The Honorable Javier E. Vargas is a Judge in the Family Court of the State of New York, Kings County, appointed in 2015.  Between 2013 and 2015, Judge Vargas served as a Civil Court Judge assigned to the Housing Part in Bronx County.  Prior thereto, Judge Vargas served with distinction for the New York State Unified Court System since 1993 in various capacities, including Senior Court Attorney at the New York State Court of Appeals; Principal Law Clerk in Supreme Court and Appellate Division; and Chief Court Attorney for the NYS Supreme Court’s Appellate Term.  Judge Vargas received his undergraduate degree from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo, law degree from SUNY Buffalo, School of Law, and a Masters of Law degree from New York University School of Law in 1993.

Judge Vargas is actively involved with the Hispanic National Bar Association (HNBA), the Latino Judges Association, and the International Association of LGBTQ Judges, where he is a board member.  Among the various positions he has held are as HNBA-NY Regional Deputy President for several years, President-Elect of the Puerto Rican Bar Association (PRBA), Co-Founder of HNBA LGBT Division, Chair of the HNBA Law School-Sin Limites, and Chair of the PRBA Scholarship Fund Selection Committee, working with a team selecting hundreds of recipients of law student scholarships. Judge Vargas has received several accolades, including the 2020 OutLaw Award from SUNY at Buffalo Law School, 2018 Spirit Award by the Cervantes Society, 2017 HNBA Latino Judge of the Year and the 2016 Special Recognition Award by the National Hispanic Pre-Law Conference.  He is dedicated to a number of other charitable and cultural organizations, such as the Volunteer Lawyers Project, as well as professional bar associations, the New York City Bar Association and the LGBT Bar Association of New York.