Hon. Fiordaliza Rodriguez
Judge
Family Court of the City of New York
Fiordaliza A. Rodriguez was born in the Dominican Republic and emigrated in the 1980’sto join her parentsin New York. She attended public elementary and high school, and graduated from John Jay College of Criminal Justice (cum laude). Judge Rodriguez has a Master ofScience degree fromtheNewSchoolfor SocialResearch (MilanoGraduate School)
and a Juris Doctor degree from the City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law. While at CUNY, she represented victims of domestic violence in Queens Family Court and she co-founded the Main $treet $tudent Legal Defense Fund–to assist law students in the representation of indigent clients and to increase alumni involvement in public interest law.JudgeRodriguez also served asManagingEditor oftheNewYorkCity LawReview. She participated in Moot Court (First Place Award) and was the President of the Latino Law Student Association. At graduation, she received the Theodore F. Kupferman Student Achievement Award, (Award given to one student per graduating class for her/his dedication to public service and fulfilling every promise of CUNY’s mission) and the New York State Bar Association Law Student Legal Ethics Award.
Judge Rodriguez began her legal career as a Special Assistant Corporation Counsel for the Administration for Children’s Services where she prosecuted parental abuse/neglect and other cases. After that position,Judge Rodriguez wasbotha solo private practitioner, providinglegalrepresentationinthe area ofFamilyLaw,Divorce,RealEstate/Wills and was a member of the Bronx Assigned Counsel 18-B Panel. While on the Panel, she provided legal representation to indigent adults and children. Judge Rodriguez used her bilingual and advocacy skills/background to ensure that her clients fully understood why they were in court and what social services they needed to get out of it. In addition, she was a two term President and a Director of Governmental Affairs of the Bronx Family Court Bar Association.
Throughout her legal career, Judge Rodriguez has been a very active leader in civic organizations, such as the Dominican Bar Association and the Hispanic National Bar Association, to name a few. She has provided legalservices pro bono to Project ClubClemente, aBronx based non-profit organization whose mission isto educate and promote the legacy of the great humanitarian Mr. Roberto Clemente. Judge Rodriguez was instrumental in completing the “Flight for Humanity”–a symbolic trip in honor of Mr. Clemente who died 33 years earlier while taking relief supplies to the earthquake victims of Nicaragua. She was honored by the President of Nicaragua for this humanitarian effort. Judge Rodriguez hasreceived recognition for her community work, including: the Woman of Distinction Award, Outstanding Dominican Jurist Award, YMCA’s Volunteer of the Year Award, recognitions by Congressman Jose Serrano, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr., the Bronx Times Reporter named her one of 25 Most Influential Women, and most recently, The Bronx Times named her one of the 2020 Power Women of the Bronx, to name a few. Judge Rodriguez holds aBlueBelt in Tae Kwon Do and is currently theChair of the Board of Managers at the Bronx Castle Hill YMCA.
For over 20 years, Judge Rodriguez has been involved in the area of family law and hasrepresented allsidesin litigation: i.e., anagency, parents andchildren.InApril 2010,shewas aCourtAttorneyReferee, a quasi-judicial position in FamilyCourt, where she handled a caseload normallyassigned to a Judge involving custody, visitation, guardianship, family offenses, and paternity petitions. Judge Rodriguez heard over 4,500 cases in her tenure and was ranked First, amongst her colleagues, in meeting the standards and goals of cases assigned to her. She also had the honor of being the First Referee of Dominican descent to be selected for that position.
In February 2015, Mayor Bill de Blasio made her dreams come true by appointing Judge Rodriguez to Family Court. She was the First Dominican appointed by this Mayor and the First Appointed Dominican to sit in the Bronx FamilyCourt.Currently,she handles child neglect/abuse cases, adoptions and all aspects offoster care placement cases. She has been on the Board of the Latino Judges Association, and is a member of the state/local Family Court Judges Associations. Judge Rodriguez is the Co-Chair of the Advisory Committee to the Administrative Judge on Child Protective Issues, and the Co-Chair of the Bronx Family Court Early Engagement Group. She also mentors and supervises law student interns.
Judge Rodriguez lives in New York, with her husband–also a lawyer, and their two children.