
Stuart Singer (via Boies Schiller)
Boies Schiller partner Stuart Singer recently added day-to-day firm management to his ample list of tasks, joining Sigrid McCawley and Matthew Schwartz as co-managing partners while David Boies transitions out of his role as firm chairman. It’s a lot to take on for a partner still busy running his own book of business and only a couple years removed from a cancer fight. But, as he told Litigation Daily, when he was asked about taking on the added responsibility, he told Boies and Jonathan Schiller he was up for it “if they thought it would be helpful to the firm” that he worked at for the last 24 years.
Before taking on his new gig, Singer wrapped up a job helping out a cause he’s cared about for even longer than the last 24 years. Like a lot of prominent attorneys, Singer’s professional journey started with competitive policy debate.

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A graduate of Miami Senior High in the Little Havana neighborhood, he credits his access to debate for bringing him to traditional collegiate debate powerhouse Northwestern. That decision worked out well for him, having won the National Debate Tournament for the Wildcats. And, in turn, his time at Northwestern propelled him to Harvard Law, running the law review, clerking for Justice Byron White, and a Biglaw career.
It’s telling when someone sporting accolades from president of Harvard Law Review to Supreme Court clerk to Biglaw managing partner isolates one high school experience as transformative. And for the last several years, Singer has worked to make sure that experience remains available to future generations.
From 2017 until earlier this year, Singer served as the chairman of the board of the National Association for Urban Debate Leagues, an organization working with 20 leagues across the country to provide inner city public school students with access to policy debate competition. Traditionally a staple high school extracurricular offering, debate had increasingly become the province of private schools or suburban public schools. The urban debate league system arose to reverse that trend and bring programs back to metropolitan public schools. At this point, NAUDL and its affiliated programs reach around 10,000 students annually.
That reach matters because research conducted on the impact of just having access to debate programs finds that:

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- For each semester that a student debates, their individual grades improve
- Urban debaters are more likely to test as college-ready in English, Reading, Math, and Science
- Urban debaters have both a higher high school graduation rate
- Urban debaters have a higher rate of college enrollment
- Urban debaters are more likely to attend a four-year college
And as an urban public school graduate himself, Singer’s commitment to the urban debate league project is personal.
Debaters don’t have to become lawyers, of course. But few academic endeavors outside of debate breed the nerdtastic enjoyment in research and analysis that make legal work a thrill rather than a slog. I once read a description of a debate in the 1920s between American and British students that said, “The Americans prepared their case like lawyers arguing before a judge, their arguments showed factual mastery of the subject and were well organized; the Englishmen made clever and witty speeches which amused the audience.” That sums up the difference between the two national traditions. American-style debate still isn’t built on sounding pretty — it can in fact alienate an unfamiliar ear — instead placing all its emphasis on research and evidence analysis.
Debate does more to reward hours scouring electronic research and briefing out fine distinctions between conflicting support, tracking the motion practice and litigation strategy skills that take up far more of the day as a litigator than trying to charm jurors. As Singer notes, debate encourages a team culture of celebrating research that’s ideal for working in this profession. Boies told Litigation Daily of Singer “I think he really, genuinely, as I do, enjoys what we do,” and firms work best when people really enjoy the mission.
Over the years, Boies Schiller has taken advantage of that culture. Boies debated in high school and at the University of Redlands, where Singer would later coach while in law school, including coaching former BSF partner Bill Isaacson. The NAUDL aims to keep this pipeline open for students at schools suffering some of the most daunting resource challenges in the country.
Earlier this year, the organization’s annual dinner honored Singer’s tenure with a short video with appearances by Boies and Massey & Gail’s Lenny Gail.
(credit National Association for Urban Debate Leagues)
Singer’s chairmanship involved navigating urban debate leagues through the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s not easy to convince a high school student to give up their weekends bussing to some far off campus to discuss the finer points of infrastructure policy when they do get to hang out with a bunch of like-minded peers. Convincing them to throw themselves into research so they can Zoom from home is a whole other level.
And yet the urban debate league program survived the lockdown and continues to thrive with support from Boies Schiller, White & Case, and other Biglaw and boutique firms represented on the board. But it can always use more help and if there’s a local chapter in your area, consider helping them out directly.
After Battling Cancer, Boies Schiller Rainmaker Stuart Singer Tackles Something New: Day-to-Day Firm Management [Litigation Daily]
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter or Bluesky if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.