Victor Ashrafi is Of Counsel with the Firm’s Appellate Law Strategies, Alternative Dispute Resolution, White Collar Criminal Defense and Investigations Practices, and other Litigation practices.

He joined Riker Danzig after serving for 20 years as a Judge of the Superior Court of New Jersey in all trial divisions of the court and in the Appellate Division.  During his judicial tenure, Judge Ashrafi presided over numerous jury and bench trials, heard more than a thousand appeals, and authored thousands of trial court and appellate opinions.  He is an effective teacher of Continuing Legal Education courses on legal writing, appellate practice, and other litigation-related topics.

While on the bench, Judge Ashrafi rendered decisions in cases involving insurance coverage, products liability, environmental remediation, professional malpractice, construction, employment and discrimination disputes, zoning and land use matters, and a multitude of other civil, family court, and criminal litigation.

His hands-on experience provides Judge Ashrafi with keen insights into the resolution of disputes between parties, making him an effective mediator and arbitrator in even the most complex matters. He also serves as special adjudicator appointed by the court on discovery and other disputes in complex cases.

In addition to his judicial experience, Judge Ashrafi served for 12 years in the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey.  During that time, he supervised all phases of federal criminal prosecutions as Chief of the Criminal Division and as Chief of Appeals. This experience as a federal prosecutor adds depth to the Firm’s White Collar Criminal Practice, to which clients regularly turn for representation in connection with compliance issues, government investigations, and criminal matters.

New Jersey

United States District Court, District of New Jersey

United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit

Cornell University School of Law, J.D., 1980

Stanford University, Masters of Arts in Teaching, 1974

Amherst College, 1973

Since 2023, Judge Ashrafi has been included in The Best Lawyers in America®, a peer review of U.S. lawyers, in the Appellate Practice field.

See Awards and Honors Methodology.

No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey.