Imagine, on the silver screen, Jack Nicholson poring over a textbook for hours, searching for an obscure election law precedent, dressed in a Land’s End suit and black running shoes, then yammering on a cell phone while driving to a Tallahassee, Fla., courthouse in his Lexus.
Perhaps, coming soon to a theater near you: “David Boies, Superlawyer.”
One of the most famous lawyers of our time, David Boies has published his memoir, “Courting Justice: From New York Yankees v. Major League Baseball to Bush v. Gore, 1997-2000,” published by Miramax. He reveals how he won well-known cases like Microsoft — and ultimately lost the presidential recount case of 2000 — and offers glimpses of his hard road to success.
On Oct. 28, Boies will read from the book and autograph copies at Temple Judea in Coral Gables, Fla., in an appearance sponsored by Books & Books. According to a news release from Books & Books, Boies, 63, will “demonstrate how his mixture of grace-under-pressure and pressure relentlessly applied has made him one of the icons of the legal system.”
In an interview, Boies said Miramax has expressed interest in turning the book — or at least parts of it — into a movie. But he has no movie deal yet. He said he would not want to do the screenplay. Jack Nicholson, who last chewed up the scenery in a courtroom in “A Few Good Men,” would be his choice to play the legal hero.
Not counting a legal textbook he wrote 25 years ago, “Courting Justice” is Boies’ first book. It details the eleventh-hour strategies he employed in his most famous cases: Bush v. Gore, United States v. Microsoft, CBS v. Gen. William Westmoreland and New York Yankees v. Major League Baseball, to name a few.
The legal star also recounts some less well-known personal battles, such as his lifelong struggle with dyslexia, his expulsion from law school and two divorces.
While Boies was at Northwestern, his first marriage broke up. Soon after, he was banished from the law school for engaging in an affair with a professor’s wife (she later married him). Boies completed his law degree at Yale.
Boies spent six months writing the book and six months on edits as the manuscript was winnowed from 220,000 to 160,000 words.
Boies said he didn’t have to ask his former client, Al Gore, for permission to break attorney-client privilege since he didn’t use any information that wasn’t already known. But he did need permission from other former clients.
Between book signings throughout the country, Boies, a partner at Boies Schiller & Flexner in Armonk, N.Y. — which has offices in South Florida — will represent the Kerry/Edwards campaign in any election litigation.
