Still early in his career, Joshua Rieger is by all accounts emerging as one of Long Island’s leading young divorce lawyers. Indeed, at 37 and a decade removed from law school, he’s already an experienced courtroom litigator. He’s a partner now with his father, Kieth I. Rieger, the highly respected family lawyer who for decades has been a hard-working and productive fixture of the Nassau County bar. Their busy practice is based in the same Garden City office the elder Rieger has occupied since 2002. Josh Rieger has naturally benefitted from his father’s example and guidance, but there’s more to his professional story than that influence and the usual resume checkoffs of clerkships and internships: Rieger LLP – Kieth and Josh are now the firm’s lone partners – is imbued with a unique understanding of what life is all about; they represent their clients with a practical, day-to-day dignity that, in matrimonial law circles at least, is often lacking these days. And that spirit is based, in no small part, on the legacy and memory of Josh’s late sister, Stefanie, who passed away at age 22 in 2009. “I think a lot of the reason my father and I practice today is because of my sister,” says Josh today. “She’d have wanted it, and she’d have been very pleased we’re together.”

Thus there’s no pretense or flighty ambition about the Riegers’ practice: They are hands-on lawyers who do a good job for their clients, and the legal community recognizes it. Moreover, Josh, now involved in bar and pro bono activities, is likely to lead the specialty in the years ahead. Josh Rieger and his two siblings – his brother Evan is seven years younger - grew up in Syosset, where Josh played ice hockey and little league, “a pretty normal kid,” he says, his parents both native Long Islanders. At Syosset High School the young Rieger had a broad range of friends, reflecting the inclusiveness and tolerance that Long Island communities are known for. Of his graduating class of nearly 600, Rieger and 17 others went on to SUNY-Binghamton, where Josh ended up majoring in history. “The truth is the philosophy-political science track required two years of Latin – a class most undergrads don’t exactly rush to take - and I’d always liked reading histories.” He played the bass in a rock band, and designed and built stage sets for the school’s theatre company. “I always had a diverse and interesting mix of friends – so I was never really pigeonholed. I felt pretty fortunate.” He did well enough to apply to law school right away, and enrolled at Hofstra. It was late in law school that Rieger learned of his sister’s diagnosis of colon cancer – discovered while she was on a birthright trip to Israel – in summer 2008, and he took a leave of absence. It was determined that his sister had a genetic predisposition to the illness, as Kieth Rieger and other family members had been diagnosed with it as well. Hers was especially virulent, and she died barely eight months later. “Life was pretty unfair to my sister,” says Josh, who like his father maintains a remarkable degree of grace and maturity in the face of the family’s loss. Josh Rieger went on to intern for State Supreme Court Judge Timothy S. Driscoll, and he later took a position with a small civil-trial practice in lower Manhattan, gaining some early case-preparation and trial skills. He volunteed too for the state’s Democratic Lawyers Council prior to passing the bar. Seven years ago he joined his father’s practice, and they’ve been working together ever since.

As one might expect, Josh Rieger possesses many of the professional qualities of his father: Unperturbable, practical, results-oriented, and generally unwilling to indulge bad behavior, including from clients. He has already successfully tried a custody case, and he heads to court for motions and other appearances a few times a week. While living in Manhattan Josh Rieger met Chicago native Allyson D’Alba : “We connected online, as we lived on different parts of Manhattan – as our wedding I thanked Al Gore for inventing the internet.” Today they have two children, ages 5 and 2, and they live in “the last place I ever thought we’d live” - Syosset, about a 20-minute commute from their office. Away from the office Josh Rieger is a NY Islanders fan, and remains close to “a core group of childhood friends who were always there for me.”