Hon. Lara E. Montecalvo was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in September. She began her legal career as a trial lawyer in the Department of Justice in Washington, DC, and has served in the Rhode Island Public Defender’s Office since 2004 as a trial attorney, appellate attorney, chief of the Appellate Division, and most recently, public defender. In addition, she is a member the Rhode Island General Assembly’s Special Legislative Commission on Reducing the Incarceration of Women.