Alum Awarded Prestigious Public Service Award

Armando Batastini ’98 is the recipient of the Rhode Island Bar Association’s 2008 Pro Bono Publico Award for his “outstanding commitment to volunteer legal services for the poor and disadvantaged.”

At the Annual Meeting of the Rhode Island Bar Association (RIBA), President Marcia McGair Ippolito announced that Armando Batastini ’98 is the recipient of the Association’s 2008 Pro Bono Publico Award for his “outstanding commitment to volunteer legal services for the poor and disadvantaged.” The award will be formally presented to Armando at the Pro Bono Publico Awards Assembly Luncheon during the ABA August Annual Meeting in New York later this summer. 

The Pro Bono Publico Awards program honors lawyers who have “enhanced the human dignity of others by improving or delivering volunteer legal services to our nation’s poor and disadvantaged.” Armando provided more than 100 hours to the Volunteer Lawyer Program (VLP), representing defendants in a variety of cases including landlord/tenant disputes, breach of contract and collection disputes, and in one instance, he helped a Desert Storm veteran whose possessions were disposed of by the owner of the treatment facility where he was residing. 

Armando, a graduate of the Naval Academy and a Navy veteran, was class valedictorian and editor of the Law Review while at Roger Williams Law. He currently is of counsel to Nixon Peabody LLP in Providence, where he practices in the firm’s business litigation and real estate groups.  Armando remains active in the community, serving as a board member of the Service Academy Business Network and a mentor for the City Year, a youth service organization. 

Congratulations to a distinguished RWU Law alum!