Ruggero J. Aldisert is a Senior U.S. Circuit Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Judge Aldisert received his B.A. and law degrees from the University of Pittsburgh. Following college, he served on active duty in the U.S. Marine Corps for four years during World War II, attaining the rank of captain. While serving in the USMC reserves for five years thereafter, he was promoted to the rank of major.

Judge Aldisert practiced law from 1947 to 1961 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His career on the bench began in 1961, when he was elected a judge for the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. In 1968 he was nominated by President Lyndon B. Johnson to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, where he remains today and where he served as Chief Judge from 1984 to 1986. Judge Aldisert has had the unique experience of also serving by designation since 1987 on other Courts of Appeals from Atlanta to Seattle.

For over 20 years, from 1963 to 1986, Judge Aldisert was an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. He has been a visiting professor at Arizona State University, New York University, the University of Texas, the University of Virginia, and Augsburg University in Germany. Judge Aldisert’s books on the law include:

• Road to the Robes: A Federal Judge Recollects Young Years and Early Times (AuthorHouse 2006)
• Winning on Appeal: Better Briefs and Oral Argument (NITA 2d ed. 2003)
• Logic for Lawyers: A Guide to Clear Legal Thinking (NITA 3d ed. 1997)
• The Judicial Process: Text, Materials and Cases (West 2d ed. 1996)
• Opinion Writing (West 1990)
• Aldisert’s Reflections on the Law (work in progress)

Judge Aldisert has lectured throughout the United States, and throughout the world, in such places as Canada, England, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Croatia and Serbia. He has also published more than 50 articles on the law.