L AT INO LE A DE R S
Legal business GREENBERG TRAURIG’S
CÈSAR L. ALVAREZ
LEADS THE WAY OF THE RESPECTED INTERNATIONAL LAW FIRM AS A SENIOR CHAIRMAN
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Story by: Laura Rivas
Courtesy photo
uring his 43-year career with Greenberg Traurig, LLP, César L. Álvarez has watched the firm grow from 12 to more than 1,900 lawyers in 39 locations around the world. Much of this growth, including ranking as a top 10 firm, occurred during his tenure as CEO from 1997 to 2010. In his current role as senior chairman, Álvarez continues to provide leadership and support, and is more involved in the firm’s strategic and financial operations. Though initially interested in becoming an investment banker and earning his MBA from the University of Florida, Álvarez decided to pursue law at the University of Florida’s Levin College of Law where he and his brother Arthur were among three Latino students in their class. He credits his father for making his legal career possible. After arriving in the U.S. from Cuba, 13-year-old Álvarez and his family moved to a non-Cuban neighborhood so that they could learn English and assimilate into the culture more easily. “As painful as it was at the time, it really turned out in the long run to be the right thing,” he says. Álvarez believes that having better fluency in English than many of his Cuban peers gave him an educational advantage. His business and law degrees have benefited him—and the firm—tremendously. “My business degree was very helpful in my ability to be a business lawyer and to be CEO of a firm this size,” he says. “Greenberg Traurig has annual revenues of approximately $1.4 billion so it is a large legal business.” One reason Greenberg Traurig has been successful as a business is because the lawyers running the firm do not practice law concurrently, allowing them to focus on business needs, he says. “We have a CEO with final say, but a few of us in senior management work as a team and help each other out. Sometimes I take the lead, sometimes someone else does, so that we can manage the firm with the least number of people in the most effective way possible.” He does still provide legal advice to client and when he was the CEO he had authority over cases taken on by the firm. Two landmark cases that Álvarez mentions, as the most significant, are the cases against the Boston archdiocese and the Bush v. Gore recount suit. Of the Boston archdiocese case, he notes that Greenberg Traurig was the first large firm with the resources to go against the archdiocese and get a settlement which was reached in 2003. “It impacted not only the Catholic Church but any institution whether religious or otherwise that dealt with small children,” says Álvarez. “I don’t think there will be anything else I will ever do in my life or have done in the past that will have the impact of that case.” Regarding Bush v. Gore, it is a point of pride for Álvarez that a Greenberg Traurig attorney with political leanings on the opposite side of the fence from former President George W. Bush was chosen to represent him in the matter.
MR. CÉSAR ÁLVAREZ, SENIOR CHAIRMAN OF GREENBERG TRAURIG’S INTERNATIONAL LAW FIRM.
The road to success has not been without challenges. Álvarez recalls facing discrimination early in his career from a client who notified Greenberg Traurig founder Mel Greenberg that they would not work with a Cuban lawyer. After the initial shock, Álvarez had a conversation with Greenberg, who stood by him. “Our firm under every leadership that we’ve known is incredibly sensitive to making sure that everybody gets a shot,” says Álvarez, the only Hispanic to have served as CEO of a top 10 law firm. “It’s about merit, not where you came from or the color of your skin or what accent you have.” latinoleaders.com