The Hon. Efrain Alvarado is an Acting Justice of the Bronx County Supreme Court, Criminal Term in the Twelfth Judicial District of New York. He was appointed to the Supreme Court by the Chief Administrative Judge of the State of New York in 1994. Justice Alvarado was originally appointed to the Criminal Court of the City of New York by former Mayor Ed Koch in 1988. He was subsequently re-appointed to the Criminal Court in 1991 (former Mayor David Dinkins), 2001 (former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani), and 2011 (former Mayor Michael Bloomberg). During his tenure on the Criminal Court, Justice Alvarado was appointed in 2009 by the Hon. Ann Pfau, former Chief Administrative Judge of the State of New York, to serve as an Administrative Judge for Criminal Matters of the Supreme Court in the Twelfth Judicial District, a position he held until 2013.
Justice Alvarado received his B.A. from New York University in 1973. He went on to earn his J.D. from New York University School of Law in 1976.
Prior to his appointment to the Criminal Court, Alvarado spent his entire legal career with the Bronx County District Attorney’s Office. After serving in various administrative and trial positions beginning in 1976, Alvarado became the chief of the Narcotics Bureau in 1985. Then, two years later, he began serving as the chief assistant district attorney for Bronx County, a position he would hold until his appointment to the bench in 1988.
Justice Alvarado was born on Roosevelt Island in New York. His parents immigrated to the United States from Puerto Rico in the late 1940s, and his mother worked as a seamstress in a garment factory to be able to afford to send Alvarado to Catholic School. Justice Alvarado graduated from Cardinal Hayes High School in 1969.