Regina M. Costa is a Partner with Pannone Lopes Devereaux & O’Gara LLC and a member of the Alternative Dispute Resolution and Special Masterships Teams. Attorney Costa is a highly respected civil rights lawyer and concentrates her practice as a member of the firm’s Special Mastership in Prison Monitoring Team for the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California, in the matter of Coleman v. Newsom, overseeing prison reform and compliance with orders of the Court concerning care and treatment of approximately 34,000 mentally ill prisoners throughout 28 institutions within the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and three (3) of California’s Department of State Hospitals.

In 2011, Attorney Costa was appointed Child Advocate by Governor Lincoln D. Chafee and confirmed by the Rhode Island Senate. In this leadership position, which she held for five years, she was responsible for protecting the legal rights and interests of children in state care, reviewing and investigating all complaints of potential maltreatment of children in institutions and residences, and making recommendations for positive changes to policies and programs in the Department for Children, Youth and Families (DCYF). Attorney Costa has executive level experience in the areas of human resources, organizational change, professional development, teaching, training and financial management.

Prior to her tenure as head of the state’s Office of Child Advocate, she worked for both DCYF and the Rhode Island Department of Corrections in multiple positions for more than 25 years serving as a social caseworker, social service analyst, probation and parole counselor, supervisor and senior legal counsel.

Ms. Costa is the co-founder of Community Based Youth Transitions Centers for Juvenile Corrections Populations in Rhode Island and is a former Adjunct Professor in the Administration of Justice program at Salve Regina University in Newport, RI.

Attorney Costa earned her J.D. from New England School of Law in Massachusetts. She graduated with a Master of Social Work and a Master of Arts in Agency Counseling from Rhode Island College and earned a B.A. in Elementary Education from Stonehill College in Massachusetts. She is also certified as a mediator from the Center for Mediation & Collaboration Rhode Island and holds a certification in negotiations from Harvard School of Law, Harvard Negotiation Institute. Attorney Costa is admitted to practice law in the Supreme Court of the United States, as well as state and federal courts in Rhode Island, and is a member of the Rhode Island Bar Association and the Rhode Island Women’s Bar Association. Attorney Costa is Chairman of the Board of Directors for The Children’s Friend Foundation.

• Alternative Dispute Resolution
• Special Masterships

• Rhode Island, 1992
• U.S. District Court District of Rhode Island, 1993
• Supreme Court of the United States, 2024