Alejandro Enrique Ferrer (born October 18, 1960), known professionally as Judge Alex, is an American television personality, lawyer, and retired judge who presided as the arbitrator on the eponymous ''
Judge Alex
''Judge Alex'' is an American arbitration-based reality court show that was presided over by retired police officer, lawyer, and Florida Judge Alex Ferrer. The series premiered on September 12, 2005, 4 months after ''Texas Justice'' concluded ...
''.
Early life
Ferrer was born in
Havana, Cuba in 1960 and
immigrated
Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...
to the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
with his family when he was one year old. He attended Rockway Junior High School.
Education
While working as a police officer, Ferrer received a
Bachelor of Professional Studies
"Professional studies" is a term used to classify academic programs which are applied or interdisciplinary in focus. The term can also be used for non-academic training for a specific profession. Research on professionals can be seen as a multidisc ...
degree from
Barry University
Barry University is a private Catholic university in Miami Shores, Florida. Founded in 1940 by the Adrian Dominican Sisters, it is one of the largest Catholic universities in the Southeast and is within the territory of the Archdiocese of Mia ...
. Ferrer earned a
JD from the
University of Miami
The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, i ...
, where he became a published member of its law review. Ferrer also served as judicial director of the university's alumni association.
Career
At 19, Ferrer served as a young police officer in
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
.
Ferrer practiced law in Miami, focusing on civil litigation, including suits involving medical malpractice, wrongful deaths, personal injuries and commercial business litigation.
Judicial
In 1995, he became an associate administrative judge in the criminal division of the 11th judicial circuit, which covers
Miami-Dade County, where he spent ten years presiding over criminal cases. He also served as an appellate judge over appeals from the Miami-Dade County Court, county commission and other agencies.
In 1999, he was elected to serve as district representative to the executive committee of the
Conference of Circuit Court Judges
A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic.
Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main p ...
, a position he held until 2001. He is a member of the
Florida Bar
The Florida Bar is the integrated bar association for the state of Florida. It is the third largest such bar in the United States. Its duties include the regulation and discipline of attorneys. The Florida Bar is also responsible for the governi ...
and the District of Columbia Bar Association. He has been an adjunct professor at
Florida International University
Florida International University (FIU) is a public research university with its main campus in Miami-Dade County. Founded in 1965, the school opened its doors to students in 1972. FIU has grown to become the third-largest university in Florid ...
and taught media relations to other judges at
The New Judges College
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...
and
The College of Advanced Judicial Studies
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...
, as well as at various national conferences.
Ferrer joined
Morgan & Morgan
Morgan & Morgan is an American law firm. Founded in 1988 by John Morgan, it is headquartered in Orlando, Florida. While Morgan & Morgan was historically considered a firm focused on personal injury, medical malpractice and class action law ...
's team, Florida's largest firm of personal injury and consumer protection attorneys in March 2015. However, as he did not resign his television show, being called "Judge Alex", presented issues under ethics rules. Regardless, he no longer appears on the law firm's website.
As the child of Cuban immigrants, Ferrer is fully bilingual. He is a regular contributor at abogados.com, Morgan & Morgan's Spanish-language personal injury site.
Roles in Sun Gym Gang trials
Sun Gym Gang murder trials
Judge Alex presided over the trials of
Sun Gym gang members
Daniel Lugo and Adrian Doorbal.
On July 17, 1998, Ferrer sentenced both to death for each of the murders of Frank Griga and Krisztina Furton, as well as two prison terms for other crimes.
Marc Schiller's Medicare fraud trial
The judge provided favorable testimony in February 1999 to Marc Schiller, the Sun Gym gang's first victim. Before Schiller's abduction and attempted murder, he had led a
Medicare fraud scheme and was facing 25 years in jail. Ferrer stepped in to provide testimony as a sitting judge, which is extremely rare and set precedent in its own right. He credited Schiller's courage and the conditions he faced in helping prosecute Lugo and Doorbal. Schiller's sentence was reduced to the federal minimum of 46 months in prison.
''Preston v. Ferrer''
In 2005, Ferrer was presented with a demand for arbitration by attorney Arnold Preston, who worked for Ferrer under a "personal management" contract. Preston claimed Ferrer owed him fees under the contract. Ferrer countered, claiming Preston had acted as a
talent agent
A talent agent, or booking agent, is a person who finds jobs for actors, authors, broadcast journalists, film directors, musicians, models, professional athletes, screenwriters, writers, and other professionals in various entertainment or sp ...
without a license and therefore under
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
law the contract was void and unenforceable. The question of whether a judge or an arbitrator should decide the "talent agent" question went all the way to the
United States Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
in the case ''
Preston v. Ferrer
''Preston v. Ferrer'', 552 U.S. 346 (2008), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held, 8–1, that the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) overrules state laws declaring that certain disputes must be resolved by a state administrati ...
''. The Court ruled in Preston's favor in 2008.
Television appearances
''Judge Alex'' is an
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
arbitration-based reality court show
A court show (also known as a judge show, legal/courtroom program, courtroom series, or judicial show) is a broadcast programming subgenre of either legal dramas or reality legal programming. Court shows present content mainly in the form of lega ...
, presided over by Judge Alex Ferrer.
The
syndicated series debuted on September 12, 2005, and ran for nine seasons.
Judge Alex appeared on the January 27, 2007 episode of ''
1 vs. 100''. On July 6, 2007, he appeared on
Fox News Channel's ''
Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld
''Red Eye'', also known as ''Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld'' from 2007 to 2015 and ''Red Eye w/ Tom Shillue'' from 2015 to 2017, was an American late-night/early-morning satirical talk show on Fox News, which aired at 3:00 a.m. ET Tuesday throu ...
''. He was a guest on ''Verdict with Dan Abrams'' on July 15, 2008. On November 17, 2008, he appeared on ''
Trivial Pursuit: America Plays'' as the captain of America's team. On November 21, 2008, as a contestant playing for a charity during a special "Judges Week" program. Judge Alex appeared on an episode of ''
America's Most Wanted'' (episode date March 22, 2010).
He appeared on
Orlando, Florida's
WOFL
WOFL (channel 35) is a television station in Orlando, Florida, United States, airing programming from the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside MyNetworkTV outlet WRBW (channel 65) ...
FOX 35 and the
Fox News Channel as a legal expert during coverage of the
Casey Anthony
Casey may refer to:
Places Antarctica
*Casey Station
* Casey Range
Australia
* Casey, Australian Capital Territory
* City of Casey, Melbourne
* Division of Casey, electoral district for the House of Representatives
Canada
* Casey, Ontario
* ...
murder trial in 2011 and
George Zimmerman
George Michael Zimmerman (born October 5, 1983) is an American man who fatally shot Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old black boy, in Sanford, Florida, on February 26, 2012. On July 13, 2013, he was acquitted of second-degree murder in '' Flori ...
murder trial in 2013.
In 2018, Ferrer began hosting an American true-crime television series called ''
Whistleblower
A whistleblower (also written as whistle-blower or whistle blower) is a person, often an employee, who reveals information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe or fraudulent. Whi ...
'' on the
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
television network.
Personal life
Ferrer resides in the
Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...
area with his wife, Jane, their two children and his dogs Blu, Django, and Artemis.
References
External links
*
''Miami Times'' article referencing Judge Alex FerrerAlex Ferrerat th
abogados.comSpanish-language personal injury site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferrer, Alex
American judges
Cuban emigrants to the United States
Living people
People from Coral Gables, Florida
Lawyers from Miami
Television judges
University of Miami School of Law alumni
People from Havana
Florida International University faculty
American municipal police officers
1960 births