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Cesar Alvarez and his parents and two brothers left Cuba when he was 13 and the Castro government was in its, second year. Today, as president and CEO of Miami's fast-growing Greenberg Traurig law firm, he is one of South Floridia's and America's - most prominent leaders.
He has been recognized by The National Law Journal as one of the 100 most influential lawyers in America and by Hispanic magazine as one of the nation's 100 most influential Hispanics.
A University of Florida undergrad and law school alumnus, Alvarez, 52, joined Greenberg Traurig in the 1970s as that firm's 13th attorney. It now has almost 600 lawyers in 16 offices in the USA and one in Sao Paulo, Brazil. He was elected the firm's leader in 1997 and, on paper, has so much unfettered power The National Law Journal - article about him last year called him a dictator in the headline.
Q: Didn't you used to be a lawyer?
A: (Chuckle) I used to be a lawyer. I continue to be a lawyer.
Q; Well, this newspaper article I have here says you're a dictator.
A: (Laughing) Well, I heard they paid higher hourly rates for dictators, so I figured I should move in that direction. No, I continue to practice law. I still have a number of clients who look to me to help them out, and I try to do that from time to time, although the management requirements here really are pretty much 100 percent of your time.
Q: Why would anyone want to have your job?
A: We don't know. (Laughing) It would be very difficult for someone here to move into a management role, because it has certain requirements. No. 1 is that you have to give up your practice, because this involves 100 percent of your time, and very few lawyers, really, are willing to give up their practice. ... Also, you have to have someone that other people will trust, that whatever decision that individual is making, he's doing it for the best interests of the firm and not with any particular axe to grind, The way our compensation system works, the CEO has full control over it, so unless people trust you and believe you...