Craps-Style Strategizing Helps Push Boies Schiller into Ranks of Top 100 Firms
A contingency case has helped catapult Boies, Schiller & Flexner into the American Lawyer’s list of the nation’s top 100 law firms.
Revenues at Boies Schiller increased by 18 percent in 2008, reaching $295 million, the American Lawyer reports. Profits per partner were $3 million, the third-highest on the Am Law 100 list. The profits were driven by a contingency case filed on behalf of American Express and a strategy in which the firm has seen 48 percent of its revenue in the last five years come from contingency and alternative fees.
“The firm takes a big chunk of cases on contingency, and associates—not just partners—can share in its profits,” the story says. “In this economic environment, where the billable-hour model is under pressure, and clients are increasingly asking their outside firms to share in the risk of litigation, the Boies Schiller strategy—mixing plaintiffs cases with defense matters, picking clients whose work fits with the firm’s long-term goals, and employing creative billing methods—looks built for the times.”
The contingency case filed on behalf of American Express in 2004 produced more than $4 billion in settlements, the story says. Boies Schiller has earned $5 million in fees from the case, and it is due to receive more than $150 million, some of which was paid last year, a source tells the American Lawyer. The suit contended Visa Inc., Master Card Inc. and eight banks conspired to keep American Express out of the credit card business.
Boies Schiller’s guidelines for evaluating contingency cases call for a solvent defendant, a greater than 40 percent chance of winning a settlement, and damages of at least $50 million, according to the story.
New clients hiring Boies Schiller on other than a contingency basis are charged a minimum engagement fee that ranges from from $250,000 to $5 million, in addition to hourly fees.
Name partner David Boies decided to create the law firm, formed 12 years ago, while at the craps table in Las Vegas. The American Lawyer article sees a connection with the Boies Schiller strategy. Craps provides a lesson in risk management, the story says, “and at Boies, Schiller & Flexner, that’s a required way of thinking.”
