Cite as 3 Litigation Commentary & Rev. 49 (June/July 2010)

John A. Tarantino has served as President of the Rhode Island Bar Foundation since 2005 and was re-elected President in June 2010.  The Rhode Island Bar Foundation is a non-profit, charitable Foundation whose mission is to foster and maintain the honor and integrity of the profession of law and to study, improve, and facilitate the administration of justice in Rhode Island, as well as promote the study of law and high standards of legal education.

This past winter, Mr. Tarantino successfully represented the Rhode Island Bar Association and The Rhode Island Bar Foundation in a petition before the Rhode Island Supreme Court to change the Rules of Professional Conduct to make participation in the Interest on Lawyers' Trust Accounts (IOLTA) program mandatory and to also mandate that lawyers establish IOLTA accounts in banks and financial institutions that do not discriminate in paying interest rates on those accounts.  His success before the Court has doubled IOLTA income since January.  Since its inception, the IOLTA fund has allocated millions of dollars to Rhode Island for legal services for the poor, as well as to help in the improvement of the administration of justice.

Mr. Tarantino served as President of the Rhode Island Bar Association in 1997-1998.   In 2003, he also served as President of the New England Bar Association, which is comprised of all New England state bar association leaders.  He was the recipient of the Rhode Island Bar Association 2003 Award of Merit for outstanding service to the legal profession.  In 2006 he was the recipient of the Rhode Island Bar Association’s highest honor, the Ralph P. Semonoff Award for Professionalism.  Mr. Tarantino has served as Chairperson for the Campaign for Equal Justice and has lent his leadership to the Affordable Legal Services Task Force, which led to increased funding for Rhode Island Legal Services.  He has been a tireless advocate for equal justice, and for his outstanding efforts he was honored with the 2008 Equal Justice Award by Rhode Island Legal Services.

John Tarantino is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, the International Society of Trial Lawyers, the International Society of Barristers, Litigation Counsel of America, and a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates.