Attorney Alice G. Hector believes that it is important for attorneys to be actively involved with their community, even though they may not have political ambitions.

Attorney Alice G. Hector

Hector, a partner in the law firm of Hector & Harke LLP. and long-time Pinecrest resident, practices what she preaches. She has served on a committee of the Village of Pinecrest and has participated in numerous events at her children’s schools. In addition, her firm does pro bono work, including assisting individuals seeking asylum, and helping to settle small claims, child support or various other consumer problems.

"I definitely believe in giving back," she said.

Hector is particularly interested in the creation of parks, open spaces and sports fields within Pinecrest. She was a member of the parks committee, which researched possibile uses of the Parrot Jungle land, in hopes that the village will purchase the property once the attraction is relocated to Watson Island.

"Our community leaders have been outstanding in addressing the safety concerns and beautifying the Village, in many ways. It’s rewarding to see what has happened here since the inception of the village. It’s getting better all the time," she said.

Although Hector & Harke is a relatively new firm (founded in November, 1998), it is one of South Florida’s fastest growing law firms. It has more than doubled in size since it opened and was named one of the top twenty commercial law firms in South Florida by the South Florida Business Review.

The firm specializes in commercial litigation - including product liability, securities, business torts, accounting malpractice, insurance defense, employment litigation and environmental litigation. It also provides consultation to companies on avoidance of litigation and dispute resolution.

Among the many well known clients Hector has represented are E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company; Nextel Communications, Inc.; Arthur Anderson; Viragen, Inc.; Collier Enterprises; Ivax, Columbia Laboratories and New York Life Insurance Company.

She has represented clients in cases involving issues of insurance, product liability, franchising, contracts, securities, antitrust, lender liability, professional malpractice, RICO, real estate foreclosure, health care, employment law and environmental law.

In addition to substantial experience in mediation and arbitration, she has experience with regulatory and administrative proceedings at local, state and federal levels and has worked with federal regulatory bodies including the Department of Interior and the Department of Energy. She has also handled more than 100 civil and criminal cases brought to trial at both the state and federal levels.

"I am especially proud to have gained the respect of major international corporations in the area of commercial litigation, because this is a traditionally male field," she says. "I can attribute my success to hard work and the development of both negotiation and trial skills".

Hector was born in Ft. Jackson, South Carolina. She moved to Miami Shores as a child then to Coconut Grove, where she attended Everglades School for Girls. She graduated from Wellesley College in 1967, and between college and law school, she worked as an airline reservation agent in Boston, a nuclear medical research lab technician in Miami and in the promotion department of a national woman’s magazine in New York.

In 1973 she received a J.D. degree with honors from the University of Texas and moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico. There she served as an Assistant Public Defender and later as the Public Defender. She was also the general counsel of the Southwest Research & Information Center and the principal of her own law firm in New Mexico.

She returned to Miami in 1989 to become affiliated with the law firm of Greer Homer & Bonner, of which she later became a partner. She was a senior litigation partner of Steel Hector & Davis LLP from 1993 to 1998 before leaving to form Hector & Harke LLP.

She is a member of the Florida, New Mexico and Texas Bar and has been admitted to practice in the U.S. District Court, Southern and Middle Districts of Florida; U.S. District Court, New Mexico; plus the 5th, 9th and 11th D.C. circuits.

Ms. Hector is also member of the American and Dade County Bar Associations, an Adjunct Professor of Litigation Skills at the University of Miami, plus an Instructor and Team Leader of the National Institute of Trial Advocacy (NITA); Western, Northwestern, Southwestern, Gulf Coast Advanced and National Programs.