Printable Biography of David Boies

After graduating from Northwestern in 1964, and receiving his J.D. from Yale Law School in 1966, Boies began his illustrious career as a litigator with the renowned New York law firm of Cravath, Swaine, and Moore.

Among his first cases for Cravath, and the first case that thrust him into the public eye, was the 13-year battle between the United States Justice Department and IBM.

As a key member of the defense team, Boies and his associates eventually had the government’s entire case dropped, beginning a long career of success in the courtroom with a flourish.

Over the following 30 years, Boies rose to partner in the powerful firm, and was involved in high-profile case after high-profile case.

Among his notable cases and clients were: Don Imus; George Steinbrenner and the New York Yankees in their suit against Major League Baseball; CBS in a libel case brought by United States General William Westmoreland; and the legendary $1 billion dollar settlement won from Michael Milken on behalf of the
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

After his 25-year career with Cravath, Boies left the firm in 1997 to start his own firm, Boies, Schiller, and Flexner, which has grown to over 45 lawyers in New York, Florida, New Hampshire, and Washington,D.C.

Since that time, Boies has raised his profile even further, becoming the most distinguished attorney of our time.

Beginning in 1999, Boies has been involved in most of the country’s most prominent cases in some capacity, either as counsel or consultant. In a one-week span in 1999, he achieved a trifecta of victories most lawyers could not hope to attain over the course of a career.

First, Boies succeeded in attaining the largest class-action antitrust settlement ever, a $1.17 billion dollar settlement with seven vitamin manufacturers for price fixing. Then, Boies achieved a victory on behalf of New York real estate magnate Sheldon Solow against W.R. Grace & Co. to the tune of $11.5 million in an asbestos damages case.

To cap the week off, Boies was victorious in his first round of battles on behalf of the Department of Justice in their antitrust case against Microsoft.

Interestingly, many of the precedents he fought in that case had been established nearly 20 years earlier in his successful defense of IBM.

Additionally, the State of Alaska, for which he had consulted during the BP Amoco $28 billion takeover of Atlantic Richfield, announced that BP Amoco had agreed to stop operating on the State’s north coast (the second largest field in the U.S.).

This string of victories set the stage for Boies to become a permanent fixture in the U.S. consciousness.

The accolades accumulated for Boies after this incredible year. He was a 1999 inductee into the Vanity Fair Hall of Fame (along with the cast of the Sopranos and Tour de France victor Lance Armstrong), cementing his status as a pop culture icon.

Finally, to top off his phenomenal year, Boies was named the National Law Journal Lawyer of the Year. The article, which ran in the December 20th edition of the industry journal, praised Boies on end, going so far as to call him, “… the Michael Jordan of the courtroom.”

All of these accolades provided Boies with the poise he would need in the following year, as his most high profile case was yet to come.

2000 brought Boies to the forefront in two cases with global implications. First, he was retained by Napster in its copyright infringement suit with the Recording Industry Association of America, a case that will become a standard bearer for how information is exchanged on the ever-expanding world-wide-web.

Boies felt compelled to be involved in the case due to its far-reaching implications. Finally, Boies found himself thrust into the global spotlight once again as lead counsel for Presidential Candidate Al Gore in his legal challenge of the Florida election results.

Arguing the case, successfully in the Florida Supreme Court, but falling short in the U.S. Supreme Court, Boies found himself at the heart of the World’s focus, arguing issues that had been dormant for over 200 years.

Although Boies was not victorious in this particular case, his brilliant arguments have not gone unheard, causing a mass reevaluation of the way in which the United States holds its elections. His efforts in this case further cemented him on the Global Legal scene, and enhanced his reputation as the premiere trial
attorney of our time.