Customer Reviews

v. Goliath: The Trials of David Boies

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Most of pieces of Boies border on idolatry. Donovan's work is special because although she clearly admires Boies and his work, she also points out his faults. The best reading in the book includes her digging behind the scenes to reveal what really happens in trials, settlements, and negotiations. While Boies is obviously one of the top trial lawyers in America, he often gets credit for things which are actually the result of other events. Donovan captures this wonderfully.

In this insightful and yeomanly researched book, Karen Donovan paints a vivid picture of a man who has achieved iconic status among America's trial lawyers. Thanks to the access granted the author by David Boies, we get not only a ringside seat for some of the last decade's most high-profile trials, including, of course, the one that put the current occupant of the White House in office, but we're there for pre-trial strategy sessions and post-trial dinners as well. Throughout, Donovan maintains a keen-eyed objectivity and isn't afraid to deflate balloons of bravado when need be. All in all, it's a compelling read.

Karen Donovan's book is something of a biography, a Grisham novel, a history book, and a litigation primer all wrapped into one. (As a litigator, I'm actually thinking that some of the strategies related in the book would be helpful for me in court.) Thoroughly engaging and entertaining, Ms. Donovan has a great deal of respect for her subject's talents but is careful not to gloss over his significant flaws.

David Boies probably has the most varied and storied career of any litigator alive, capped now by his recent work on the California Prop. 8 case. Unlike many top litigators profiled in previous books, who are workaholics with boundless energy but few quirks or outside interests, Boies is also a bit of an eccentric in his career path, world view, hobbies, and even shoe preferences.

This combination helps make Karen Donovan's book such a compelling read, and Boies such a compelling subject. Interspersed with incisive analysis of major cases Boies has handled, particularly the Microsoft antitrust case, are snippets and anecdotes about this colorful figure and about the practice of high-stakes lawsuits today. Donovan's book is thus a must for anyone who aspires to litigate at the top levels, or who just wants to learn more about how one of the greatest litigators of all time manages to pull it off in this conformist world and profession of ours.

--Ross Guberman, author of Point Made: How to Write Like the Nation's Top Advocates

It is hard to believe that a profile of one of America's top lawyers could be so engrossing, but Karen Donovan has written a superb book on David Boies. This biography of Boies reads like a novel and really gives one a window into his life and approach to the law. I found it to be, as one reviewer put it, "unputdownable." I highly recommend this book for lawyers and non-lawyers alike!