Shintia Riva

Shintia Zaman Riva, Esq. currently practices through Law Offices of Spadea & Associates, LLC. She is admitted in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, with additional admissions to federal courts in both states and the United States Tax Court. Her practice combines broad litigation experience with a strong interest in careful legal drafting, practical counseling, and clear communication.

Riva works with clients on legal matters that often carry several kinds of pressure at once: legal, financial, personal, and emotional. Her approach is calm, direct, and grounded in preparation. She focuses on identifying the real issue, organizing the relevant facts and records, explaining the choices available, and helping clients understand what may move a matter forward.

She grew up in a blue-collar immigrant community where hard work, persistence, and inclusiveness were everyday values. That background continues to shape how she sees clients and legal problems. She understands that a legal issue is rarely just a file. It may involve a family, a home, a business, an inheritance, a fear, a mistake, or a turning point in someone’s life.

Riva earned her undergraduate degree from Pennsylvania State University and her Juris Doctor from Temple University Beasley School of Law. Her judicial experience includes a clerkship in Philadelphia Family Court and judicial internships with the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas. Through those roles, she gained close exposure to live proceedings, judicial decision-making, legal research, bench memoranda, and opinion drafting.

Her practice background includes high-conflict divorce and family-law matters, Protection From Abuse matters, custody, support, equitable distribution, landlord-tenant and eviction proceedings, criminal matters and record remedies, civil litigation, breach-of-contract disputes, Quiet Title actions, immigration matters, estate litigation, probate, real estate-related matters, and taxicab medallion and limousine transactions involving Philadelphia Parking Authority and Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission requirements, as well as commercial transactions and contracts.

Riva also has a particular interest in estate planning and trust drafting. Her work includes drafting and reviewing revocable trusts, irrevocable trusts, special needs trusts, and related planning documents. She values the precision required to build a document around a client’s assets, intended beneficiaries, practical goals, and long-term administration needs.

Whether a matter requires drafting, negotiation, hearing preparation, litigation, or client counseling, Riva believes that good legal work requires more than filing papers. It requires listening closely, preparing carefully, communicating clearly, and giving direct advice when a position needs to be reassessed.

Representative Experience

• Family law and domestic matters. Custody, support, divorce, equitable distribution, Protection From Abuse matters, and other high-conflict family-law issues.
• Landlord-tenant matters. Lease and notice review, rent-ledger and document organization, hearing preparation, court appearances, negotiation, settlement discussions, and possession and payment disputes.
• Estate planning and trusts. Drafting and review of revocable, irrevocable, and special needs trusts, together with related planning documents and practical funding considerations.
• Civil litigation and real estate disputes. Pleadings, motion practice, legal research, settlement agreements, breach-of-contract matters, Quiet Title actions, and related litigation strategy.
• Criminal matters and record remedies. Selected criminal matters, ARD-related issues, expungement, limited access, Clean Slate questions, and guidance concerning court process and the effect of a criminal record.
• Additional transactional and court work. Immigration matters, probate and estate litigation, taxicab medallion and limousine transactions involving Philadelphia Parking Authority requirements within Philadelphia and Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission requirements elsewhere in Pennsylvania, as well as commercial transactions, arbitration, and hearings.

Admissions Education and Languages