Class of '63 profile
Joe Russoniello: preventing child abuse

By Nina M. Riccio

When the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops set out to establish a lay Review Board in the wake of the Church's sexual abuse scandals, they sought a diverse group of men and women - all Catholics, all respectful of both the principles of the faith as well as sensitive to the shock and anger of millions of U.S. Catholics. The 13-member Review Board has at times included judges, psychologists, physicians, and a college president. It also includes Joe Russoniello '63, a San Francisco lawyer with a background in investigative work and strong ties to the Catholic Church.

"Our role goes beyond that of a watchdog group," he explains, clearly proud of the work the Review Board has done to date. "We advise and counsel the bishops. We're working with the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York to determine the "how" and "why" of the sexual predator scandal. How vast was the problem, and how do we identify potential problems and remove potential abusers sooner? What protocols do we need to adopt to keep this from happening again? The Review Board gathers four times a year, but various subcommittees meet more frequently, he says. His three-year term will expire in June 2008.

Russoniello's deeply rooted faith and interest in politics date back to his days at Fairfield. He remembers those four years (when he was one of approximately 150 boarding students) as the era of red blazers and a mix of on-campus music extravaganzas that included appearances by jazz singer Sarah Vaughan, crooner Tony Bennett, and über rock'n roller Chuck Berry. It was a time when area residents could fill the Fairfield University gymnasium for a debate between William F. Buckley and theologian John Courtney Murray, S.J. "We were the beneficiaries of a fresh, new outlook. Many of us looked to a career in government heeding Kennedy's call to public service," he says. "I saw the period as a great time to be an American." His was an eclectic class, he says, but the spirit overall was bold and optimistic. "We looked forward to a bright, though at times uncertain, future. It was also the era of the Cuban missile crisis and the start of the Vietnam War."

A history major, Russoniello considered a career in the foreign service, but opted instead for law school after graduation. He attended New York University's School of Law, then joined the FBI as a special agent, investigating criminal cases. Faced with the prospect of relocating to Alabama for three years, he left the FBI and decided to practice law. Fate intervened on a visit to California, and the New Jersey native was so taken by the San Francisco area that he pursued job opportunities there. He ended up in the San Francisco district attorney's office, first as a fraud investigator and then as deputy district attorney prosecuting criminal cases before going into private practice six years later.

The highlight of his career, he says, was his 1982 appointment by President Ronald Reagan as U.S. Attorney for Northern California, beginning an eight-year period "in which we were able to make the department of justice more proactive. There was additional funding to fight drug trafficking; we actively investigated and prosecuted white-collar crime; we dealt a blow to espionage in Silicon Valley. And as the office racked up more convictions, federal investigative agencies brought more significant cases."

Through the years, Russoniello has been honored time and again for his service to the Church, most recently with the St. Thomas More Award in 2001, given by the St. Thomas More Society to a member of the community who has made significant leadership contributions to society and borne witness to faith in both public and private life. He has also received the Assumpta Award from of the St. Mary's Cathedral Board of Trustees for his work on behalf of the San Francisco Archdiocese, and the Vatican's Pro Ecclesia et Pontificata medal.

Russoniello assumed senior counsel status at his firm, Cooley Godward, in 2002. He generally works three days a week and spends four at the home he and his wife, Moira, share in the Napa Valley. That's not to say that he's idle; in 2002, he took on the deanship of the San Francisco Law School, a small evening law school, where he spends about 15 hours a week and teaches a class on morality and law. He still gets back to Fairfield regularly. The biggest change? "The campus is all growed-up," he says with a laugh. And though he knows that's necessary for the school to remain competitive, he admits to some nostalgia for "a time when there were four buildings on campus, and the gym was the new one."