Boies Schiller Picks Up A Top Boutique

The move expands BSF's presence in California.

merger law firm mergerThe litigation powerhouse of Boies Schiller Flexner is looking ahead to the future. It recently spun off its corporate practice so it could focus on its core strength in litigation. And now it’s strengthening that core, with the addition of lawyers from a leading boutique.

Today BSF made the following announcement (press release posted in full on the next page):

Boies Schiller Flexner is pleased to announce that Caldwell Leslie & Proctor—one of California’s preeminent  litigation boutiques—will join its ranks, effective April 17. The combination of these firms will give BSF added strength to serve clients in key California markets, and will provide Caldwell Leslie’s attorneys with a global platform from which to serve existing and future clients.

“The attorneys at Caldwell Leslie are highly respected trial lawyers, and they share our values as litigators and our dedication to excellence. Any major law firm would be proud to have them as members, and we are fortunate that they have chosen to join us,” said BSF Chairman David Boies.

On its website, Caldwell Leslie lists 27 lawyers. We understand that all or almost all of them will be joining Boies Schiller Flexner. Lawyers making the move include Christopher Caldwell, who was named “Lawyer of the Year” by the Los Angeles Business Journal last year; his co-founder Michael Leslie, an expert in complex environmental litigation; David Willingham, chair of Caldwell Leslie’s white-collar practice, who will now lead BSF’s West Coast investigations and white-collar practice; Robyn Crowther, whose practice focuses on legal malpractice, trade secret, and employment disputes; and Michael Roth, who handles class actions and unfair competition cases.

In his recent Forbes interview with David Parnell, BSF co-founder Jonathan Schiller listed getting “the very best people to join our firm” as one of four keys to the firm’s success — and this latest transaction seems very consistent with that vision. Congratulations to Boies Schiller Flexner on its enhanced West Coast presence, and congratulations to the Caldwell Leslie lawyers joining BSF.

UPDATE (3 p.m.): There’s additional coverage over at Big Law Business, which reports that all 17 of Caldwell Leslie’s shareholders will join Boies Schiller Flexner as partners.

(Flip to the next page for the Boies Schiller Flexner press release.)

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Earlier: On The Future Of Boies Schiller
Boies Schiller’s Corporate Group Finds A New Home


DBL square headshotDavid Lat is the founder and managing editor of Above the Law and the author of Supreme Ambitions: A Novel. He previously worked as a federal prosecutor in Newark, New Jersey; a litigation associate at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz; and a law clerk to Judge Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. You can connect with David on Twitter (@DavidLat), LinkedIn, and Facebook, and you can reach him by email at dlat@abovethelaw.com.

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