FEATURE | JONATHAN SCHILLER
really handle the sight of blood, so I knew I wasn’t destined for a career
we’re not growing for growth’s sake.”
accepted to Columbia immediately and graduated in 1973.
cross-office teams to tackle new cases — a lesson Schiller picked up on
in medicine. I took the LSAT and applied to law school.” He was
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THE MARCOS CONNECTION chiller was partner at a boutique firm in D.C. in 1986 when he received the phone call that would change the course of his professional life.
From 1977 through 1981, Schiller had worked on and
Boies and Schiller also emphasize teamwork — often forming
the basketball courts of his youth. “Building teams and trying to win is a way of life for a lawyer,” he said. “Just like that team I played on
at Landon where we won an IAC championship, and that wonderful team I was a very small part of at Columbia that won an Ivy League championship.”
Finally, Boies and Schiller adopted a compensation model whereby
successfully defended a behemoth client, Westinghouse Electric, in a
all lawyers — including associates — are rewarded for any clients
Ferdinand Marcos to acquire the contract to build the Bataan Nuclear
partners. Attorneys can also receive, based on their performance, a
lawsuit that alleged the company had bribed then-Philippine President Power Plant in the Philippines. When Marcos fled the Philippines
amid charges of corruption in 1986, his successor, President Corazon
Aquino, filed a new civil lawsuit against Westinghouse that accused the company of bribery and unsafe conditions at the plant.
The fateful phone call Schiller received was Westinghouse letting
him know that Cravath, a renowned firm with whom Westinghouse
or individual cases they bring in, a practice traditionally reserved for portion of fees secured in a successful case.
As a result, Schiller says BSF attorneys are often much better
compensated than their peers at other firms... and they want to work hard and do their best, not simply hit a yearly quota for hours. The results have been overwhelmingly positive for the firm as well.
“There are some firms that are much bigger than ours, but they can’t
had a longstanding relationship, would be representing them in the
do what our people can do. We are litigators,” Schiller said. “We’re one
litigator. “Defending Westinghouse was a big opportunity, so that
firm like ours.”
new suit; they wanted him to hand over his files to Cravath’s lead
phone call was a very unhappy moment for me,” Schiller admitted. “They were basically telling me to turn over my life’s work.”
Schiller took the train to New York City to deliver the files to
Cravath’s litigator... David Boies. The two spent a Saturday in Boies’
apartment going over the case. Two weeks later, Boies called Schiller with much happier news: He wanted Schiller to work the case with him — an unconventional request at the time, but one that Schiller accepted.
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A DIFFERENT KIND OF LAW FIRM he two men forged a partnership and friendship in the
process. For the next 10 years, they teamed up for cases and
took their families on vacations together. In 1997, Boies left Cravath and asked Schiller to found Boies & Schiller with
him (it became BSF in 1999 when Don Flexner came aboard).
From the start, the two lawyers were insistent that the firm not be
another run-of-the-mill boutique. They had seen management styles and pay structures that led to unhappy work environments, and they set out to avoid those pitfalls.
The first thing they did was search for excellent attorneys to join
their ranks. “We have attracted a lot of great, wonderful people who
work very hard,” Schiller said. “We grow about 5 percent each year, but
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of the biggest fighting machines in the world. There has never been a
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A MAN OF MANY COMMUNITIES uccess has not caused Schiller to forget his roots, and he maintains close ties to both the Landon and Columbia communities.
He was inducted into the Columbia Athletics Hall
of Fame in 2006 and has received the school’s highest honors, the
John Jay and Alexander Hamilton awards. He has been chair of the Columbia University Board of Trustees since 2014, and all three of
his sons — Zack, Josh and Aaron — attended Columbia for either undergraduate or law school.
Zack ’97 and Josh ’99, who is now an attorney with BSF, attended
Landon. And a scholarship set up by Schiller provides aid to students who would not be able to attend Landon otherwise.
“In my class there are so many who continue to show interest and
support of Landon — much more than me,” Schiller said. “I played
a tiny role in it, but I have admired my classmates like Hap Holladay and Larry Lamade and Knight Kiplinger, who have been very
active, and effectively active, in leading Landon for decades after they matriculated. That’s the kind of loyalty that the school generates.”
The men are also loyal to one another, often meeting for dinner or
playing golf together. Lamade is convinced that the same qualities that
LANDON SCHOOL | SUMMER 2017