Rivera received her undergraduate degree from Princeton University, her J.D. from New York University School of Law, and her LL.M. from Columbia University School of Law. Rivera clerked for Sonia Sotomayor, then a judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. In 1997, she joined the faculty of the City University of New York School of Law, where she would teach until her appointment to the court of appeals.
