Felicia Blea-Rivera
Metropolitan Court Judge
Bernalillo County
Year: 2024
Evaluation: Overall, Judge Felicia Blea-Rivera’s scores were positive. Judge Blea-Rivera was rated highly by attorneys for being attentive to the proceedings, for treating all courtroom participants with respect, for treating pro se (self-represented) parties fairly, being prepared for court proceedings, and for ensuring her personal staff is professional, productive, and knowledgeable of court policies and procedures. Additionally, the court staff rated Judge Blea-Rivera positively in all areas. In her interview, Judge Blea-Rivera acknowledged a misperception among the resource staff (e.g., law enforcement, probation/parole, CASA volunteers, CYFD, interpreters, etc.) that she has a timeliness issue and has re-ordered her docket so that all participants will see proceedings begin at 8:45 a.m.
Experience & Education: Judge Felicia Blea-Rivera was appointed as a Metro Court judge in February of 2019 and was elected to the position in November of 2020. Prior to her judgeship, she worked as an attorney with the Second Judicial District Attorney’s Office, the Bernalillo County Attorney’s Office, the National Nuclear Security Administration, New Mexico Counties’ Legal Bureau and also worked in private practice for several years. Judge Blea-Rivera received her undergraduate degree in Economics from the University of New Mexico in 1999 and her law degree from the University of New Mexico School of Law in 2005.
PERCENTAGE THAT AGREE OR DISAGREE THAT THE JUDGE EXHIBITS POSITIVE QUALITIES IN EACH CATEGORY *
| Attorneys (n=34, 31% Response Rate) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Category | Agree | Partly Agree/ Partly Disagree | Disagree |
| Exhibits Integrity | 88% | 12% | 0% |
| Fair and Impartial | 90% | 9% | 1% |
| Application/ Knowledge of Law | 88% | 9% | 3% |
| Communication is Clear | 85% | 12% | 3% |
| Professional Demeanor | 88% | 9% | 3% |
| Preparation and Attentiveness | 99% | 0% | 1% |
| Court Staff (n=33) | |||
| Category | Agree | Partly Agree/ Partly Disagree | Disagree |
| Professional Demeanor | 78% | 13% | 9% |
| Respects Court Employees | 82% | 9% | 9% |
| Resource Staff (n=13) | |||
| Category | Agree | Partly Agree/ Partly Disagree | Disagree |
| Fair and Impartial | 66% | 10% | 24% |
| Communication is Clear | 69% | 15% | 15% |
| Professional Demeanor | 85% | 0% | 15% |
| Preparation and Attentiveness | 62% | 19% | 19% |
Please Note: Due to the small sample size among Resource Staff, caution should be exercised when interpreting the findings or drawing conclusions from the results among the Resource Staff population.
*On the tables above, the “Agree” columns are comprised of the strongly agree and agree responses. Similarly, the “Disagree” columns are comprised of the strongly disagree and disagree responses. The combined percentage of “Agree”, “Disagree”, and “Partly Agree/Partly Disagree” for each category may not equal 100% due to rounding error. Some of the percentages that are reported in the above categories are an average of more than one question that appeared on the survey.