Robert W. Avery, Esq.

For more than five decades, Robert W. Avery, Esq. has been one of Bergen County’s most experienced trial attorneys. Admitted to the New Jersey Bar in 1976, he has practiced continuously in northern New Jersey for over fifty years — through the modernization of the NJ Code of Criminal Justice, the post-1981 DWI statutory regime, the adoption of the Alcotest 7110, the Anti-Eviction Act, and the modern Family Part. Few private-practice trial lawyers in Bergen County can claim the combination of 15 years on a working New Jersey municipal-court bench plus a published Third Circuit precedent on the Hague Convention plus active matrimonial, estate, landlord-tenant, criminal, and personal-injury practice. Robert can.

If you are facing a Bergen, Hudson, or North Jersey legal matter — criminal, DWI, traffic, family, estate, landlord-tenant, personal injury, or municipal court — Robert offers a free first consultation by phone or in person at the Avery & Avery offices in Ridgefield.

At a Glance

Fifteen Years on the Ridgefield Municipal Court Bench

From 1986 through 2000, Robert served as Judge of the Ridgefield Municipal Court — fifteen consecutive years on a working New Jersey municipal bench. Before his judgeship he served as the borough’s Municipal Prosecutor.

There is no substitute for fifteen years of judicial service when a matter is heading to a New Jersey municipal-court bench. The judge reading a complaint has read thousands like it. The prosecutor discussing a case has plea-negotiated with hundreds of attorneys. The discovery posture under Rule 7:5 and Rule 7:7-7 is governed by practice norms that take a decade of repeated exposure to fully internalize.

Robert’s fifteen years of judicial service mean he has presided over the same statutes — N.J.S.A. 39:4-50 (DWI), N.J.S.A. 39:4-50.4a (refusal), N.J.S.A. 2C:33-2 (disorderly conduct), N.J.S.A. 2C:35-10 (drug possession) — and listened to the same arguments now being deployed on a client’s behalf. When the firm represents a defendant in a Bergen, Hudson, Essex, Passaic, Morris, or Sussex municipal courtroom, the structural perspective Robert brings is the single most distinctive credibility anchor at the firm — and one of the very few in the region.

Federal Precedent — Delvoye v. Lee (Third Circuit)

In 2002–2003, Robert argued and won an international child-abduction matter that has since been widely cited as international precedent in the interpretation of the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction and the International Child Abduction Remedies Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 11601 et seq.:

• Delvoye v. Lee, 224 F.Supp.2d 843 (D.N.J. Sept. 24, 2002) (No. CIV. 02-769(FSH))
• aff’d, Delvoye v. Lee, 329 F.3d 330 (3d Cir. (N.J.) May 20, 2003) (No. 02-3943)
• cert. denied, Delvoye v. Lee, 540 U.S. 967, 124 S.Ct. 436, 157 L.Ed.2d 312 (U.S. Oct. 20, 2003)

The matter — alleged international child abduction from Belgium to the United States — was tried to conclusion on arguments of first impression. The Third Circuit’s affirmance stands as binding precedent for NJ federal cases. The certiorari denial leaves the appellate ruling intact at the Supreme Court level.

The case matters not because most of the firm’s docket is Hague Convention work — it isn’t — but because the level of preparation a published appellate precedent requires is the same level of preparation Robert brings to the routine Bergen County matters that make up the bulk of the firm’s day-to-day practice. Few NJ private-practice lawyers carry a 3d Cir. appellate win on a matter of first impression. The firm carries one because Robert tried it.

Public Service — A Bergen County Institution

Robert’s institutional ties to Bergen County run deeper than the bench.

• Borough Prosecutor for the Borough of Ridgefield — preceded judicial service
• Judge of the Ridgefield Municipal Court — 15 years (1986–2000)
• Ridgefield Borough Council — Councilman following judicial service
• Council President — Ridgefield Borough Council
• Bergen County Republican Association nominee — Bergen County Freeholder (2014)
• Bergen County Republican Association nominee — Bergen County Surrogate (2016)

Few attorneys in northern NJ have a comparable continuous record of Bergen County civic service. The pattern matters because it positions Robert as a Bergen County institution, not a generic firm bio — an attorney whose professional life and civic life have been continuously located in the same county where most of his clients live and litigate.

Practice Areas

Robert is a generalist trial attorney with deep practice across:

• Criminal Defense — DP, indictable, and federal-court matters
• DWI / DUI — Alcotest, refusal, multi-offense
• Traffic Violations — Title 39 defense
• Personal Injury — Auto, premises, wrongful death
• Family Law — Divorce, custody, alimony, domestic violence (TRO/FRO)
• Landlord-Tenant — Residential and commercial
• Estate Planning and Probate — Wills, POA, executor administration, NJ Inheritance Tax
• Municipal Court Practice — Bergen, Hudson, Essex, Passaic, Morris, Sussex

His matrimonial trial work includes lengthy and complex disputes involving multiple family members. His estate practice covers contested probate, will contests, and routine document drafting. His real-property work includes property disputes involving forged documents and deeds, fraud and recovery actions for property victims, construction claims involving defective design and construction and builder fraud, and tenancy matters. His criminal practice spans the full Title 2C — assault, drugs, weapons, fraud, and DWI.

Court Appearances

Robert has argued at every level of NJ trial and appellate practice and at federal levels through the United States Supreme Court (cert practice):

State courts. New Jersey municipal courts (county-wide), Superior Court Special Civil Part, Superior Court Law Division, Superior Court Chancery Division — Family Part, Superior Court Chancery Division — General Equity, New Jersey Appellate Division, New Jersey Supreme Court.

Federal courts. United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court (certiorari practice — Delvoye v. Lee, 540 U.S. 967).

His successful trial results have been upheld in the New Jersey Appellate Division, the New Jersey Supreme Court, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, and (by certiorari denial) the United States Supreme Court. Trials have been covered by both legal journals and newspapers.

Recognition

• Martindale-Hubbell Peer Distinguished Rating (2026) — recognition by fellow attorneys for high professional achievement and ethical standards.
• Listed on Martindale-Hubbell since 1976 (ISLN 909338518) — one of the longer continuously-listed Bergen County criminal-defense, family, and estate-planning attorneys in the public Martindale registry.
• Areas of practice publicly registered at Martindale: DUI, Criminal Defense, Personal Injury, Wills, Estate Planning.

Why Clients Hire Robert

Three reasons clients across Bergen County, Hudson County, and North NJ choose Robert specifically:

1. Judicial perspective on the other side of the bench. Fifteen years sitting as the Ridgefield Municipal Court Judge means Robert has read thousands of complaints, presided over thousands of pleas, and listened to thousands of suppression arguments. That is structural insight no non-judge attorney in Bergen County can reasonably claim — and it informs every recommendation he makes about whether to fight, plea, or settle.

2. Bench-tested appellate-level preparation on routine matters. A practitioner who has tried a Hague Convention case to conclusion on arguments of first impression — and seen the result affirmed by the Third Circuit — brings the same depth of preparation to a Bergen DWI, a divorce, a probate contest, or a construction-defect dispute.

3. Continuous Bergen County practice since 1976. When something unusual comes up in a Bergen courtroom — an unfamiliar prosecutor, an unwritten local-procedure norm, a long-departed judge whose disposition pattern shaped current practice — Robert has institutional memory that younger lawyers don’t.

Schedule a Free Consultation with Robert

When you call (201) 943-2445, Robert is the lawyer who picks up. The first consultation is free and substantive — bring your complaint, your ticket, your accident report, your subpoena, or your draft will. We will read it, walk through likely exposure, name the statutes that govern, and tell you whether the matter is one we should take.

For routine intake call (201) 943-2445 or submit your matter through the consultation form. Same-business-day response.