Joelle Rocha
Publications
Admissions
Joelle Rocha is a partner with a focus on real estate development and land use; she also represents clients in business disputes and general commercial litigation. Previously, she served as Assistant to the Solicitor for the towns of Warren and Lincoln. She is admitted to practice in Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
Joelle has successfully permitted several of the State’s largest mixed-use developments. She has represented private developers in residential, commercial, mixed use and solar projects and before municipal and state boards and agencies. She has secured tax stabilization agreements for several private development projects.
In January of 2023, Joelle was hired by House Speaker Joe Shekarchi to work with him and the House Policy team to write his housing package in 2023. The results were the passage of 13 bills signed into law in July of 2023, which represented the first major changes to land use law in three decades. She has been retained by the Speaker for that same role in 2024. More here.
She has successfully litigated several class actions against municipalities regarding illegal and excessive impact fees and building permit fees, and recovered litigation costs for landowners and developers as a result of unlawful and unsubstantiated government actions. She has argued before the Rhode Island Supreme Court on behalf of several clients in matters involving recovery of attorneys’ fees and challenges to local ordinances.
Active in the community, Joelle in 2024 joined the board of ONE Neighborhood Builders, whose mission is to improve lives by building homes and connecting communities. She is a former member of the Rhode Island Builders Association and its Legislative Committee. She is a former board member of the Ocean State Montessori School, Roger Williams University School of Law Alumni Association and the Rhode Island Soccer Association.
In 2024, Joelle Rocha received the Rhode Island Bar Association Lauren E. Jones, Esq Writing Award with co-author Amy Goins for their Rhode Island Bar Journal article entitled: “Seismic Changes to RI’s Land Use Laws: What You Need to Know.”
Joelle was selected as a Fellow of the Rhode Island Bar Association in 2022, an honor recognizing members whose professional, public and private careers have demonstrated their outstanding dedication to the welfare of the community and maintenance of the objectives of the Rhode Island Bar Foundation.
Joelle has been recognized by Providence Business News with its Forty Under 40 award, by Super Lawyers as a Rising Star, and in Rhode Island Monthly both for its Excellence in the Law in the area of Environmental Law/Land Use. She was the recipient of the Outstanding Women in Business award by Rhode Island Monthly. She continues to be recognized by Best Lawyers in the areas of Commercial Litigation, Land Use and Zoning Law, Litigation-Construction, Litigation-Land Use and Zoning, and Litigation-Real Estate.
- Best Lawyers
- RI Bar Foundation Fellow
- Super Lawyers Rising Star
- Providence Business News Forty Under 40
- RI Monthly Excellence in the Law
- RI Monthly Outstanding Women in Business
- University of Massachusetts (Dartmouth) Distinguished Alumni
Publications
My News & Blog Posts
- Lawyers of Year & Best Lawyers & Ones to Watch for 2025
- Joelle Rocha Added to Board for ONE Neighborhood Builders
- Two D&S Attorneys Lead RI Bar Association Programs
- Joelle Rocha Receives RI Bar Journal Writing Award
- Five D&S Attorneys Noted for Excellence in Law by RI Monthly for 2024
- Joelle Rocha Moderator for Real Estate Symposium Panel
- Joelle Rocha Successful in Representing Homeowner Against Municipality
- Joelle Rocha Co-Authors Bar Journal article: Seismic Changes to RI’s Land Use Laws
- D&S Recognized as Lawyers of Year & Best Lawyers for 2024 in 17 Practice Areas
- Joelle Rocha, Special Counsel to House Speaker on Groundbreaking Housing/Development Legislation
Admissions
Education
Roger Williams University School of Law (J.D. Honors Program, 2006)
University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth (B.A. Political Science, summa cum laude, 2003)
Admission
Rhode Island
Massachusetts
US District Court for the District of Massachusetts
US District Court for the District of Rhode Island