(CNSNews.com) - The lawyer who represented Al Gore in the hotly contested Florida post-election recount in 2000 is now facing ethics charges in what one local newspaper described as a "bizarre" case.
The Florida Bar's grievance committee found probable cause to charge David Boies with three counts of ethics violations. The ruling on July 10 accused Boies of misconduct, giving financial assistance to a client and improperly supervising other lawyers.
The bar's finding is comparable to an indictment, and a judge appointed by the Florida Supreme Court will hear the case. No timeline for resolving the matter has been set.
Boies could be barred from appearing in state courts in Florida if the bar finds him guilty of the charges. He is not currently licensed to practice law in the state, so he cannot be formally disbarred. However, Boies is allowed to practice in the state on a case-by-case basis.
Ken Boehm, chairman of the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC), called the charges against Boies "very strong."
"The bar is notorious for not punishing wayward lawyers. The fact that this case has gone this far with a lawyer as prominent as David Boies really underscores the seriousness of these charges," Boehm told CNSNews.com. The NLPC is a conservative legal watchdog group based in Washington, D.C.
In addition to representing Gore in the losing recount effort, Boies headed the federal government's anti-trust lawsuit against Microsoft and has been consistently recognized as one of the nation's most influential lawyers by the National Law Journal.
Corporations such as CBS, DuPont and the New York Yankees have also been among Boies' clients.
Boies' office refused to comment on the ethics charges when contacted by CNSNews.com on Wednesday, but James Fox Miller of Fort Lauderdale, a business partner of Boies, was quoted by the Palm Beach Post Saturday as saying: "It's a shame [Boies has] been accused of something like this, and I'm upset about it."
Miller, the former head of the Florida Bar, said that Boies had never been censured during his legal career, which has lasted more than 30 years.
'Bizarre legal battle'
Boies' ethics charges stem from what the Palm Beach Post called a "bizarre legal battle" involving a local dispute between two lawn-care companies competing for the lucrative Palm Beach territory.
The landscaping legal woes that led to Boies' ethics charges originated in a breach of contract dispute between the companies in 1996, in which Boies represented one of the parties.
The legal battle between Amy Habie, owner of Nical of Palm Beach, Inc., and Scott and Carol Lewis of Scott Lewis Gardening & Trimming has been waging for seven years. The underlying dispute was settled in 1998, but post-settlement disputes continue over legal compliance issues.
Boies' Armonk, N.Y.-based firm of Boies, Schiller & Flexner provided years' worth of free legal service to Habie while paying other lawyers more than $400,000 in fees. Habie was made a chief financial officer in Boies' law firm, with a salary of $120,000 a year, according to the paper, which quoted court documents.
Repeated suits called 'a sad commentary'
Habie's lawsuits have resulted in her being sanctioned by the courts nine times over the years, including three contempt of court orders, according to Lewis.
Circuit Court Judge David Crow called the series of lawsuits by Boies on Habie's behalf "a sad commentary on the inability of the legal system and the courts of our state to resolve a simple contract dispute, when one is willing to litigate without regard to costs."
But Boies has a family trust that is a part owner of Habie's lawn-care company, holding a minority interest in the company, according to court papers.
Lewis, who has acted as his own attorney in much of the legal proceedings despite having no legal background, is not impressed with Boies' skills as a lawyer.
"I am a gardener," Lewis told CNSNews.com. "Everybody sees David Boies as a genius, and I don't see it. I see Goliath falling.
"Boies wants to be remembered for serving the law, but in this case, he acted above the law," Lewis charged.
State bar has tackled legal legends
Boehm pointed to famed attorney F. Lee Bailey's 2001 disbarment on ethics charges from the Florida Bar as an indication that the bar may not be intimated by Boies' powerful connections. "If I were David Boies, I would be very concerned about the charges," Boehm said.
The impact of being found guilty of the ethics charges on Boies may be mixed, according to Boehm.
"But the public does expect people that have as much influence as Mr. Boies to behave responsibly, and this could have a very negative impact on his career," Boehm added.
CBS, the Yankees. Two lawn companies battling over who mows what. This was the top of a google search. It did work to put in David Boies lawn service lawsuit.
Now, we need to determine exactly what Boies' tie to National Enquirer is.
WHAT IF BOIES' LAWN SERVICE MOWED RUSH'S LAWN? Wouldn't that be weird? lol
The Carl Hiaasen/Elmore Leonard Rip 'n' Write Section
In August, an appeals court heard arguments on a third contempt of court order by judges against a Palm Beach lawn-care company owned by a cast of characters including superstar New York lawyer David Boies, who has been supplying legal firepower, unsuccessfully, against a rival firm (whose owner is representing himself in court). Boies' company, Nical, alleged that rival Scott Lewis broke a 1996 contract, and the sides have struggled since then, with another Nical owner apparently violating multiple court orders. Boies' co-owners are a convicted top-drawer Miami marijuana smuggler and the frisky ex-wife of a Guatemalan textile manufacturer (a woman described by one California clothing buyer as a "sex nazi" because she used him sexually in exchange for overlooking various invoices).
These are people who would get along fine with Maid Cline. Is she from Guatamala maybe? Where's Rush's maid from?
The Carl Hiaasen/Elmore Leonard Rip 'n' Write Section
In August, an appeals court heard arguments on a third contempt of court order by judges against a Palm Beach lawn-care company owned by a cast of characters including superstar New York lawyer David Boies, who has been supplying legal firepower, unsuccessfully, against a rival firm (whose owner is representing himself in court). Boies' company, Nical, alleged that rival Scott Lewis broke a 1996 contract, and the sides have struggled since then, with another Nical owner apparently violating multiple court orders. Boies' co-owners are a convicted top-drawer Miami marijuana smuggler and the frisky ex-wife of a Guatemalan textile manufacturer (a woman described by one California clothing buyer as a "sex nazi" because she used him sexually in exchange for overlooking various invoices).
These are people who would get along fine with Maid Cline. Is she from Guatamala maybe? Where's Rush's maid from?
Here's his case against Microsoft to look for clues.
12:02 PM EST Tues., Sept. 21, 1999 A government attorney Tuesday morning intoned a litany of what he called Microsoft Corp. offenses against antitrust laws Tuesday morning before a packed courtroom.
David Boies, the lead attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice in its quest to reign in Microsoft practices, focused particularly on a June 21, 1995 meeting at which, he said, Microsoft tried to divide the browser market with Netscape Communications Corp., pointing to notes by then-Netscape chief technology officer Marc Andreessen as proof. "Look at the documents," said Boies.
As has become his custom, Boies spoke fluidly, without notes, calling up documents at will to reinforce his points.
He highlighted e-mail messages from Microsoft senior vice president Jim Allchin that talk of the company's need to use Windows as a competitive advantage. "We must use Windows, it's the one thing they do not have," Allchin wrote. Boies said Microsoft was so intent on using its Windows monopoly that it was willing to hold back new technology from OEM partners, even if those partners-and by extension their customers-would suffer as a result.
In an e-mail message, Allchin wrote that the company should withold certain other technologies in Windows 98 so the company could get its Internet Explorer browser integrated with the operating system.
There was a market for a separate browser and an operating system, but Microsft not only integrated the browser into Windows but "welded it so that OEMs and customers couldn't change it," Boies said.
Before a crowd of spectators both and statues of famous lawgivers of the ages from Moses and Solomon to Hammarabi, Boies hammered home three points: That Microsoft monopolized the operating systems market and attempted to do the same with browser, both in defiance of Section two of the Sherman Antitrust Act, and that it practiced unreasonable constraint of trade, a violation of section one.
Toward the latter point, he said Microsoft entered into exclusive deals with Internet Service Providers to distribute and maintain its browser and to refrain from distributing Netscape Navigator.
"In the end this case should be about the real world, not creative legal arguments or creative economic arguments and what the real world demonstrates is shown by Microsoft's documents, what OEMs said and what their customers said," Boies noted.
Observers lined up on both sides of the issue. "It's a scary situation when lawyers are telling us what the real world is. It ignores what really happened in terms of 100 million plus browsers being distributed by Netscape," Jonathon Zuck, president of the pro-Microsoft Association for Competitive Technology.
Ken Wasch, president of Washington-based SIIA called Boies' closing "simply marvelous."
"It's clear Microsoft employed tactics not designed to improve its product but to kill competition," Wasch said.
But, William Kovacik, a professor of law at George Washington University said the government strategy is a gamble. They are relying so much on the June 21 meeting, the result could boil down to whether that meeting "had a single and unambiguous purpose, if there was a single unmistakable aim and purpose you might have a violation but it will be hard to prove that."
Microsoft will have its turn to present its key points later Tuesday afternoon.
I also found out that CBS OWNS VIACOM and MTV. And, he's National Enquirer's counsel and for some reason, he was involved in the Spike Lee case against TNN's Spike network arguing against Johnny Cochran for Spike Lee. So, I guess that means Boies was representing TNN/Spike TV.