David Boies

David Boies (/bɔɪz/; born March 11, 1941) is an American lawyer and chairman of the law firm Boies, Schiller & Flexner.[2] Boies rose to national prominence for three major cases: leading the U.S. federal government's successful prosecution of Microsoft in United States v. Microsoft Corp., his unsuccessful representation of Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore in Bush v. Gore,[3] and for successful representation of the plaintiff in Hollingsworth v. Perry, which invalidated California Proposition 8 banning same-sex marriage. Boies is also known for defending controversial clients in the United States, including Theranos, tobacco companies, and Harvey Weinstein.

David Boies
Boies at the 2011 Time 100 gala
Born (1941-03-11) March 11, 1941
Sycamore, Illinois, U.S.
Alma materNorthwestern University (BS)
Yale University (JD)
New York University (LLM)
OccupationLawyer
EmployerBoies, Schiller & Flexner
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse(s)Caryl Louise Maniscalco[1]
Mary Schuman

Early life

Boies was born in Sycamore, Illinois,[4] to two teachers, and raised in a farming community.[5] He has four siblings. His first job was when he was 10 years old—a paper route with 120 customers. Boies has dyslexia and he did not learn to read until the third grade.[6]

Journalist Malcolm Gladwell has described the unique processes of reading and learning Boies experienced due to his dyslexia.[7] Boies's mother, for instance, would read stories to him when he was a child and Boies would memorize them because he could not follow the words on the page.[8]

In 1954, the family moved to California. Boies graduated from Fullerton Union High School in Fullerton, California. Boies attended the University of Redlands from 1960 to 1962,[9] received a B.S. degree from Northwestern University in 1964, a J.D. degree magna cum laude from Yale Law School in 1966 and an LL.M. degree from New York University School of Law 1967; he was awarded an honorary LL.D. from the University of Redlands in 2000.[9]

He currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, which is a museum dedicated to the U.S. Constitution.[10]

Professional history

Law firm

Boies was an attorney at Cravath, Swaine & Moore, where he started upon law school graduation in 1966[11] and became a partner in 1973.[12] He left Cravath in 1997 when a major client objected to his representation of the New York Yankees even though the firm itself had found no conflict.[13] He left the firm within 48 hours of being informed of the client's objection and created his own firm, now known as Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP. It is currently rated 23rd in "overall prestige" and 15th among New York law firms by Vault.com, a website on legal career information.[14]

Notable cases

Criticism

In his 2001 book, prosecutor and author Vincent Bugliosi criticized Boies' abilities as a trial lawyer, arguing that Boies "wasn't forceful or eloquent at all in making his points" in Bush v. Gore. "[A]lthough he seemed to have a very good grasp of the facts, he seemed completely incapable of drawing powerful, irresistible inferences from those facts that painted his opposition into a corner".[40]

In 2017, Boies' firm reportedly directed private intelligence company Black Cube to spy on alleged victims of Harvey Weinstein's sexual abuse and on reporters who were investigating Weinstein's actions.[41] Over the course of a year, Weinstein had Black Cube and other agencies "target," or collect information on, dozens of individuals, and compile psychological profiles that sometimes focused on their personal or sexual histories.[42][43][44]

Boies' firm was representing The New York Times at the same time.[45] A few days after The New Yorker broke the story "Harvey Weinstein's Army of Spies", The New York Times announced it had "terminated its relationship" with Boies' firm.[46][47] According to its contract with Weinstein, Black Cube's assignment had been to kill the paper's negative reporting on Weinstein.[45]

According to The Wall Street Journal, Boies negotiated Harvey Weinstein's contract without informing Weinstein Co. directors that he had investment in the company's movies.[48]

Boies features prominently in Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup, a nonfiction book by The Wall Street Journal investigative reporter John Carreyrou about fraud at the blood testing company Theranos. In Carreyrou's reporting, Boies, along with lawyers Heather King and Michael Brille, and his firm are described as protecting the startup using surveillance of witnesses and journalists, weaponized use of non-disclosure agreements and affidavits, intimidation tactics, and other heavy-handed practices. Boies Schiller Flexner LLP is portrayed by Carreyrou as acting as an extension of Theranos, including the use of the law firm's New York offices for hosting promotional meetings such as a faked blood test administered to Fortune writer Roger Parloff. According to Carreyrou, Boies agreed to be paid for his firm's work in Theranos stock, which he expected to grow dramatically in value. He also served on the Theranos board of directors,[49] raising questions about conflicts of interest.[50]

Personal life

Boies owns a home in Westchester County, New York,[51] Hawk and Horse Vineyards in Northern California, an oceangoing yacht, and a large wine collection.[52]

Boies is dyslexic.[53] He is frequently described as having a photographic memory that enables him to recite exact text, page numbers, and legal exhibits. Colleagues attribute his courtroom success in part to this ability.[54][55]

Philanthropy
  • Professorial chairs:
    • Daryl Levinson is the "David Boies Professor of Law" at New York University School of Law.
    • $1.5 million to the Tulane University Law School to establish the "David Boies Distinguished Chair in Law." Two of Boies' children earned their law degrees at Tulane.[56]
    • A "David Boies Professor" was established at the University of Pennsylvania and is currently held by Professor of History Kathleen M. Brown. The professorship is named after David Boies' father, a high school teacher of government and economics.
    • A "David Boies Chair" at the Yale Law School was formerly held by Professor Robert Post before he became dean of the law school.
    • David and Mary Boies endowed a chair in government at the University of Redlands, the college that David Boies attended. Arthur Svenson currently holds this chair.
    • Mary and David Boies also endowed a "Maurice Greenberg Chair" at the Yale Law School.
  • David Boies and his wife, Mary, donated $5 million to Northern Westchester Hospital, in Mount Kisco, New York. Part of an ongoing capital campaign, the Boies' money was used to build the hospital's new emergency room.[57]

David and Mary Boies also fund the "Mary and David Boies Fellowships" for foreign students at the Harvard Kennedy School. The Boies give an annual picnic at their home for the incoming Teach for America corps for New York City (300–500 people). They support the Central European and Eurasian Law Institute (CEELI), a Prague-based institute that trains judges from newly democratized countries in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. There is a "Mary and David Boies Reading Room" at the CEELI Institute in Prague.

Awards and honors

References
  1. "Caryl Louise Maniscalco". Sonoma West Publishers. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  2. "Boies Schiller Flexner". Boies Schiller Flexner LLP.
  3. "David Boies Biography and Interview". www.achievement.org. American Academy of Achievement.
  4. "David Boies profile". bsfllp.com. Retrieved June 15, 2015.
  5. Newman, R.K. (2009). The Yale Biographical Dictionary of American Law. Yale University Press. p. 57. ISBN 9780300113006. Retrieved December 7, 2014.
  6. Zuckerman, Laurence (November 4, 2001). "Private Sector; For a Hardened Lawyer, A Tender Personal Moment". The New York Times. Retrieved May 1, 2010.
  7. Nocera, Joe (October 11, 2013). "Killing Giants". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
  8. Gladwell, Malcolm (2013). David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants. New York: Little, Brown and Company, p. 107.
  9. Cappis, Greg (March 26, 2013). "David Boies, presenting case to Supreme Court, has ties to Redlands". Redlands Daily Facts. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
  10. "National Constitution Center, Board of Trustees". National Constitution Center Web Site. National Constitution Center. July 26, 2010. Archived from the original on June 15, 2010. Retrieved July 27, 2010.
  11. Lat, David. "At Lunch With David Boies, 20 Years After His Departure From Cravath". Above the Law. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
  12. Newton, David E. (September 2, 2010). Same-sex marriage : a reference handbook. Santa Barbara, California. ISBN 978-1-59884-708-6. OCLC 693776864.
  13. "Why David Boies Left Cravath - Businessweek". Businessweek.com. Retrieved December 7, 2014.
  14. "Boies Schiller Flexner LLP 2019 Vault Rankings". vault.com. Vault.com. Archived from the original on April 19, 2019. Retrieved April 19, 2019.
  15. Napster loses net music copyright case
  16. Andrew Cockburn, "Gates of Hell" (review of Pride Before the Fall: The Trials of Bill Gates and the End of the Microsoft Era, by John Heilemann), in Washington Monthly, March 2001, p. 53; Brendan I. Koerner, "Fatal Error", (review of World War 3.0: Microsoft and Its Enemies, by Ken Auletta), in Washington Monthly, March 2001, p. 54.
  17. Tapper, Jake (November 19, 2000). "Boies vs. Olson". Salon. Retrieved April 27, 2009.
  18. Karen Donovan, V. Goliath: The Trials of David Boies (NY: Pantheon, 2005), 46–60.
  19. Anderson, Jenny (December 6, 2006). "Insurer and Ex-Chief's Firm Settle 18 Cases". Nytimes.com.
  20. Smythe, Christie. "How Boies Did It: Relentless Focus on the U.S. Unfairness to AIG". Bloomberg L.P. Retrieved February 5, 2016.
  21. The Wall Street Journal, June 26, 2008. wsj.com/law
  22. "Boies, Schiller & Flexner Defends Michael Moore Against Federal Investigation into "Sicko"". Boies Schiller Flexner LLP. Archived from the original on July 8, 2011. Retrieved March 13, 2011.
  23. Williams, Carol J. (May 26, 2009). "Bush vs. Gore rivals challenge Prop. 8 in federal court". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 26, 2009.
  24. "Boies, Schiller & Flexner, LLP, and the U.S. Government Settle $155 Million False Claims Act Case Against Medco Health Solutions. PharmaLive News".
  25. "Ibid".
  26. "GGYC Statement – August 20, 2009". Archived from the original on August 15, 2009.
  27. Silverman, Billy (March 9, 2010). "Jamie McCourt Retains Famed Trial Lawyer David Boies". HuffPost.
  29. Belson, Ken (November 14, 2011). "Lawyer for N.F.L. in Lockout Joins Players in N.B.A. Fight". The New York Times. Archived from the original on September 5, 2012.
  30. Jury verdict: Android doesn't infringe Oracle's patents cnet.com Retrieved May 23, 2012.
  31. "Florida justices hear arguments in smoker's death | TBO.com, The Tampa Tribune and The Tampa Times". 2.tbo.com. Retrieved December 7, 2014.
  32. Lake, Eli (March 14, 2013). "Exclusive: Erik Prince on Blackwater's Secret CIA Past - The Daily Beast". The Daily Beast. Retrieved December 7, 2014.
  33. Gangel, Jamie; Stelter, Brian (October 12, 2017). "Can the company Harvey Weinstein founded survive his scandal?". CNN. Retrieved October 13, 2017.
  34. Twohey, Megan (October 11, 2017). "Weinstein Company Was Aware of Payouts in 2015". The New York Times. Retrieved October 13, 2017.
  35. Solomon, Steven Davidoff (February 2, 2016). "David Boies's Dual Roles at Theranos Set Up Conflict". The New York Times' Dealbook. Retrieved February 10, 2016.
  36. Perry, Douglas (October 3, 2017). "Electoral-college reform would have defeated Donald Trump; now some Republicans back effort, seek action before 2020". The Oregonian. Retrieved October 5, 2017.
  37. Beeson, Ed. "David Boies Could Be Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones' Hail Mary - Law360". Retrieved November 27, 2017.
  38. Levenson, Eric. "Who's who of Jeffrey Epstein's powerful friends, associates and possible co-conspirators". CNN. Retrieved February 23, 2020.
  39. Brown, Julie K. (July 5, 2019). "Dershowitz v. Boies: Jeffrey Epstein case unleashes war between two legal Goliaths". Miami Herald. Retrieved February 23, 2020.
  40. The Betrayal of America
  41. Farrow, Ronan (November 6, 2017). "Harvey Weinstein's Army of Spies". The New Yorker. Retrieved November 7, 2017.
  42. Farrow, Ronan (November 6, 2017). "Harvey Weinstein's Army of Spies". Newyorker.com. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  43. "Harvey Weinstein Hired ex-Mossad Agents to Track Women Accusing Him of Sexual Assault". Haaretz.com. November 7, 2017. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  44. Rutenberg, Jim (November 7, 2017). "Report Details Weinstein's Covert Attempt to Halt Publication of Accusations". Nytimes.com. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  45. Farrow, Ronan (October 9, 2019). "The Black Cube Chronicles, Part III: The Double Agent". The New Yorker (Serial). ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved October 14, 2019.
  46. Farrow, Ronan (November 6, 2017). "Harvey Weinstein's Army of Spies". The New Yorker (Serial). ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved October 14, 2019.
  47. Shapiro, Rebecca (November 8, 2017). "New York Times Fires David Boies' Law Firm Over 'Reprehensible' Work For Weinstein". HuffPost.
  48. Hagey, Keach (November 14, 2017). "Weinstein Co. Directors Dispute Lawyer David Boies's Role". Wsj.com. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  49. "Litigator David Boies parts ways with Theranos after disagreement over legal strategy". www.bizjournals.com.
  50. Solomon, Steven Davidoff (February 2, 2016). "David Boies's Dual Roles at Theranos Set Up Conflict". The New York Times.
  51. "Hawk and Horse Vineyards - David Boies". Archived from the original on April 10, 2013. Retrieved December 7, 2014.
  52. "Get Me Boies!" TIME magazine
  53. "David Boies, Attorney & Chairman of Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP". Yale Dyslexia. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  54. "The Information Age". The Nineties. 2017. CNN.
  55. V. Goliath: The Trials of David Boies, by Karen Donovan, 2007, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, ISBN 9780375726552, p. 81
  56. "Ace attorney gives Tulane 'extraordinary' $1.5M gift". Archived from the original on April 13, 2009.
  57. ""Northern Westchester Hospital gets $5 million pledge from lawyer couple" The Journal News. 10-31-06". Archived from the original on September 27, 2007.
  58. "Person Of The Year 2009". Time. Archived from the original on June 21, 2007. Retrieved May 1, 2010.
  59. "Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement". www.achievement.org. American Academy of Achievement.
  60. "2014 Summit Highlights Photo". Eminent defense counsels and Academy members Brendan Sullivan, David Boies, Ted Olson and Barry Scheck.

Cites

Articles
  • Cover Story, Forbes Magazine: "David Boies Takes on Eliot Spitzer in the Fight over AIG", by Daniel Fisher, Carrie Coolidge and Neil Weinberg, May 9, 2005
  • Cover Story, New York Magazine: "The Trials of David Boies Why one Superlawyer has a Hand in Virtually All the High-profile cases of the Day. And How Bush v. Gore became the One that Got Away" by Chris Smith, February 26, 2001
  • Cover Story, New York Times Sunday Magazine, "David Boies: The Wall Street Lawyer Everyone Wants" by Cary Reich, June 1, 1986
  • Newsweek Magazine: "Microsoft's Tormentor How an affable trial lawyer with an understated canniness is driving Gates & Co. to the wall", March 1, 1999
  • Vanity Fair "1999 Hall of Fame", December 1999
  • The Financial Observer: "The Golden Boies", by Renee Kaplan, September 18, 2000
  • Vanity Fair: "The Man who ate Microsoft" by David Margolick, March 2000
  • The National Law Journal: "Lawyer of the Year", January 3, 2000
  • Esquire Magazine: "What Does $750 an Hour Get You? A week in the datebook of David Boies" by Andrew Chaikivsky, May 2003
  • Vanity Fair: excerpt from David Boies book Courting Justice, September 2004
  • Schneider-Mayerson, Anna (December 18, 2006). "The Boies Family: Super-lawyer David Boies has been the go-to guy for legions of powerful people and institutions, including Al Gore, George Steinbrenner and CBS. Plus he's friends with both his ex-wives". The New York Observer. Archived from the original on May 18, 2007.
  • Olive, David (November 24, 2003). "Betrayal catches Black by surprise". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on September 27, 2011.

Books
  • Courting Justice: From New York Yankees vs. Major League Baseball to Bush vs. Gore, 1997–2000 (Miramax Books, 2004) ISBN 0-7868-6838-4
  • v. Goliath: The Trials of David Boies, by Karen Donovan (Pantheon, 2005) ISBN 0-375-42113-0
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