Rolando T. Acosta is the Presiding Justice of the Appellate Division, First Department, one of the most important courts in the nation. The Justice leads the court with a welcoming, but firm, touch.

Justice Acosta embodies the great hope of the American immigration dream. Born and raised in the Dominican Republic, where his late father was often a political prisoner of the fascist Trujillo regime, he came to New York at the age of 14. He later attended Columbia University (where he was a star pitcher) and then Columbia Law School. Justice Acosta eschewed "Big Law" and chose to give back, working first for the Legal Aid Society and then for the Commission of Human Rights. He then entered the judiciary, first in Civil Court, then to Supreme Court, and ultimately to the Appellate Division and his current position.