McKee nominates Debra Saunders as District Court chief judge and two Superior Court justices

Gov. Dan McKee on Nov. 6 nominated Debra Saunders to be chief judge of the Rhode Island District Court and Denise Cassisi Finkelman and Carly B. Iafrate to be associate justices of the Superior Court, according to a governor's office announcement. The nominations go to the Rhode Island Senate for advice and consent.

Saunders is now an associate judge of the District Court, where the announcement says she presides over criminal trials, evidentiary hearings, arraignments, bail hearings and sentencings. She was appointed to that court in 2023. Before that she spent 15 years as Clerk of the Rhode Island Supreme Court and earlier worked as a special assistant attorney general prosecuting cases in District and Superior courts. She is a graduate of Providence College and Suffolk University Law School. She would fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Chief Judge Jeanne LaFazia.

Finkelman is a magistrate in the Family Court, where she hears custody, placement, child support and contested divorce cases. She joined the judiciary in 2021 after running her own law practice, where she handled litigation, mediation and work as a guardian ad litem. She is a past president of the Rhode Island Women's Bar Association and a graduate of Quinnipiac University and Roger Williams University School of Law. The announcement says she fills the vacancy resulting from Justice Joseph A. Montalbano's appointment to the Superior Court.

Iafrate is the principal attorney at the Law Office of Carly Beauvais Iafrate, PC, with more than 20 years in employment litigation and labor matters. She has taught Employment Discrimination and Labor Law as an adjunct professor at Roger Williams University School of Law and served nearly 20 years on the Rhode Island Supreme Court Board of Bar Examiners. She earlier clerked for retired Chief Justice Frank Williams. Her nomination fills the vacancy left by the retirement of Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Lanphear. She is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Roger Williams University School of Law.

McKee thanked the Judicial Nominating Commission in a statement, saying the nominees "have demonstrated strong character, sound judgment, and the highest integrity." Each nominee also gave a statement in the announcement.

The announcement does not give dates for Senate committee hearings or a floor vote.