Sigrid McCawley: The Lawyer Who Made the Untouchables Touchable
Why She’s Our 2025 Lawyer of the Year
Sonia Hickey, LawFuel contributing writer
In a legal landscape where justice often moves at glacial speed, Sigrid McCawley is the wrecking ball nobody saw coming. The power lawyer who takes on the most powerful fortresses is LawFuel’s US Lawyer of the Year.
As Managing Partner at Boies Schiller Flexner, she’s spent years the powerful. Her weapon of choice? Pro bono passion backed by platinum-grade legal strategy.
2025 has been her defining year and LawFuel profiled Sigrid McCawley in October to recount her significant achievements. While federal agencies sat on evidence like it was classified nuclear codes, McCawley called them out, loudly, publicly, and with receipts.
The feds might still be hoarding Epstein’s digital files. But McCawley’s relentless push for transparency has rewritten the playbook on victim advocacy.
That’s why she’s earned our nod as :awFuel’s US Lawyer of the Year.
From Gainesville to Global Stage
McCawley’s origin story starts in Upstate New York, but her legal DNA was forged in Florida.
She graduated from the University of Florida in 1994 with a B.A. in History, including the highest honors, Hall of Fame inductee, Dean’s List regular. She was also Panhellenic President, because apparently overachieving was her baseline.
By 1997, she’d snagged her J.D. with honors from UF Levin College of Law. She cut her teeth on the UF Trial Team and contributed to the International Law Journal.
Her first post-graduation role was clerking for U.S. District Judge Jose Gonzalez Jr. in the Southern District of Florida. It’s where she learned federal court isn’t for the faint of heart.
A brief detour to Morgan, Lewis & Bockius in Washington, D.C. followed in 1999. Think Beltway bustle meets buttoned-up BigLaw.
But 2001 marked the real plot twist. McCawley joined Boies Schiller Flexner in Fort Lauderdale and never looked back.
Two decades of grinding through commercial disputes later, she became equity partner in 2019. By 2020, she was steering the entire ship as Managing Partner.
She’s admitted to bars in Florida, D.C., and New York. Her practice spans international arbitrations, trade secret theft, and enough commercial litigation to make opposing counsel reach for the Advil.
The Pro Bono Crusade That Changed Everything
McCawley’s commercial wins are impressive. A $150 million settlement from Amway in a pyramid scheme case. $100 million from Halliburton after dancing with the Supreme Court twice.
But her pro bono work however is where she became legendary.
Enter the Jeffrey Epstein saga, the case that would define a generation of victim advocacy.
McCawley didn’t just join the fight. She architected it.
The Epstein Empire Unravels
Representing Virginia Giuffre pro bono, McCawley filed a 2015 defamation suit against Ghislaine Maxwell. The case settled for millions in 2017 and pried open doors that led to Maxwell’s criminal charges.
By 2019, she was representing eight women directly, plus three more as co-counsel. She turned expired statutes of limitations into creative legal leverage.
The math is staggering: thousands of unpaid hours. The payoff wa achieving a direct contribution to arrests of Epstein, Maxwell, and Jean-Luc Brunel.
The crown jewel came in 2023, a jaw-dropping $365 million class action settlement from two major banks. Proceeds funded victim recoveries and sent a message: enablers pay too.
In 2021, her civil suit against Prince Andrew ended in settlement. The royal wrote a “substantial donation” check to Giuffre’s victims’ rights charity. A deposition that might have rocked Buckingham Palace was avoided, but the victory was clear.
2025: Calling Out the Government
Fast-forward to July 2025, and McCawley wasn’t pulling punches.
She blasted the DOJ and FBI on CNN and NewsNation for “sitting on a treasure trove of information” from Epstein’s seized devices.
“What’s really just astonishing,” she told Jake Tapper, is the government’s refusal to release evidence—computers, hard drives, the works, even as victims seek closure.
Her ongoing pro bono representation of ballerinas alleging sex trafficking proves she’s far from finished dismantling abuse networks.
It’s the kind of dogged pursuit that makes you wonder: What else is hiding in those government servers?
The Trophy Case
McCawley’s accolades read like a legal awards buffet.
Litigator of the Year from The American Lawyer in 2020. Finalist for Attorney of the Year in 2022.
In 2025 alone she achieved some remarkable recognition from major media outlets:
- Forbes’ Top 200 Lawyers in America
- Lawdragon’s 500 Leading Lawyers
- Benchmark Litigation’s Top 250 Women in Litigation
- Best Lawyers in America
She snagged the University of Florida Law Outstanding Alumnus Award in 2021. South Florida Business Journal named her one of their Influential Business Women.
Her media footprint spans Netflix documentaries, 60 Minutes, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. Legal drudgery became must-watch drama.
Beyond the Courtroom
McCawley isn’t just collecting settlements. She’s reshaping community welfare too.
She’s chaired boards for ChildNet. She sat on the ABA Commission for At-Risk Youth. Currently, she directs efforts at Jack & Jill Children’s Center and the Community Foundation of Broward.
Why stop at courtroom conquests when you can change systemic policy?
The Personal Side
McCawley is married to Daniel McCawley, a real estate partner at Greenberg Traurig (pictured). They have four children together.
It’s the ultimate power couple setup—high-stakes litigation by day, possibly debating case law over dinner.
Her commitment to at-risk youth isn’t performative. It’s woven into everything she does, from ABA commissions to nonprofit boards.
Colleagues call her a “titan of the plaintiffs bar.” Peel back the layers, and you’ll find a leader who co-authors pieces on #MeToo intersecting with securities fraud.
She’s as thoughtful as she is tenacious.
The Blueprint for Aspiring Lawyers
McCawley’s trajectory offers a masterclass in modern legal success for lawyers generally and for women lawyers in particular. Her career is a key case study.
Start with solid academics. Honors everywhere, leadership roles, trial team experience.
Pivot to pro bono for impact. Don’t just take cases—take the ones nobody else will touch.
Never shy from the spotlight. Media appearances aren’t vanity. They’re amplification for your clients’ causes.
Balance commercial wins with social justice. The former funds the firm. The latter defines your legacy.
Call out power when it fails victims. Even if it’s the DOJ. Especially if it’s the DOJ.
Why 2025 Was Her Year
In a year where justice felt increasingly elusive, McCawley reminded us what accountability looks like.
She’s not waiting for government agencies to do the right thing but works by dragging them into the spotlight and demanding answers.
Her work on the Epstein case continues to reverberate. Every victim settlement, every arrest, every unsealed document traces back to her foundation-building litigation.
The ballerina trafficking cases she’s handling now? They’re the next chapter in a career defined by speaking for those who’ve been silenced.
The Sardonic Truth
Here’s the thing about McCawley: She makes it look easy while they are some of the most difficult cases any attorney might handle.
While Epstein’s enablers jet-setted in luxury, she logged thousands of unpaid hours. While the powerful played hide-and-seek with evidence, she turned victim advocacy into a full-contact sport.
She’s proven that persistence can topple even the most insulated empires. That pro bono work isn’t charity—it’s justice with compound interest.
In 2025, amid political chaos and institutional failures, McCawley stands as proof that one lawyer actually can make a difference.
Final Verdict
Sigrid McCawley isn’t just winning cases. She’s rewriting the rules on victim empowerment, which is one of the main factors influencing LawFuel’s choice as US lawyer of the year.
She’s shown that BigLaw prowess and social justice aren’t mutually exclusive. That managing partner responsibilities don’t preclude taking on the untouchables.
As she continues pushing for Epstein file disclosures and representing trafficking survivors, one thing is clear: She’s not done yet.
For lawyers seeking inspiration, McCawley offers a simple formula: Blend commercial savvy with moral courage. Add relentless advocacy. Refuse to let the powerful off the hook.
The doors don’t just open. They fly off their hinges.
That’s why Sigrid McCawley is our 2025 US Lawyer of the Year.
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