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The law firm of Ballard Spahr recently announced that Justice Roberto A. Rivera-Soto, the first Hispanic American to serve on the Supreme Court of New Jersey, has joined the firm as a litigation partner.
Rivera-Soto, who served on the high court for seven years, was quoted as saying in a press release at the firm’s website: “Serving on the Supreme Court of New Jersey was an honor. It is an experience for which I am deeply grateful and one that I believe will make me a better lawyer and advocate. As those close to me will attest, I always intended to return to my first professional love, the practice of law. I have enormous respect for my new colleagues at Ballard, many of whom are longtime friends. Coming here was both a natural and exciting choice.”
Mark Stewart, Chair of the firm was quoted as saying: “Justice Rivera-Soto is a gifted lawyer with an uncommonly rich breadth of experience. We are thrilled to have him as a partner. Our clients will quickly come to appreciate the attributes that have garnered Justice Rivera-Soto respect throughout his legal career: his incisive mind, passionate advocacy, unwavering loyalty, and personal charisma.”
In 2004, Justice Rivera-Soto was nominated to the Supreme Court of New Jersey. During his term, which ended on September 1, he wrote nearly 200 opinions; among those, nearly 100 were majority opinions. Notably, one case in which he dissented, J. McIntyre Machinery Ltd. v. Nicastro, was recently reversed by the U.S. Supreme Court, and two cases in which he dissented were reversed by acts of the N.J. Legislature; in each instance, his position was upheld.
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Justice Rivera-Soto also served as the long-term liaison to the court’s Disciplinary Oversight Committee and IOLTA Fund; he was also the first chair of the New Jersey Board on Continuing Legal Education. The organization is credited with the initial implementation of continuing legal education requirements for attorneys in New Jersey.
Before joining the court, Justice Rivera-Soto served as an attorney in private practice. He also served as the former Vice President, General Counsel, and Corporate Secretary of Caesars World, Inc., in Las Vegas and the Sands Hotel & Casino, in Atlantic City; as well he served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Justice Rivera-Soto served on numerous Boards of Directors, including the New Jersey Development Authority for Small Businesses, Minorities and Women’s Enterprises, the Please Touch Museum, a Philadelphia’s children’s museum; as well he was a member and Chair of the District VII Ethics Committee of the Supreme Court of New Jersey.
Steven W. Suflas, Managing Partner of Ballard Spahr’s Cherry Hill office was quoted as saying: “Justice Rivera-Soto’s background in civil, criminal, and agency litigation and his accomplishments in both state and federal courts make him uniquely well-positioned to serve our clients. He has a brilliant legal mind and I know of nobody with more exacting standards.”
Established in 1885, Ballard Spahr employs more than 475 lawyers in 13 offices nationwide.
