Robert J. Durant Jr.

Bob Durant has tried judge and jury trials in both Rhode Island and Massachusetts, including medical malpractice, personal injury, employment, consumer finance and criminal actions. He presently serves as managing counsel for a number of financial institutions. He has appeared before judges and juries and has participated in hundreds of mediations and arbitrations throughout the United States.

In addition to being an accomplished litigator, Bob has worked with his clients to develop programs designed to reduce the costs incurred for legal fees of the corporation while ensuring consistency in legal services. He has worked with his clients to identify litigation trends and also areas where the client can reduce costs while not sacrificing quality. Bob has embraced the new developments in how legal services are provided and has established metrics for monitoring the Firm's and outside counsel's successes in that regard.

Bob began his career as a prosecutor with the RI Department of Attorney General. In that position he tried hundreds of bench and jury trials ranging from misdemeanors and narcotics cases to homicides. He also directed Grand Jury investigations and served as Chief of the Newport County office of the Department. Bob then joined Wistow and Barylick, a prominent plaintiff's litigation firm where he litigated and tried medical malpractice, commercial, criminal and employment matters. He later directed the litigation department of a more general firm, Calenda and Iacoi, where he handled malpractice, employment, probate and general negligence matters.

As an advocate for both defendants and plaintiffs, Bob has participated in over 300 mediations over the past 22 years. He now applies that experience acting as a mediator for cases involving professional malpractice, general negligence and employment.

Bob's experience includes:

• Bob performed the Risk Analysis as part of a client's acquisition of a chain of medical clinics. In doing so, he performed a top to bottom investigation of the target company's business model and worked with experts and practitioners to identify areas of exposure and how to improve policies and procedures to improve patient safety
• In addition to his extensive work on medical malpractice, personal injury and consumer finance litigation, Bob served as trial counsel on employment matters or a regional bank handling Title VII and ADA cases as well as FINRA arbitrations
• Bob served on the Judicial Performance Evaluation Committee of the Rhode Island Supreme Court
• Bob is an Approved Arbitrator for the Superior Court of Rhode Island
• The Superior Court of Rhode Island has accepted Bob as an authority in the area of case and law firm valuations