| The Hon. Rolando T. Acosta, elected as a New York State Supreme Court Justice in New York County in 2002, was appointed in January 2008 by New York State Governor Elliot Spitzer to the Appellate Division, First Department. Prior to his election to the Supreme Court, Justice Acosta had been designated as an Acting Supreme Court Justice by Chief Judge Kaye to preside over, and spearhead the creation of, The Harlem Community Justice Center, a multi-jurisdictional, “problem-solving”court. Justice Acosta was elected to a County-wide Civil Court judgeship in New York County in 1997. He has published over one hundred decisions in the New York Law Journal, most of which have been published in the Official Reporter. Justice Acosta, immediate Past President of the Association of Judges of Hispanic Heritage was selected as the 2004 Judge of the Year by the National Hispanic Bar Association. He was recently awarded the 2008 John Carro Award for Judicial Excellence “in recognition of his leadership and scholarly work as a New York State Jurist and his work as a mentor and teacher within the Latino Community.”
Justice Acosta is a 1979 graduate of Columbia College and a 1982 graduate of Columbia University School of Law. He is the recipient of Columbia University’s “Medal for Excellence,” conferred at the University’s 2000 Commencement Exercises. In his Senior year at Columbia College, ten years after arriving as an immigrant from the Dominican Republic, Justice Acosta was named a Frank S. Hogan Scholar and was chosen by the student body to receive the Brainard Memorial Prize.
Prior to being elected to the Bench, Justice Acosta held various posts with the Legal Aid Society,
including the Attorney-in-Charge of the largest civil trial office (1994-1995) and Director of Government and Community Relations, where he was responsible for developing the Society’s legislative agenda and addressing government attacks on the Society and the poor. Justice Acosta served in Mayor (now Columbia Professor) David Dinkin’s administration as the Human Rights Commission’s Deputy Commissioner for Law Enforcement. In this role, he was responsible for directing all of the Commission’s investigatory and prosecutorial functions, including the planning and execution of litigation strategy. In December 1993, Justice Acosta was appointed by Mayor Dinkins as a Commissioner of Human Rights.
Justice Acosta has been active in the development of the Washington Heights/Inwood social service infrastructure. He helped found the Community Association of Progressive Dominicans and the Latino Commission on AIDS. He has also served as legal adviser to the founding board of Alianza Dominicana and as treasurer and Chair of the Policy Committee of the Hispanic Federation. He has been a member of Community Planning Board 12 and President of Community School Board 6. In 1995, he was appointed by Congressman Charles Rangel to serve as a founding board member of the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone (EZ). Until 1999, Justice Acosta served on the EZ’s Executive Committee and chaired its Human Capital Development Committee, which he led in considering and recommending to the EZ Board all human capital and quality of life proposals.
Justice Acosta has been actively involved in numerous other community, civic, legal, and quasi-government organizations. He was commissioned by Chief Judge Kaye to serve on the Commission to Promote Public Confidence in Judicial Elections (“The Feerick Commission”). Until recently he served on the Continuing Legal Education Board (CLE) as a Chief Judge Kaye designee and currently serves on the Board of Advisors of the Louis Stein Center for Law and Ethics at Fordham Law School. Justice Acosta is a Fellow of the New York Bar Foundation and a former member of the New York American Inn of Court, created to improve the skills, professionalism and ethics of the bench and bar. He is a former President of the Association of Judges of Hispanic Heritage and member of the Board of the Juan Pablo Duarte Foundation.
Justice Acosta was the starting pitcher for the Columbia Lions and received every athletic prize awarded to a pitcher by the Ivy League and the Intercollegiate Baseball League during four years of varsity play, including First team All Ivy three times and Pitcher of the Year twice. In 1979, he was named one of the best student-athletes in the country by the NCAA, and, rather than play professional baseball, chose to attend Columbia Law School. A Dean’s List student who still holds Columbia’s season and career wins records, Justice Acosta was named to Columbia College Today’s Dream Team in 1987. He has served as Board Member of the alumni associations of both the College and the Law School. He currently serves on the Advisory Board of Columbia’s LAACU.
He resides in Northern Manhattan with his wife Vasthi and his children Zila and Lucas. |
