IN his department-store blazer, checking the time on his thirty-dollar watch, David Boies looks like any other New York City businessman.
Yet this is the “superstar litigator” with Prince Andrew in his sights over allegations linked to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
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Boies is representing alleged sex slave Virginia RobertsThose who know Boies told The Sun on Sunday the lawyer, 78, would make “mincemeat” of Andrew if he gets to formally question the prince over the Epstein scandal.
Boies, who charges £1,500 an HOUR for his services, is the man Epstein’s alleged “sex slave” Virginia Roberts Giuffre has turned to. He has been nicknamed “the Michael Jordan of the courtroom” and “the Tiger Woods of the legal world”.
Boies represented former US Vice President Al Gore when he sued George W Bush over the disputed 2000 presidential election. The year before, he beat Microsoft in a landmark competition case in which the judge ordered the IT giant split into two companies.
Boies’ memory has been likened to a human hard drive as he can pluck obscure facts from decades ago to bolster his legal arguments.
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The royal strenuously denied ‘having any form of sexual contact or relationship’ with Ms RobertsHe is known to conduct multiple phone calls at the same time and his superhuman work ethic is famous. He once asked a colleague: “Would you rather sleep . . . or win?”
He is also known for his ego and has said: “I win virtually every case I should win and I win a number of cases people think I shouldn’t.”
Boies was born in Illinois, to teacher parents. He would memorise stories read to him by his mother as dyslexia meant Boies could not read them himself. Because of that dyslexia, he speaks in court without notes. He has kept his Midwestern accent, and some say juries relate better to him as a result.
He steers clear of using long words and legal jargon, giving him a disarming style in court in even the most complex of cases. He wears suits from department store Macy’s and has a basic watch, but some of his tastes are much more extravagant.
AP:Associated Press
Epstein killed himself in jail last month while facing sex-trafficking chargesHe is fond of Las Vegas and has blown £8,000 in a single weekend. But Boies insists he never gambles “amounts of money that make any difference to me”. His wine collection is not humble, either. The cellar at his mansion north of New York City is large enough for 8,000 bottles.
No wonder, given he owns a vineyard in California, the State where he had a breakthrough win in court to back same-sex marriage. He owns a ranch and a yacht. Father to six children by three women, he loves to be seen on the Manhattan social circuit with his third wife Mary, 69, a lawyer.
But he has experienced tragedy too. His son Jonathan — also a lawyer — died this year, aged 50. And his reputation took a battering when he represented shamed movie producer Harvey Weinstein in 2017.
Now his firm is acting for Ms Roberts and a number of Epstein’s other alleged victims pro bono — meaning for free. Some have even described this case as Boies’ shot at redemption, though he has laughed off the suggestion.
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Boies’ firm is acting for Ms Roberts and a number of Epstein’s other alleged victims for freeBoies has made “multiple requests” to interview Andrew and this week said he was considering legal action pressing the royal to give evidence under oath. US solicitor Daniel Bibb, who was a Manhattan prosecutor for 20 years, said Andrew, 59, faces a daunting adversary.
He told The Sun on Sunday: “David leaves no stone unturned and has a legal team who are about as good as he is. If David goes out there and tells Prince Andrew this case isn’t going away, you can take it to the bank it isn’t going anywhere.”
Boies was seen outside Manhattan’s federal court this week with Ms Roberts, 36. She claims she was forced to have sex three times with Prince Andrew when she was 17 — at an “orgy in London”, at Epstein’s home and at an “orgy” on his private island in the Caribbean.
Andrew was friends with the pervert for more than a decade. Epstein killed himself in jail last month, while facing sex-trafficking charges. The royal strenuously denied “having any form of sexual contact or relationship” with Ms Roberts but questions remain about his behaviour and his frequent visits to Epstein’s homes.
SWNS:South West News Service
Andrew was friends with Epstein for more than a decadeNow Andrew may be forced to answer those questions. This week, 16 of Epstein’s alleged victims were given the chance to tell their harrowing stories in court.
Speaking after the hearing, Ms Roberts urged the prince to “come clean” and said: “He knows what he’s done.” Boies stuck the knife in, adding: “Anybody can deny things in a printed statement.
“It’s a different thing to come here and answer questions under oath, subject to cross-examination. Those are the kinds of answers we are eventually going to get.”
Mark Bederow, a New York defence lawyer, said: “Boies is dogged and known for his brilliant legal acumen. He is an experienced, highly respected litigator. I would say he is in the top tier of lawyers in America. He’s top-notch, for sure.”
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Jeffrey Epstein was friends with a number of wealthy and powerful people – seen here with Donald Trump in 1997Boies began his career at Cravath Swaine & Moore, arguably the most respected law firm in America, with a raft of wealthy and powerful clients.
By 31, he had become the firm’s youngest partner. In 1997, he left to set up his own firm, Boies Schiller Flexner. Colleagues thought he was mad to leave such a good job. But within an hour of the news breaking, he had his first client — DuPont, the chemical giant.
He came into the public eye by representing Al Gore before the US Supreme Court in the 2000 presidential recount controversy. Boies — like Gore, a Democrat — suffered a rare reversal and would afterwards admit: “I lost the whole f*****g country.” But he won a blockbuster antitrust case against Microsoft on behalf of the US Department of Justice.
So confident was Boies that on the eve of taking a key deposition from Microsoft founder Bill Gates, he threw aside his briefing notes and relaxed by watching the Kevin Costner film Tombstone. Boies still won the case.
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Ms Roberts urged the prince to ‘come clean’Boies fought off a libel suit brought against telly network CBS by US Army general William Westmoreland, making himself a champion of the free Press in the process. And he has been feted in the pages of Time magazine and the New York Times.
Joe Patrice, a senior editor at legal mag Above The Law, has met Boies several times and talks of his “stellar” reputation.
Patrice said: “He is very analytical and, due to his dyslexia, has had to work twice as hard at things. That has contributed to his mindset where he works through things methodically.
“If David Boies sets his sights on you — especially in a case like this, where money is not an object — you need to worry. Your hope is that the client stops paying. But here that’s not going to happen, so he’s going to doggedly pursue it.”
Boies was criticised for defending Harvey Weinstein, 67, over the abuse claims that sparked the #MeToo campaign. He hit back by saying everyone had a right to be defended and has pointed out that his firm had represented Weinstein for years before the claims surfaced.
He was even branded a “thug” for trying to shut down a story about a biotech firm that collapsed amid allegations of massive fraud. Either way, Boies’ clients know one thing. He will give them his all.
As his fellow lawyer Mark Bederow said: “When an attorney like David Boies says he’s coming for you, you can assume he’s coming for you.”
Prince Andrew 'knows what he's done' claims Epstein sex abuse victim Virginia Roberts