Robert Rivas has represented people and organizations involved in the movement for the right to death with dignity since 1996. At that time, he orchestrated and litigated a constitutional challenge to Florida’s law prohibiting “assistance in self-murder,” which led to a landmark decision in Krischer v. McIver.

Before becoming a lawyer, he was a Miami Herald reporter, a Palm Beach Post editor, a Peace Corps volunteer, and a foreign correspondent in Central America and the Caribbean. He graduated from law school summa cum laude in 1991 and concentrated his practice in First Amendment-related law for media and non-media clients. He served as chair of the Florida Bar’s Media and Communications Law Committee and its annual Reporters Workshop on coverage of the law and legal system.

Today, he is a principal in the Tallahassee office of the Palm Beach County-based law firm Sachs Sax Caplan. In addition to general civil litigation and appeals, he is the attorney for Final Exit Network, having defended the nationwide volunteer group in precedent-setting cases in Georgia, Arizona, and Minnesota. He is board certified by the Florida Bar as an expert in appellate practice.