Faith A. LaSalle

Faith A. LaSalle, is the founding member of LaSalle & Kelleher P.C., and has more than 40 years of civil litigation experience. She established her original firm in 2004 as a solely owned woman firm, and it remains a primarily owned woman firm. The firm's main office is located in Providence, Rhode Island, and is dedicated to representing clients in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut courts. Ms. LaSalle is on the defense panel counsel for several insurance companies, and defends insureds in cases involving medically complex automobile accidents, traumatic brain injuries, premises liability, wrongful deaths actions, and construction accidents.  She also represents self-insureds in product liability matters, and defends insurance companies directly named in cases involving bad faith and extracontractual liability.  In addition to her litigation experience, she analyzes insurance policies and provides opinions for insurance companies on the interpretation of  insurance contracts. She has had extensive trial experience in her private civil litigation practice as well as when she started her career as a litigator trying a number of cases to verdict  for the Rhode Island Attorney General and the City of Providence.

 In addition to her years of trial experience, she has argued appeals before the Rhode Island Supreme Court and First Circuit Court of Appeals; and is an effective advocate who has achieved excellent results for her clients at mediations and arbitrations. In 2017,  she successfully defended a construction accident case to a defense verdict, after the parties had engaged in serious settlement negotiations before the trial. In 2019, she represented a national leasing company in an appeal before the Rhode Island Supreme Court, which involved the an issue of whether a federal statute prevailed over state law, based upon a federal constitutional argument. In 2020-2021, during the pandemic when jury trials were suspended, she continued to deliver results for her clients through favorable settlements at mediation and through direct negotiations. Additionally, she has effectively represented her clients by using dispute resolution forums, such as binding arbitrations, to successfully bring closure to pending lawsuits.

In April of 2019, Ms. LaSalle was honored at Roger Williams Law School as one of the pioneer women lawyers in Rhode Island, at the law school's plaque ceremony honoring the First Women Lawyers of Rhode Island.  She is a Past President of the Defense Counsel of Rhode Island, the local bar association for defense lawyers, and continues to serve on its Board of Directors. She has served a three year term as the State Representative of Rhode Island for the Defense Research Institute, a national defense lawyers organization, which involved identifying public policy issues, legal developments and legislative interests in Rhode Island to the defense bar.

Ms. LaSalle's public service over the years has included serving on the board of Rhode Island's Securities Investment Commission, appointed by the state treasurer, and as Chair of the former Rhode Island Higher Education Authority, a board appointment by the state governor. Education has been a focus of her volunteer work, which has included in the past serving on a board of a local high school.  She continues in 2021-2022 to serve on the board of the Rhode Island Academic Decathlon, a national competition that encourages high school students of all caliber to excel in oral presentation, people skills, and mastery of academic topics.

Ms. LaSalle holds a B.A., magna cum laude, from Brown University where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. She received her J.D. from Villanova University School of Law. As discussed in her trial experience, her legal career started as a lawyer at the Rhode Island Attorney General's Department and the City of Providence Legal Department where she represented and tried a number of cases for government entities, in federal and state courts, before entering private practice. She is admitted to practice in both Rhode Island and Massachusetts, U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and the Supreme Court of the United States.