Maritza Alvarez

Maritza Alvarez is a founding partner and trial attorney at the law firm of Alvarez Rodriguez-Fonts LLP.  Mrs. Alvarez has over fifteen years of litigation experience and has tried numerous criminal cases as an Assistant Public Defender and in private practice.

During her tenure as an Assistant Public Defender, Mrs. Alvarez represented clients charged with misdemeanors, felonies and delinquent acts, in both county and circuit courts.  She was lead counsel in numerous cases involving murder, armed robbery, home invasion robberies, rapes, and trafficking in narcotics.  She worked with complex evidentiary issues dealing with DNA, ballistics, latent evaluations, gunshot residues, handwriting comparison, and firearm identification.  In private practice, Mrs. Alvarez successfully represented high-profile clients like a former NBA All-Star charged in a 2008 aggravated battery case, Major League Baseball Player charged with D.U.I. and a high school football coach accused of unlawful sexual activity with a minor. She was also instrumental in obtaining death penalty waivers for defendants accused of murder in two separate cases.

Mrs. Alvarez has been recognized as the “Best of the Bar” by the South Florida Business Journal  for ten consecutive years, as an “Up and Comer” by the South FLorida Legal Guide from 2004-2009 and as a “Top Lawyer” by the South Florida Legal Guide since 2010.

Mrs. Alvarez is a member of the Florida Bar, the United States District Court for the Southern and the Middle District of Florida.  She is associated with the Cuban American Bar Association and the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys.  Over the years, she has served as a member of various community organizations including, Kiwanis of Little Havana (Member), City of Miami Code Enforcement Board (Member) and Abriendo Puertas Inc. (Past Member of the Board).

Mrs. Alvarez is currently a Special Magistrate for the City of Miami and presides over evidentiary  hearings dealing with City of Miami Code Violations and a Guardian Ad Litem advocate representing and protecting interest of child witnesses in family cases.

Mrs. Alvarez earned a Bachelor of Arts in Criminology at Florida State University  in 1994 and is a member of the Golden Key Honor Society.  She earned her Juris Doctor degree from St. Thomas University School of Law in 1997, where she was a member of the Moot Court Board.

Mrs. Alvarez is fluent in Spanish