Angelyne Cooper-Bailey
Executive Counsel, Rhode Island Department of Labor & Training
In January of 2021, by a unanimous vote of the Cranston City Council, Angelyne E. Cooper became the first attorney of color nominated and appointed to serve as a judge on the Cranston Municipal Court. Currently, she serves as Executive Counsel for the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training. She also teaches at Roger Williams University School of Law as an adjunct professor. Her prior legal experience includes prison litigation monitoring to ensure that incarcerated individuals with mental health illness received constitutionally adequate mental health care and providing advice and counsel on a wide range of legal issues as an attorney for Rhode Island Legal Services and the City of Providence. She also served as a Law Clerk for the Honorable O. Rogeriee Thompson on the First Circuit Court of Appeals. She earned her J.D. from Roger Williams University School of Law, cum laude, and served as President of the Black Law Students Association and a member of the Multi-Cultural Law Students Association. She graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice from Utica College of Syracuse University. In 2023, she was appointed by Speaker Shekarchi to serve on the Cannabis Advisory Board. Since 2014 she has served as a Commissioner for the Rhode Island Commission for Human Rights. She is also a former member of the Board of Directors for the Rhode Island Center for Justice, Genesis Center, and the Rhode Island Urban Debate League.