Overview
Practice Areas
Alternative Dispute Resolution • Litigation • White Collar Defense & Investigations •
The Honorable Alberto (Al) Rivas, a former New Jersey Superior Court judge, focuses his practice on resolving high stakes and high-profile litigation matters.
Judge Rivas was appointed to the bench by Gov. Jon Corzine in 2010 and presided over the Superior Court of New Jersey for Vicinage 8 in Middlesex County. He spent his judicial tenure in the civil, family law and criminal divisions of Middlesex County, including a stint as presiding judge of the criminal division and as assignment judge of Middlesex County. In his role as assignment judge, he was responsible for the operation of the court and the supervision of judges and more than 500 employees while also maintaining a docket of cases.
At the time of his appointment to the bench, Judge Rivas was a partner at a Newark litigation firm for 14 years. He was an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey for nearly a decade, serving as the Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division from 1994 to 1996. In addition, Judge Rivas served as Law Director for the City of Perth Amboy, and an adjunct professor at Rutgers Law School.
Judge Rivas has sat on a variety of court committees including the Lawyers Advisory Committees for the Third Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey. He was also appointed to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals Task Force on Equal Treatment in the Courts, Race and Ethnicity Commission, and he served as chairman of the District VA Fee Arbitration Committee. Judge Rivas is a past president of the Rutgers Law School-Newark Alumni Association.
Judge Rivas began his career as a judicial law clerk for the Honorable Anne E. Thompson of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey. He earned his J.D. from Rutgers Law School and his undergraduate degree from Princeton University.
He is fluent in Spanish.
Honors
- Recognized by the Hispanic National Bar Association – Judicial Division, Judge of the Year (2026)
Award Methodology
*No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey.
Involvement
- Hispanic Bar Association of New Jersey
Education
- Rutgers School of Law (J.D., 1985)
- Princeton University (B.A., 1982)
Admissions
- New Jersey
- U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit