Boies Calls For Cheaper Trials

California Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald George listens as David Boies gives a keynote address at the Lawyers' Club of San Francisco luncheon for the court.

[Kate Moser]

David Boies (“the Michael Jordan of trial attorneys,” as he was introduced at Wednesday's Lawyers’ Club of San Francisco annual California Supreme Court lunch) called for members of the legal profession to do more to help people get justice in a cost-effective way.

“It costs too much to litigate today,” said Boies, founder and chairman of Boies, Schiller & Flexner, upon accepting his Access to Justice award at the lunch. 

Boies said attorneys should pare cases down to their essentials early on, and that limits on discovery and on the time allowed before a case goes to trial would save time and money for the justice system.

“I’ve taken depositions that went on for an embarrassing amount of time,” he said, recalling one that lasted 14 days.

But conserving resources will widen access to justice, he said. “We must make trials less expensive.”

Boies touched on his legal challenge to Prop. 8 only once, and in passing, noting that when he started practicing law, “it wasn’t just gays and lesbians who couldn’t get married.”

Despite strides made in the law since then, he said, “our contribution” to the justice system has been to stand by while legal expenses ballooned, more people were priced out of representation, and courts shut down for lack of funding.

“That is our legacy, and that, I suggest to you, is what we need to deal with,” he said.

Chief Justice Ronald George, who introduced the court at the lunch, was joined by Justices Kathryn Werdegar, Ming Chin and Marvin Baxter.

Comments

[neuraloverload]

Hilarious stuff when you realise this is the same law firm that has dragged out a lawsuit for over 8 YEARS now.
They lost it on summary judgement.
So they appealed.
The appeals court sent a part of it to trial, they lost it at the trial.
Now they want the judge to set aside the jury ruling and rule in their favour.
If he is so keen to cut down on expenses, perhaps he should start by setting an example and stop with trying to get around the decisions of the people.
Perhaps the fastest way to cut down on the lawyering is to start handing out sanctions to law firms bringing un-winnable suits before the courts.
That and stop them trying to shop around different state courts for one friendly to their client's interest.

In case your wondering the one I refer to is the SCO vs Novell case , details of the sorry saga can be found at :
http://www.groklaw.net

[idunno]

Yeah, well, you see, if Novell and IBM (and all Boies's other opponents) had limited their discovery, and not spent so much turning over every rock Boies tried to crawl under, then Boies could win more easily. So, it's all good advice for his opponents.

[deedee]

David Boies! What a friggin' slime ball, and he got an award? I've been a registered member at Groklaw since 2003. I have some strong opinions about Boies, and his firm and Berger, Singerman too, who have been in on the scam since early on.

[Gerhard Mack]

How does a lawyer who was the subject of Florida Bar complaints, who dragged out a case for 14 years and whoes client was sanctioned by a judge for 1.2 million for falsifying evidence end up winning an award?

http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202437812208&rss=newswire

If this is what gets an award in than it's no wonder your average person has no faith in the legal system.

[Anita Lynn]

My Sons X girlfriend got mad when he fell in love with another woman and came up with "Threats" on her I phone (which by the way is a Computer Hacker Phone called the "JAILBREAK IPHONE" Which is capable of Putting ANYONES phone number on the Caller Id. There is another application very accessible that lets you leave Voice Mail in a disguised voice.. Girls can sound like guys.. guys like girls and you can put anyones # on and leave a VOICE MAIL THREAT! She went to the police they arrested my son, HE HAS BEEN IN JAIL FOR 2 MONTHS WITH NO END IN SIGHT! AND THEY HAVE NEVER SUPEONED HER PHONE WHICH WOULD SHOW THE ORGIN OF THESE CALLS AFTER ALL THIS TIME.

She said, he said. and nobody cares enough about spending tax payers money to keep him in there to VERIFY that the evidence is credible.

No WONDER CALIFORNIA IS BROKE!

A modern day Witch hunt!
Help? Anyone Listening?

Anita
510-459-8170

[Law]

"David Boies (“the Michael Jordan of trial attorneys,” as he was introduced at Wednesday's Lawyers’ Club of San Francisco annual California Supreme Court lunch) called for members of the legal profession to do more to help people get justice in a cost-effective way.