Judge Zive was sworn in as a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the District of Nevada in its Reno office on January 23, 1995 and was reappointed in 2009. He was Chief Judge from October 1, 1999 to September 30, 2008. He was the Chair of the Ninth Circuit Conference of Chief Bankruptcy Judges from October 2005 to September 2006.

Judge Zive graduated from the University of Nevada in 1967 with a B.A. in journalism. He graduated magna cum laude from the University of Notre Dame Law School in 1973 where he was a member and an editor of the law review. He was admitted to the bars of California (1973) and Nevada (1976) and to the bar of the Supreme Court of the United States . Prior to becoming a judge, Judge Zive's practice was as a general civil litigator, concentrating in the areas of commercial, contract, real property, and employment relations law.

Judge Zive is a past president of the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges. He is a Fellow of The American College of Bankruptcy (inducted in 2005). Since 2008 he has been a director of the American Bankruptcy Institute. He is a member of the Washoe County Bar Association (president, 1992-1993), Nevada State-Federal Judicial Council, State Bar of Nevada Advisory Commission on Law Related Education and Master Emeritus of the Bruce R. Thompson Chapter of the American Inns of Court. He has been a member of the Ninth Circuit Public Information & Community Outreach Committee and the Ninth Circuit Standing Committee on ADR.

He has taught and been a presenter at numerous seminars regarding various bankruptcy-related topics as well as civil procedure, evidence, real property, employment law and trial techniques and has published articles relating to those topics.