Projo Politics Blog

Well, that didn’t last long.

In February, former federal prosecutor Lisa Dinerman joined the state courts system as deputy director of community outreach and public relations. But Dinerman left the job Oct. 6 to join the Providence law firm of Orson & Brusini, according to courts spokesman Craig N. Berke.

Dinerman, 53, of Providence, had succeeded Carol A. Costa, who left in January to join a public relations firm. When she took the job, which paid $54,883 a year, Dinerman told Political Scene, “I spent 24 years litigating and wanted the opportunity to get back into state service and to have the opportunity to educate young people about the legal system.”

Dinerman was in the news in June when Superior Court Judge Stephen J. Fortunato Jr. ordered the Rhode Island Legal/Education Partnership to reinstate Claudette Field as its executive director. Fortunato said he didn’t buy the explanation that the board fired Field partly because she wouldn’t spend every workday, from 9 to 5, at the group’s offices in the Shepard’s Building. He noted the board made Dinerman interim executive director although she could not spend every work day at the Shepard Building because of her full-time job with the judiciary. He said Dinerman was making $43,000 a year as interim executive director, in addition to her state salary.

Dinerman said she took the interim job “because I didn’t want to see the program die.” Berke said the judiciary has received about 100 applications for the vacant state position, which pays between $51,952 and $58,824 a year. “We are in the process of going through the resumes and applications and interviewing,” he said.

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