Broward Circuit Judge Linda Alley, who took office two years ago after a 22-year career as a malpractice lawyer for some of Broward County’s most prominent firms, died Wednesday at a Fort Lauderdale hospital. She was 71.
“I’ve watched Broward County grow and change over the years,” she wrote, responding to a Sun Sentinel election questionnaire in 2020. “I want to impact future generations of lawyers. I want to support people who come into court and help them understand that the court is there for all citizens, and that the court protects our system of government and our society.”
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Born in Pittsburgh but raised from infancy in Fort Lauderdale, Alley was married and divorced twice, with a daughter from her first marriage and a son from her second. She decided in her 40s to pursue a legal career, telling her children it was never too late to follow their dreams.
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“She wanted to be a lawyer, and she was a lawyer through and through. She kicked ass,” said her daughter, Sarah Gresham.
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Alley spent most of her career, from 1998 to 2016, working for Schlesinger Law Offices in Fort Lauderdale. She then went to Lawlor, White & Murphey and, finally, to Kelley/Uustal.
Alley rose to the bench in 2020 on the coattails of a scandal involving her opponent, Gina Hawkins, who was under investigation for grabbing a subordinate by the neck in a hallway confrontation. Though Hawkins said the gesture was not meant as a realistic threat, the Judicial Qualifications Commission took it seriously, and it cost her enough votes to propel Alley into office.
Broward Chief Administrative Judge Jack Tuter said Alley had a reputation as a fair jurist and a hard worker, and he had been expecting her to return to work full-time later this month.
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No matter where her career took her, Gresham said, Alley never lost focus on the importance of her own family.
“At the end of the day she was our mom, and she was the best mom,” Gresham said. “I wanted to be like her.”
Gresham followed her mother to law school and has worked for 10 years as a prosecutor with the Broward State Attorney’s Office.
Alley’s son, Brad Keller, is studying to be a private investigator.
Alley had just been diagnosed with lung cancer last May and was responding well to treatment, said Gresham. But the treatment also compromised her immune system, and when Alley contracted pneumonia in mid-December, she and her family took it seriously.
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She was hospitalized at Holy Cross for more than two weeks and responded well, Gresham said. She was transferred to Kindred Hospital in Fort Lauderdale for rehabilitation.
But she never bounced back from the pneumonia, Gresham said. “Even though we spent Christmas in the hospital, we were hopeful,” she said. “We thought she was getting better.”
By the last weekend it became apparent she was not getting better. Gresham and her brother kept constant vigil by her bedside until she passed away Wednesday morning.
“She was never alone,” Gresham said.
No service will be held, but Gresham said the family will plan a celebration of life in the coming weeks.
In addition to her children, Alley is survived by one brother, one sister, two nieces and four nephews.