Boies Schiller expands in California with acquisition of litigation boutique
File photo of David Boies by Kathy Anderson
Boies Schiller Flexner has announced that it is acquiring a Los Angeles litigation boutique with more than two dozen lawyers.
Caldwell Leslie & Proctor will join Boies Schiller on April 17, report the Wall Street Journal Law Blog, the New York Times, Law.com (sub. req.) and Bloomberg Big Law Business. A press release is here.
The smaller firm is known for taking cases to trial and for hiring lawyers following judicial clerkships, according to the Wall Street Journal. It handles entertainment, commercial, environmental, employment, investigative and white-collar matters. Clients have included TMZ, Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros. Entertainment, Lucasfilm Ltd., Disney Enterprises, Robert De Niro and the former president of Countrywide Financial Corp.
Chris Caldwell, name partner of Caldwell Leslie, told Bloomberg that several large law firms have contacted the firm over the years. “When we heard that Boies Schiller was interested in expanding its Los Angeles presence, that was the first time we had any serious conversations, even though we have probably been contacted by the majority of the Am Law 100,” he said.
Boies Schiller already has 28 lawyers in California in offices in Palo Alto, Oakland and Santa Monica, according to Bloomberg. “The combination with Caldwell Leslie will nearly double its California headcount and marks just the third tie-up the firm has executed in its 20-year history,” according to the article. Last year, Boies Schiller merged with a New York litigation boutique.
The acquisition is in line with Boies Schiller’s aim to focus on its core litigation practice. The firm revealed last month that most of its corporate group is moving to Paul Hastings. The head of the corporate group, Christopher Boies, is joining a firm client. Boies is the son of firm chairman David Boies.
