CRMC says goodbye to longtime legal counsel, welcomes new attorney

August 24, 2016, WAKEFIELD – After decades of serving as the legal counsel for the R.I. Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC), attorney Brian A. Goldman, and his family’s law firm Goldman & Biafore before him, will be passing the torch. The CRMC has hired attorney Anthony DeSisto, who has his own practice in general law in East Providence.

Since the CRMC was established in 1971, the Goldman family has served as legal counsel; first Alan J. Goldman, Brian Goldman’s father, from 1971 to 1992, his sister Jeanne L. Shepard starting in 1986 (who shared counsel duties with her father and Brian from 1988 until 1992), and Brian Goldman exclusively from 1992 until this month, when he was appointed to serve as a Rhode Island District Court judge.

Goldman worked for his father Alan at Goldman & Biafore until his father’s death in 2014, and then operated his own practice. He was also a lobbyist at the State House for the New England Convenience Store Association. Goldman enlisted in the Air Force in 1983 and served as a fighter pilot, and in Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Goldman has litigated cases in state and federal courts, as well as the U.S. Supreme Court, and worked in the Judge Advocate General Corps, retiring in 2012 as a lieutenant colonel. He has devoted much to the Rhode Island veterans’ community, including performing pro bono work for members of the National Guard and their families.

As a District Court judge, Goldman will preside over civil matters (less than $5,000, landlord/tenant matters, violations of housing standards, and criminal arraignments of misdemeanors and felonies). The Court has specialty mental health, small claims, and veterans’ calendars as well.

DeSisto, of Anthony DeSisto Law Associates, LLC, has operated his own practice in zoning, planning and land use; municipal; real estate; and legislative lobbying law since 1995. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Rhode Island, and his JD from Georgetown University Law Center in 1984. He currently serves as the solicitor for the Towns of Lincoln (since 2007), Warren (from 1992-2004, and recently since 2009), and Tiverton (since 2015). He has served as special legal counsel for a number of cities and towns, and the Little Compton Agriculture Conservancy Trust. DeSisto has 30 years of experience lobbying before the General Assembly in a number of interests, and is currently registered as a legislative lobbyist for the Rhode Island Association for Justice and the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities Rhode Island.

“The CRMC Council would like to sincerely thank Brian for his 28 years of service to this agency,” said CRMC Chair Anne Maxwell Livingston. “Brian has been a dogged advocate for the Council, its regulations and policies, and all Rhode Islanders. He will be missed, and we wish him well in his new position. We are looking forward, however, to working with Mr. DeSisto, and relying on the skills he will bring to the legal process in regard to coastal management.”