About Manny

Elect
Manuel "Manny" Alvarez

*August 24, 2010*

County Court Judge - Group 7

    Manuel Alvarez was born in Cuba and emigrated to the United States, through Mexico, at the age of five years on one of the first Freedom Flights after the Cuban Missile Crisis. He came to live in Miami-Dade County in 1968, where he attended both Henry Flagler Elementary School and Coral Gables Senior High.

    He enrolled at the University of Miami, graduating Cum Laude with a Bachelors Degree in Philosophy in 1983 and a Juris Doctorate in 1986. While attending the University of Miami Law School, he was on the Dean’s List. He began his career in public service by working as a certified legal intern with the Miami-Dade Public Defender Office. Upon his graduation from law school he started his legal career at this same office as a trial attorney in the Juvenile Division. Shortly thereafter he was promoted to the Felony Division, representing adults accused of crimes ranging from Theft to Non-Capital Homicides.

    Mr. Alvarez, as both a private law practitioner and Assistant Public Defender, has tried several First Degree Murder Cases. In some of these cases the Office of the State Attorney has sought the imposition of the Death Penalty. He continues to be a First Chair Death Qualified Trial Attorney. He was also a co-recipient of the ACLU Act of Courage Award in 1998.

    Additionally, Mr. Alvarez has authored over 800 Appeals in his career as both an Assistant Public Defender and private attorney, with over 200 published legal opinions. He has appeared for Oral Argument before the Florida Supreme Court on eight different occasions and practices before the Third District Court of Appeal on a regular basis. His appellate decisions of note are: State v. Johnson, 676 So.2d 408 (Fla. 1996) one of the key decisions on Double Jeopardy law; State v. Scarlet, 800 So. 2d 220 (Fla. 2001), which confirmed the applicability of the Exclusionary Rule in Probation Violation cases; and Robertson v. State, 829 So.2d 901 (Fla. 2002) which is one of the leading Williams Rule Decisions in the State of Florida.

    Mr. Alvarez has also given service to the legal community offering his time lecturing young attorneys at the Office of the Public Defender and given of his time on several pro bono cases over his twenty plus years in the legal profession.   His temperament, commitment to public service, and knowledge of the law will be an asset to the County Court Bench.

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