Meet Lou
Third-generation Scituate resident. Real estate attorney. Father of four. Candidate for RI House District 41.
Michael J. Riley — “Lou”
Michael J. Riley — known to nearly everyone as “Lou” — is a third-generation resident of Scituate, Rhode Island, and the Republican candidate for RI House District 41.
Lou was born and raised in Scituate before leaving for school and, later, building his career and businesses in Providence. Years ago — long before he ever considered running for office — he and his family made a deliberate choice to come home, returning to Scituate to raise the next generation of his family in the same town that raised him.
By trade, Lou is a real estate attorney licensed in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Florida, with a practice spanning real estate transactions, commercial lending, title and curative work, tax sale law, foreclosure, and zoning and land use. That work has put him on the front lines of the issues Scituate families face every day — from property taxes that hit homeowners at the closing table, to the zoning questions that come with growth in a rural community.
Lou earned his J.D., magna cum laude, from Roger Williams University School of Law, where he served as Assistant Editor of the Roger Williams University Law Review, was a Dean's Scholar, and received CALI Awards for the highest grade in several courses. He holds a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Rhode Island. He began his legal career as a judicial extern in the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island, and has run his own practice, the Law Offices of Michael J. Riley, since 2017.
Before law school, and continuing alongside his legal practice today, Lou has worked as a real estate broker — he's a licensed Real Estate Broker in Rhode Island and Florida, and has represented clients in more than 1,000 property transactions since 2004. That ground-level market experience, paired with his legal practice, gives him a practical understanding of the tax and zoning issues affecting Scituate homeowners.
Lou is a father of four — Vera, Elle, Louie, and Ava. He and his wife Melissa are raising their kids right here in Scituate. He’s also a member of the Cranston Fish and Game Association.
As State Representative, Lou is running on four things, in this order: keeping zoning and land use decisions local — don’t Providence my Scituate; keeping schools answerable to local boards and parents; cutting a tax burden that now reaches families at the closing table and at death; and doing something about a physician shortage that makes it hard to see a doctor in this part of the state. He is also a firm defender of Second Amendment rights and a member of the Cranston Fish & Game Association. All four planks are here, in detail.
Lou's family has been part of Scituate for three generations. His commitment to the district is simple: leave it better than the way I found it.
Why he's running
A working knowledge of the problem
Lou's law practice puts him in real estate closings, zoning boards, and title work across Rhode Island every week. He sees firsthand how state tax policy and zoning mandates hit Scituate homeowners, farmers, and small landowners — not as an abstraction, but as line items on a settlement statement.
Rooted, not opportunistic
Lou's family has lived in Scituate for three generations. He and his family made the choice to move back years ago, long before he considered running for office — this isn't a campaign built on recent arrival or convenient timing.
“I’m not starting at first base. I’m rounding third.”
Most first-time candidates spend their first year at the State House learning how the building works. Lou has already been in the room — testifying before the Rhode Island Senate on 2026-S 3136, legislation affecting real estate brokers and salespersons, on his own time, as a working attorney with no title next to his name.
He has advocated for legislation that helps our community, our district, and our state. He reads bills for a living, and he knows how one gets submitted, heard, amended, and passed — or quietly changed on page 12, after everyone has stopped reading.
Growing up in Scituate
Long before law school, Lou grew up playing Little League right here in town. The 1995 Scituate Foster Little League All Stars brought home the Rhode Island District 4 championship — a small piece of the same hometown story that eventually brought his family back to Scituate to raise the next generation.