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There are less than 1% of the trial lawyers in the US who are fellows of the prestigious American College of Trial Lawyers. It's composed of only the top attorneys in the country, as determined by their peers. One of them is Alex Alvarez.
As a trial lawyer, Alex is most known for his courtroom battles against Big Tobacco—Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds, who together control over 86% of the total U.S. cigarette market.
To date, Alex has won over 30 verdicts against the world’s largest tobacco companies, in the process recovering approximately half-a-billion dollars in damages for his clients and their families. His win rate against the tobacco syndicate is unrivaled, reputedly among the highest.
Beyond tobacco litigation, over his storied 30-year legal career, Alex’s accomplishments and accolades have spanned a variety of practice areas—from pharmaceutical and product liability to medical malpractice and injury cases. Then there is his first career in law enforcement, which may be the most colorful and consequential of all.
Born in Cuba, Alex arrived in America with his family when he was an infant. His first introduction to the American justice system came in 1978 when, at the age of 19, he applied to and was accepted by the Police Academy. His decision to forgo college and begin a career in law enforcement surprised his family at first. Though everyone soon realized the choice wasn’t half-hearted.
By the time Alex began working for the Miami-Dade Police Department as a beat cop, he was one of the youngest members of the force. He quickly rose up the ranks to become a detective and eventually started working with the Homicide Bureau.
The time period was the early- to mid-1980s. It was the height of the Miami Drug War. The city was an illicit thoroughfare, then trafficking 70% of the country’s cocaine and 90% of the quaaludes consumed in the United States. While TV shows like Miami Vice romanticized life as a police officer at that time, Alex’s daily work was the unvarnished true story.
At age 26, Alex was lead detective on the infamous “Miami River Cops” case that resulted in the conviction of 18 corrupt officers. The case garnered national attention and became known as one of the watershed moments that turned the tide against the wave of crime and drugs in South Florida. That year Alex was recognized with more than 30 official commendations for his leadership role, including the “Officer of the Year” award from the Miami-Dade PD in 1987. Newspapers would report that the River Cops case marked “the end of the most violent and vicious era in the history of Miami.”
Still to this day, Alex’s work in law enforcement is the subject of various TV shows and films, including the 2021 Netflix documentary, Cocaine Cowboys which features interviews with him talking about his days in the real Miami Vice.
Beyond the societal impact of the Miami River Cops case, it also marked a personal milestone for Alex. As lead detective, those criminal trials required that he spend most of his working days inside Miami courtrooms. Sitting at the prosecutor’s table, watching these trials unfold, Alex was able to witness first-hand another facet of the American justice system—how to hold someone accountable when they victimize, wrong, hurt or harm another person. It was this experience that inspired Alex to become a trial attorney.
While continuing to work as a detective, Alex studied at St. Thomas University and earned his Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice. In 1992, he earned his Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Miami.
Having earned his law degree, Alex retired from the police force and set out to make his mark as a plaintiff’s attorney. He quickly established himself as an aggressive and talented lawyer who wasn’t afraid to take a case all the way to jury trial. The combination of his tenacious personality, coupled with the skills he learned as a police detective—meticulous preparation, attention to detail, plus the aptitude to rapidly gather and process facts while under pressure—made him a formidable opponent in front of juries. From the earliest days of his career, Alex was consistently winning verdicts and maximizing settlements on behalf of his clients.
In 1995, Alex founded The Alvarez Law Firm based on these core principles: Integrity, Trust and Results. Today, almost 30 years later, these same values continue to guide the firm’s work.
In a recent news article where Alex was interviewed, he was asked what he does differently from other trial attorneys. He replied, “Lawyers sometimes forget who they work for.”
In many ways, The Alvarez Law Firm is a reflection of Alex’s own professional values.
Alex’s willingness and ability to take on the most complex and demanding work, no matter where or when, is reflected in his firm’s national scope. The firm is licensed and capable of trying cases in multiple states and federal courts—The Alvarez Law Firm works anywhere in the U.S. where clients need the firm’s legal services to achieve justice.
As Alex’s legal career took off, at any time he could have built a huge law firm with dozens of attorneys and cases, but that was never his goal. The Alvarez Law Firm was fashioned to be a boutique, client-first experience. A practice where every single client will feel and experience Alex’s core values of Integrity, Trust and Results.
The firm’s partners and attorneys are each, in their own way, exemplary of Alex’s standards of excellence. For example, his long-time friend and partner, Herb Borroto who leads the firm’s Medical Malpractice division is both an Attorney and a trained Medical Doctor with 30+ years of experience trying medical cases. This incredibly rare combination of knowledge and skill has helped The Alvarez Law Firm become one of the premier Medical Malpractice firms in the US.
