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Legal Giant David Boies Facing Ethics Hearing

By Jeralyn, Section Crime in the News
Posted on Sat Jul 19, 2003 at 03:57:09 PM EST
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Unfortunate news to report about David Boies, the lawyer who represented Al Gore in the 2000 election mess in Florida. He is facing three ethics charges in Florida, due to his having funded a lawsuit.

David Boies, a perennial on the National Law Journal's list of most influential lawyers, faces three charges of ethics violations based on his involvement in a bizarre legal battle between the owners of two Palm Beach lawn-care companies.

A Bar grievance committee in Tallahassee found probable cause on July 10 that Boies had violated rules against misconduct, giving money to a client and improper supervision of other lawyers. The finding is similar to an indictment by a grand jury, and the charges will be heard in a trial proceeding by a judge appointed by the Florida Supreme Court.

Here's the background on the charges:

The case that led to the charges started out in 1996 as a breach of contract action between Amy Habie, owner of Nical of Palm Beach Inc., and Scott and Carol Lewis of Scott Lewis Gardening & Trimming. It degenerated into a bitter, seven-year war with multiple contempt of court orders and sanctions against Nical.

The Boies, Schiller & Flexner firm... has acknowledged providing years of free legal services to Habie and paying other lawyers more than $400,000 in fees and costs to fuel the litigation.

...Testimony and court filings in the past year disclosed that Boies had made Habie chief financial officer of the far-flung law firm, with a salary of $120,000 a year. Lewis alleged in court and in documents that Boies was willing to provide unlimited legal and financial help because of a personal relationship with Habie...

Boies has practiced for more than 30 years without an ethics censure. We'd like to hear his side of the story, as the only real criticism of Boies in the article comes from Scott and Carol Lewis, the couple on the other side of the lawsuit--and apparently, Scott Lewis also had a relationship with Boies' client.

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