Boies Schiller Flexner LLP

Select Coverage from Above the Law

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  Morning Docket

  Morning Docket: 11.27.18

  * So much for that plea deal! Mueller’s office says it’s caught Manafort in multiple lies since ostensibly reaching an agreement. I’m sure we’ll soon hear how this is all a “perjury trap” too. [Huffington Post]

  * James Ray III says he shot his girlfriend in self-defense. Sure. [NJ.com]

  * Hong Kong aims to be Asia’s arbitration hub and its neighbors aren’t giving up that title easily. [International]

  * There’s apparently a DB Cooper convention. Amazing. [Courthouse News Service]

  * The Thomas Jefferson School of Law still trying to keep its head above water. [Voice of San Diego]

  *Meanwhile, the Florida legislature is looking to clear the obstacles to renaming FSU’s law school. [Florida Politics]

  * Boies Schiller attempting to chase down deadbeat real estate magnate who stiffed the firm on million-dollar fees. The media keeps calling him a “Chinese dissident” which is technically true, but obscures the whole “fabulously wealthy” part. [Law360]

  By Joe Patrice  

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  Morning Docket

  Morning Docket: 11.16.18

  * After delaying the decision, Judge Tim Kelly will be releasing his ruling in CNN’s First Amendment case at 10 a.m. Is it lawful to revoke a reporter’s press pass after an argument with the president? We’ll soon find out. [USA Today]

  * “[W]e’re not going to leave any judges behind over these next two months.” According to Senator Tom Cotton, the Senate is apparently planning to work through Christmas and New Year’s Eve to confirm all of President Trump’s judicial nominees in an effort to head off any obstruction by the Democrats. [Washington Times]

  * “I’m not trying to be rude. I can see your résumé. You’re a rock star.” Despite her strong résumé, Allison Jones Rushing, the 36-year-old Fourth Circuit nominee, was repeatedly questioned by the Judiciary Committee about her “life experience” — or lack thereof, since she graduated from law school 11 years ago. [National Law Journal]

  * What is David Boies planning for his next act? Is retirement on the table? He and the other name partners at Boies Schiller Flexner have apparently “been planning succession for 15 years.” He said if he retired today, “the firm would be in good shape,” but he thinks he “still [has] some things to contribute.” [New York Law Journal]

  * Stormy Daniels says that while the “serious and obviously very troubling” domestic violence allegations against her lawyer Michael Avenatti are “only allegations” and that she’ll “reserve judgement” [sic] until the investigation ends, she’ll be “seeking new representation” if it turns out that the allegations are true. [New York Magazine]

  By Staci Zaretsky  

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  Biglaw

  World's Most Fortunate Pro Se Litigant Represented By Judge Posner Now Also Represented By David Boies

  As the case moves to the Supreme Court, William Bond adds even more firepower.

  By Joe Patrice  

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  Morning Docket

  Morning Docket: 10.16.18

  * Valparaiso celebrated earlier in the week after reaching an agreement to send its beleaguered law school to Middle Tennessee. Tennessee’s education officials have killed the idea of hosting another middling law school with extreme prejudice. [Chicago Tribune]

  * Ninth Circuit judge displays deliberate ignorance in what appears to be a looming decision to keep college athletes out of court. [Courthouse News Service]

  * Whenever you doubt the stupidity of humanity, remember people accused of global financial fraud tend to email each other explicit descriptions of what they’re doing. [Law360]

  * Boies Schiller will act as special prosecutor in the Joe Arpaio appeal in what should be the easiest appellate layup ever. [The Recorder]

  * Republican judge dismisses lawsuit against Republican politician. [Huffington Post]

  * Jeff Sessions tells the Heritage Foundation that he doesn’t approve of this idea that courts might consider themselves some kind of “check” or “balance” on the executive branch. [National Law Journal]

  * Ralph Baxter thinks Biglaw needs to change its business model to succeed. [American Lawyer]

  By Joe Patrice  

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  Biglaw

  David Boies Scores Coup With HUGE Lateral Pickup

  Susan Estrich reunites with David Boies, years after they first worked together.

  By Joe Patrice  

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  Intellectual Property

  David Boies's Fall From Grace

  Boies’s firm soldiers on and continues to rake in money by the barrel-load. Yet cracks in its once-burnished veneer are now visible to the naked eye.

  By Scott Alan Burroughs  

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  Morning Docket

  Morning Docket: 09.25.18

  * Amid reports (from Fox News no less) that Mitch McConnell does not presently have the votes to confirm Kavanaugh, the Supreme Court took the precaution of removing several contentious matters from their long conference agenda lest. They’re hunkering down for another couple months at 4-4. [National Law Journal]

  * Speaking of that Fox News report, let’s be honest about what’s happening here: Kavanaugh is refusing to withdraw and McConnell is covertly asking the network to convince Trump to withdraw the nomination. [Fox News]

  * Almost half of the top 15 firms in the Global 100 are the product of a transatlantic merger. Should your firm follow suit? Probably not. [American Lawyer]

  * Linda Burrow leaves Boies Schiller to Netflix and chill and then litigate. [Corporate Counsel]

  * Judge seems to think Stormy Daniels doesn’t have a defamation claim against Trump over one of his Tweets. [Law360]

  * PwC makes a deal with Fragomen. The Big 4 invasion of the legal sector continues unchecked. [LegalCheek]

  * Lost in the shuffle of everything happening yesterday, Bill Cosby’s sentencing hearings kicked off. [Courthouse News Service]

  By Joe Patrice  

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  Government

  Now Andrew Cuomo Tied To Shielding Harvey Weinstein In Exchange For Campaign Donations

  Have these people never heard of optics?

  By Joe Patrice  

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  Biglaw

  Associates Get Raises -- Unclear Whether That's Actually Good News

  Associates are happy, but wary.

  By Kathryn Rubino  

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  Morning Docket

  Morning Docket: 04.13.18

  * Hooooo boy, this just got even better! President Trump and his attorney Michael Cohen plan to file a motion to stay the Stormy Daniels suit on the grounds that in the wake of the FBI raid on Cohen’s office and the ensuing criminal investigation, continuing the Daniels litigation could violate Cohen’s right not to incriminate himself under the Fifth Amendment. [THR, Esq. / Hollywood Reporter]

  * In other news, President Trump is set to pardon Scooter Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney‘s former chief of staff, who was convicted in 2007 of lying to the FBI and obstruction of justice in the investigation into the leak of former CIA operative Valerie Plame’s identity. [ABC News

  * When the AP was investigating a $30K payout that American Media Inc. made to a doorman to keep quiet about a rumor involving President Trump’s love child with a former employee, reporters had some trouble with a Biglaw firm that was recently involved in another sexual misconduct case — Boies Schiller. [American Lawyer]

  * HoLove learning to show love? The firm is ditching its “broken” associate performance review system for its new “Pathways” program, which will provide them with “flash feedback” from partners about how they’re doing on a year-round basis. [National Law Journal]

  * Your tuition dollars actually at work: Georgia State Law is using predictive modeling and data analytics to identify students who may be at risk for failing the bar exam after their first year of studying law. Administrators at the school want to be able to help students before it’s too late. [Daily Report Online]

  * Savannah Law School may not be closing after all? It seems that talks are underway to donate the law school’s charter to another college or university, like Savannah State and Georgia Southern. Savannah Law’s new owner would get everything but the law school building itself. [Fox 28 Media]

  By Staci Zaretsky