law and litigation firm, Partridge Snow & Hahn LLP, and co-chair of the firm's Litigation Practice Group, where she specializes in complex commercial, business and regulatory litigation for insurance companies and financial institutions and estate and trust litigation in the Probate and Superior Courts, including will contests and fiduciary liability matters. Darigan is a mentor in the firm's mentoring program and co-founded and co-chairs the firm's Women AdVocates for Enterprise (WAVE) initiative to help women in business advance professionally. For several years, Darigan chaired the Bar's Superior Court Bench/Bar Committee. She was also the chair of the 2012 Annual Meeting Committee, a member of the Bar's Strategic Planning Committee and served on the New England Bar Association Board. Darigan is a member of the House of Delegates and, since 2007, served on the Executive Committee. She is also a Rhode Island Bar Foundation Fellow.
William H. Clendenen, Jr., is the 92nd president of the Connecticut Bar Association (CBA). A member of Clendenen & Shea LLC in New Haven, Clendenen has served clients as a lawyer for over 40 years and has built his reputation trying state and federal court cases. He has argued numerous appeals in the Connecticut Appellate and Supreme Courts and in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Clendenen services as a Special Master for the U.S. District Court in Connecticut and as an attorney trial referee in the Connecticut Superior Court. He has served as Town Attorney in Madison and Branford.
Clendenen was born in New London and resides with his family in Madison. His son Patrick Clendenen, Class of 1991, is a partner with Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough. LLP in Boston, Massachusetts.