Robert K. Taylor

Of Counsel

Rob has represented businesses, associations, government bodies, and individuals in court and agency proceedings for 35 years. He has handled many complex contract, unfair competition and property rights lawsuits, and has represented both public and private interests on a range of regulatory matters. He has extensive appellate experience in the Rhode Island Supreme Court and federal courts of appeal.

Rob’s regulatory experience includes representing clients on energy-related matters before the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission and Energy Facility Siting Board.

Rob has served in top leadership positions on the boards of numerous Rhode Island nonprofits, and has broad experience with nonprofit legal and management issues including board governance, conflicts of interest, financial supervision and reporting, investment policy, for-profit subsidiaries and related activities, charitable foundation oversight, and crisis communications.

Practice Areas

Commercial Finance

Corporate & Business

Energy & Environmental

Intellectual Property

Litigation & Disputes

Nonprofit & Tax-Exempt

Education

Georgetown University Law Center, J.D., magna cum laude

Yale University, B.A., cum laude

Bar Memberships

Connecticut

District of Columbia

Rhode Island

U.S. District Court, Rhode Island

U.S. District Court, District of Columbia

U.S. Federal Circuit Court of Appeals

U.S. Court of Appeals 1st Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals 4th Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals 11th Circuit

Professional Affiliations

Rhode Island Bar Association
American Bar Association
- Antitrust and Litigation Sections
District of Columbia Bar Association
- Antitrust Section

Boards

Providence Public Library
- Past-Chairman
Providence Public Library Foundation
- Trustee
- Past-Vice Chairman
Providence Preservation Society
- Chair, Governance Committee
Business Innovation Factory
- Board of Directors
BSA Narragansett Council
- Executive Board

Representative Cases

Contracts

Co-counsel for national title insurance company in five day federal court bench trial involving $10 million condominium title insurance policy.
Represented the Rhode Island Department of Transportation in high stakes litigation involving bridge construction issues and state Turnpike and Bridge Authority’s tolling authority.
Represented limited partner of real estate development partnership in litigation and arbitration to recover multi-million dollar capital investment from the general partner.
Represented co-owners of boutique R.I. hotels and restaurants in management disputes with other owners, resulting in clients obtaining full control.
Represented insured luxury goods manufacturer in obtaining appellate ruling against insurer regarding the insurer’s duty to defend commercial disparagement claims asserted by a competing manufacturer.
Represented Rhode Island consumer products manufacturer in obtaining seven figure recovery from international supplier of manufacturing equipment.

Property Rights

Represented R.I. coastal property owners in securing dismissal of claims that their private property was subject to a public easement to reach the shore.
Successfully challenged a municipal tax title in the R.I. Supreme Court on due process grounds, restoring title to the original owner.
Represented prevailing financial institution in landmark R.I. Supreme Court case striking down a state agency eminent domain taking that lacked a proper public purpose.
Represented R.I. business in successfully challenging unconstitutional municipal noise ordinance.

Energy

Represented the Public Utilities Commission in natural gas rate case focused on decoupling utility cost recovery from commodity charges.
Represented solar developers in Public Utilities Commission proceedings involving distributed generation interconnection, cost allocation and tariff issues.
Represented R.I. municipality in successfully defending its solar development moratorium ordinance.
Represented large-scale renewable energy developer in connection with proceedings at the R.I. Energy Facility Siting Board.
Represented gas-fired electric generating plants regarding various regulatory and permitting issues.

Antitrust/Unfair Competition

Represented and argued in R.I. Supreme Court on behalf of financial and insurance trade groups opposing a requirement to have an attorney present at all Rhode Island real estate closings.
Represented Volkswagen diesel fraud class action opt-out plaintiff in obtaining judgment for full refund of vehicle purchase price.
Represented Rhode Island luxury goods retailer in false advertising and gray market litigation with discounter.
Counseled national and regional manufacturers and distributors on pricing, monopolization, tying, Robinson Patman Act, merger reviews, and other antitrust issues.
Drafted antitrust compliance guides and conducted trainings.

Honors

Selected by his peers for inclusion in Best Lawyers in America as an expert in commercial litigation
Selected by his peers for inclusion in Rhode Island Super Lawyers