Prominent lawyer David Boies to give lecture at ASU Law

David Boies, one of the nation’s top litigators, is described by The New York Times as “the most prominent lawyer in America.” He is coming to Phoenix this week as part of the Bruce E. Meyerson lecture series hosted by the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University. The lecture, titled “Litigation in the Age of Settlement,” will begin at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 20, at the Beus Center for Law and Society in downtown Phoenix.

Boies has played a central role in some of the nation’s most notable cases, including:

• The United States v. Microsoft antitrust case, in which he represented the U.S. Justice Department.
• Bush v. Gore, representing then Vice President Al Gore in a case that determined the 2000 presidential election.
• Hollingsworth v. Perry, representing a pair of couples in the fight to legalize same-sex marriage in California.

Time magazine has called him one of the 100 most influential people in the world and named him runner-up for Person of the Year in 2000. He has been selected Global International Litigator of the Year by Who’s Who Legal an unprecedented seven times; Lawyer of the Year twice by The National Law Journal; and Litigator of the Year by The American Lawyer.

Boies began his career at Cravath, Swaine & Moore in 1966, working there for three decades before starting his own firm in 1997, Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP. In the course of his career, the legal landscape has shifted dramatically, which his lecture will touch on.

“Many more cases are settled today than were when I started practicing law,” he said. “I think that has to do with a number of factors, but I think that anybody who has watched the practice of law develop over the last half-century will tell you that trials are much less prevalent today as a means of resolving disputes.”

Boies points to another, more positive reason for the shift toward settlements: alternative dispute resolution. With more options available, guided settlements, either through mediation or just bilateral settlements, have become much more common.

About the Bruce E. Meyerson Lecture Series

This lecture series is the result of a gift to the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University from retired Judge Bruce E. Meyerson and his wife, Mary Ellen Simonson, an ASU Law alumna. The purpose of the lecture series is to bring to ASU Law leading practitioners and scholars in the field of dispute resolution.

Please RSVP if you are interested in attending.