Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP

The elite legal pedigree didn't translate into the win.

Defending abortion access will be absolutely essential in our post-Dobbs world.

Money, money, money!

Recent events at Boies Schiller highlight the fragility of firms and the importance of culture.

Money makes the Biglaw world go 'round.

Associates can expect a nice pay day.

* Emails between blood-testing company Theranos’s founder Elizabeth Holmes and lawyers at Boies Schiller will be permitted as evidence at Holmes’s criminal trial. Hope there is no “bad blood” between Holmes and the lawyers… [Wall Street Journal]

* Noted defense lawyer F. Lee Bailey passed away yesterday at 87. [Washington Post]

* Check out this article on how amicus briefs impacted the Supreme Court’s 2020 term. [Juris Lab]

* A lawsuit claims metal shards were put in a worker’s meal after she complained about racial slurs being used in her presence. [AP]

* Illinois has extended a law permitting cocktails to go and is allowing bars to offer free alcohol to vaccinated patrons. Bottoms up! [CBS News]

UPDATE: The firm says there's nothing to worry about and associate raises are on the way.

Which firms have had the most partners leave this year?

* Boies Schiller has been hit with a malpractice lawsuit over a representation involving water balloon patents. The litigants should just have a water balloon fight to settle the dispute. [American Lawyer]

* Charges have been dropped against a Tampa megachurch pastor who was accused of violating Florida’s safer-at-home orders. [Fox News]

* An attorney for Quinton Dunbar, an NFL player accused of armed robbery, claims he has affidavits proving his client’s innocence. [Boston Globe]

* A federal judge has called “Pharma Bro” Martin Shkreli “delusional” while rejecting his request for early release to help find a treatment for COVID-19. [Hill]

* A lawsuit has been filed against SeaWorld San Diego for continuing to charge annual pass fees while the park is closed due to COVID-19. [NBC News]

* Tiffany Trump celebrated her graduation from Georgetown Law this weekend. From one “Hoya Lawya” to another, congrats! [Yahoo News]

* The New York Attorney General is suing DHS over restrictions on the access of New York residents to Global Entry and Trusted Traveler Programs. JFK and LaGuardia are a mess already… [Fox News]

* Boies Schiller is facing partner departures amid leadership changes at the firm. [American Lawyer]

* A lawyer has been suspended from practice for backdating a filing. Maybe this attorney hopped in his DeLorean and the papers were timely filed? [Virginia Lawyers Weekly]

* Michael Flynn’s disagreements with his former counsel have delayed his sentencing. [Talking Points Memo]

* Harvey Weinstein’s lawyer has confirmed that Weinstein definitely needs a walker and has not watched Curb Your Enthusiasm recently. Really need to check out the latest season of Curb. [Deadline]

The famed memoirist -- a Yale Law graduate, former Boies Schiller associate, and staple of ATL's pages -- belonged to the legal as well as literary community.

* President Trump’s ex-lawyer Michael Cohen is asking for a sentence reduction. Guess President Trump’s former fixer is not enjoying his time in “Club Fed.” [CNBC]

* The alleged Boston Marathon bomber’s lawyer has argued that the jury pool was tainted and that the bomber’s death sentence conviction should be thrown out. [NBC News]

* The Supreme Court has been urged to review a constitutional challenge to the high tolls on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Hopefully, the justices will look into the New Jersey turnpike next. [Penn Live]

* A defeated governor is accused of handing out an insane number of pardons on his way out the door, even catching some of the pardoned prisoners completely by surprise. [Washington Post]

* Boies Schiller Flexner LLP has begun succession planning so that the firm can continue long past David Boies’ tenure. [Wall Street Journal]

* A Florida politician is accused of stealing nearly $50,000 from a law firm, and buying items from a sex toy store, among other purchases. Maybe he’ll argue that this was a business expense… [CBS Miami]

It just keeps getting weirder.

It is always a privilege to hear from those at the very top of our profession, especially when they have such interesting perspectives to share on groundbreaking cases.

Read on for a range of insights from Bill Isaacson, including preparing for a career as a trial lawyer and the value of taking ownership over your legal career.

* Boris Johnson unanimously smacked down by UK Supreme Court, a bizarre institution where jurists uphold the law regardless of whether or not it inconveniences one or the other political party. [Legal Cheek]

* The biggest law firms in the world enjoyed a good year as the rich get richer. [American Lawyer]

* The Supreme Court needs to branch out from Harvard and Yale when it comes to clerks. For that matter, it needs to branch out from Harvard and Yale when it comes to justices. [National Law Journal]

* This is about well-being coordinators but holds a universal truth: firms hiring non-lawyer professionals probably should only focus on people familiar with the law firm environment. [Law.com]

* Today’s the day Dershowitz tries to disqualify Boies Schiller from the defamation case against him. Let’s see how that pans out for him. [New York Law Journal]

* The Ninth Circuit’s Stairway to Heaven case will ramble on. [Courthouse News Service]

* What’s the future of Elizabeth Prelogar, the beauty queen turned Harvard Law School grad turned Supreme Court clerk turned Team Mueller member? Not clear, except that it’s blindingly bright. [Ozy]

* How often do you see this? A federal judge praises counsel — specifically, J. Christian Adams of the Election Law Center, Douglas R. Cox of Gibson Dunn, Michael E. Rosman of the Center for Individual Rights, and local counsel Mun Su Park — for their “conscientious billing practices.” [Volokh Conspiracy / Reason]

* Another Lawyerly Lair of Jonathan Schiller, of Boies Schiller Flexner fame: a stunning modern retreat on Martha’s Vineyard, designed by his son, architect Aaron Schiller (whose firm also did the new BSF offices in Hudson Yards). [Martha’s Vineyard]

* Amicus brief of the month: a compelling — and, sadly, entertaining (see the Appendix) — analysis of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s utterly incoherent approach to supposedly “immoral or scandalous” trademarks, filed by William Jay and Goodwin Procter on behalf of law professors Barton Beebe and Jeanne Fromer. [Supreme Court of the United States]

* Here’s a clear and concise explanation of the “Rule of 80,” taking “senior status” as a federal judge, and what this all means for the ideological balance of the judiciary, courtesy of Ed Whelan. [Bench Memos / National Review]

* How should we think about President Donald Trump’s branding of the press as “the enemy of the people”? Negatively, to be sure — but let’s also keep in mind that the media is not a monolith, as First Amendment lawyer Charles Glasser helpfully reminds us. [Daily Caller]

* Stephen Cooper survived a stabbing — then went on to defend violent criminals for many years as a federal public defender. [Alabama Political Reporter]

* Cooper argues that we need to be less punitive and more thoughtful in our treatment of offenders — and Joel Cohen seems to agree, defending an unusual but wise sentence recently handed down by Judge Valerie Caproni (S.D.N.Y.). [New York Law Journal]

One of these cases seems a lot more troublesome for him than the other.

* R. Kelly threatens to sue Lifetime, a lawsuit that will be totally worth it if the judge has to say “don’t pee on my leg and say it’s raining.” [TMZ]

* Alex Van Der Zwaan’s attorney, Laura Grossfield Birger, tapped to run the SDNY Criminal Division. That’s some… curious optics right now. [Courthouse News Service]

* The billionaire client that Boies Schiller is suing over unpaid fees has now alleged malpractice, which is a bold move considering BSF got him through multiple litigation scrapes. But this goes with the territory. I once had a holdout client claim malpractice when we’d gotten him acquitted of racketeering, so this move isn’t entirely unexpected. [New York Law Journal]

* It’s not surprising that the Ninth Circuit has some serious concerns over the possibility that the government systematically lied to the courts, it’s surprising that this isn’t a universal concern of the federal judiciary. [The Recorder]

* This round-up of the top in-house hires of December including Tesla’s decision to turn off autopilot and hire a white-collar attorney to serve as general counsel. [Law360]

* Cardinal says compensation for abuse victims is less important than avoiding “breaking” the Church. Dude, it’s going public that abuse victims aren’t as important as the Church that’s doing all the “breaking” right now. [NBC News]

* Key legal questions surrounding blockchain. [Coindesk]