v. Goliath

January 31, 2005
As Donovan shows in this insightful biography (a notable counterpoint to Boies's own recently published autobiography, Courting Justice
), power attorney David Boies has been at the fulcrum of the culture of legal celebrities for 20 years. Best known as the lawyer who represented the Democratic Party and Al Gore during the 2000 postelection battle, Boies has been involved in other high-profile cases: he represented the U.S. Justice Department in its suit against Microsoft, and CBS when it was sued by Gen. William Westmoreland. Donovan, a former attorney and editor at the National Law Journal,
underscores Boies's brilliant mind, his ability to work long hours and his gift for persuasion. But Donovan, who tracked Boies with his approval, also knocks the lawyer off his pedestal, exposing the "myth" that he spearheaded IBM's defense in the 1975 U.S.
v. IBM.
Tracking Boies's losses as well as victories (and noting some disingenuousness when, in losing the Napster case, he blamed the judge), Donovan highlights such struggles as a bias case brought by several women staffers against his law firm, which was settled. Donovan seems to believe he's too cozy with members of the media who report on him and that he basks rather too much in the media's glow. While sometimes focusing on irrelevant personal details, she offers a sure, skeptical account of Boies's rise to the top of the legal realm.

February 15, 2005
Journalist attorney Donovan has written a well-researched biography of preeminent litigator David Boies and an inside account of how law is practiced at the highest level. Having had access to Boies for nearly two years, she chronicles both his personal and professional lives. Besides material on his childhood, education, marriages, affairs, and children, there is detailed coverage of Boies's major cases, including the Microsoft antitrust lawsuit, the "Westmoreland" v. "CBS" defamation litigation, the Napster copyright litigation, and Vice President Gore's appeal to the Supreme Court following the 2000 presidential election. Donovan also shows how Boies helped create a major new law firm. Out of the chaos and stresses of Boies's career, the author has produced an engaging biography; recommended for all libraries. -Theodore Pollack, New York Cty. Public Access Law Lib.

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