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Roberto A. Rivera-Soto
Associate Justice, Supreme Court of New Jersey

Justice Rivera-Soto was nominated by the Governor James E. McGreevey on April 20, 2004 to serve as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey. He was confirmed by the Senate on June 10, 2004, and was sworn in on September 1, 2004 in a private ceremony. On September 14, 2004, he reaffirmed the oath of office in a public ceremony at the Trenton War Memorial.

At the time of his nomination, Justice Rivera-Soto was a partner at Fox Rothschild LLP, resident in their offices in Princeton, New Jersey and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He had previously served as senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary of Caesars World, Inc. and as vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary of Greate Bay Hotel and Casino, Inc. in Atlantic City. From 1980 to 1983, he was a litigation associate at Fox Rothschild. From 1978 to 1980, he served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Criminal Division of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. During 1977, Justice Rivera-Soto interned in the Office of the District Attorney of Delaware County, Pennsylvania.

Justice Rivera-Soto graduated with high honors from Colegio Nuestra Señora del Pilar, Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico in 1970. He is a 1974 honors graduate of Haverford College, where he was the Jose Pad ín Scholar of the Class of 1974. He received his J.D. in 1977 from Cornell University School of Law, where he was a Charles K. Burdick Scholar, and a Moot Court Board member.

Prior to his service on the Court, Justice Rivera-Soto was a Certified Mediator in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey; he also was a member and chair of the District VII Ethics Committee of the Supreme Court of New Jersey; a former member of the Board of Directors of the “Please Touch” ® Museum, the children’s museum of Philadelphia; a former member of the Board of Directors of the New Jersey Development Authority for Small Businesses, Minorities and Women’s Enterprises; a former alternate member of the Southern Nevada Disciplinary Board of the State Bar of Nevada; and a former Instructor in Trial Advocacy at Rutgers (Camden) School of Law.

Justice Rivera-Soto’s work as an Assistant United States Attorney was recognized by the Attorney General of the United States when, in 1980, he was awarded the United States Department of Justice’s “Director’s Award for Superior Performance as an Assistant United States Attorney.” He also received commendations from the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States Department of Justice, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms of the United States Department of the Treasury and the United States Custom Service, for his handling of various cases. In recognition of his dedication to the welfare of his community and the highest principles of the legal profession, Justice Rivera-Soto has been elected as a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.

Justice Rivera-Soto was born on November 10, 1953 in New York City, and grew up in Puerto Rico. He is married to the former Mary Catherine Mullaney. They have three sons, and reside in Haddonfield, New Jersey.