Alan Kluger: trial lawyer, art collector, champions the little guy

Alan Kluger Championing the Little Guy

Alan Kluger, the founding partner of Kluger, Peretz, Kaplan & Berlin, calls himself  “a trial Lawyer.”  But that quick description gives short shrift to everything else he has accomplished.  Kluger is a renowned attorney who takes on important cases and also works on the executive committee of AIPAC.  “I’m a single-issue lobbyist: I lobby for the government of Israel.”  And that’s not mentioning his much-admired art collection.

            “When I didn’t want to be a professional baseball player, which was every other year, I wanted to be a trial lawyer. . . I didn’t care much for school: I’d sit in the back of the room and read transcripts from trials.”

            The UM graduate carved out a name for himself as someone who took on behemoths such as Bridgestone/Firestone and the tobacco industry.  And he connects with his juries.

            “I’m able to take the passion I feel for the case and yet [maintain] a real understanding of the honesty and integrity that the system requires. . .”

            Kluger is married to former Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Amy Dean, and has three children, Jesse, 23; Lisa, 26; and her husband, Todd.

If you could relive one childhood memory, what would it be?

            The childhood memory that I would want to relive is my Dad and I being at Yankee Stadium for Roger Maris’ 61st home run and being 0 row away from the guy who caught the ball.  Every year we would go to the last 3 games of the season against the hated Boston Red Sox.  We always sat behind first base.  However on this day is 1961 my father started heading to the right field grandstands.  I asked why he was going there instead of where are seats always were.  He said he got us seats where Maris was going to hit number 61.  He was right on the money. My dad passed away last May.  I think of him often and miss him.

If you could keep something precious to you locked away in a box forever, what would it be?

            My most cherished possession that I would keep locked away???  I do not really value things [and] never have.  The most important things in my life are my wife Amy and my kids, Jesse, Lisa and Todd.  If they were hidden away, I couldn’t play with them and that would make me sad.

If you had to describe the silliest pet peeve that people have, what would it be?

            When they honk their horns.