Robert D. Emerson

Bob graduated from Harvard in 1979 with a degree in Biology and spent nine years teaching biology and math, serving as a dormitory head, and coaching various sports including football, basketball, baseball and tennis at Trinity Pawling School and Cushing Academy. He was awarded a sabbatical by Cushing in 1987 and completed his first year as a law student at Boston College.  He returned to Cushing for a year to complete his sabbatical obligations, serving as math department chairman and teaching AB Calculus and AP Biology, and then returned to BC and earned his JD in 1991.  He has been practicing law ever since, first as a corporate lawyer with Hinckley, Allen & Snyder, and then with Duffy & Sweeney, a prominent  Providence boutique firm.     

For the past 15 years, Bob's practice has become increasingly focussed on estate and medicaid planning, and estate administration.  "I try to incorporate my teaching background in all aspects of my practice, especially my meetings with clients, as I want them to have a good understanding of the documents they are signing or the advice I am recommending."  Much of the estate planning and estate administration field is "all about the numbers," and Bob's background as a math teacher makes him quite well suited for this area of law.

Outside of law, Bob spends much of his time as an ornithologist, observing birds particularly in the Rhode Island area, participating in breeding bird surveys, organizing the Newport-Westport Christmas Bird Count, serving on the RI Avian Records Committee, and of late, developing his skill as a nature photographer.  He is also an avid tennis player, maintaining a 4.5 USTA rating, and has completed the Boston Marathon four times and the Pan Mass Challenge once.

Bob lives in Little Compton, RI with his wife and three daughters.