Jeffrey Epstein

A conservative legal luminary has replaced David Boies as an attorney for a Jeffrey Epstein accuser in her defamation suit against retired Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz

David Boies and Boies Schiller Flexner were removed from the case by a U.S. district judge in New York in what he called a "ploy" to deprive Virginia Giuffre of representation.

Giuffre claims she was trafficked as a minor by the late financier and forced to have sex with Dershowitz and other powerful men at Epstein's Palm Beach estate and elsewhere.

Dershowitz has repeatedly and forcefully denied her allegations. In his denials, Dershowitz has called Giuffre a serial liar and a prostitute in multiple rounds of interviews with national media.

Boies said Chuck Cooper's entry in to the case shows Dershowitz "wasn't going to be able to avoid this reckoning." Cooper, a founding member and chairman of Cooper & Kirk in Washington, had no comment by deadline.

In April, Boies Schiller sued Dershowitz for defamation, claiming his statements were part of a campaign to tarnish Giuffre's reputation and damage her credibility.

Dershowitz and his team moved to dismiss the lawsuit and lobbied a Manhattan federal judge to disqualify Boies and partner Sigrid McCawley from the case. According to the defense, Boies met with Dershowitz in 2015 and told the law professor that he did not believe Giuffre's allegations.

Boies and his firm deny that account of the meeting, but Dershowitz nevertheless vowed to call Boies to testify at trial.

Last month, U.S. District Judge Loretta A. Preska ruled Giuffre would be allowed to pursue her claims but without the help of her longtime attorneys. The judge said Dershowitz's plans to call Boies as a witness meant other Boies Schiller attorneys could be forced to offer testimony potentially discrediting their boss' statements and raised the possibility they lack the independence to do so.

"At a minimum, the scenario Dershowitz paints — which cannot be disregarded — would be unseemly in the extreme," she wrote. "Plaintiff's attorneys must be independent and free to challenge the credibility of Boies and other BSF partners in order to test the allegations made in the complaint they drafted and filed."

Boies said his team was still considering an appeal of Preska's disqualification ruling but recognized Giuffre's immediate need for representation.

Former foes in the California marriage-equality case, Cooper and Boies have a long history in the courtroom, and Boies said Cooper was a "natural" selection to fill the role.

"He's an exceptional lawyer," Boies said, who is "willing to take on what is a very vituperative campaign on the other side."

Boies said he and McCawley would aid in the transition and continue to represent Giuffre in other matters.

Boies Schiller is perhaps best-known for its advocacy on behalf of Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore in 2000 and successful litigation for marriage equality.

Cooper represents two former White House advisers involved in the U.S. House impeachment inquiry. He represents two former national security advisers: John Bolton, who has been asked to appear for a closed-door interview, and Charles Kupperman, who has been subpoenaed by House investigators.

Dershowitz, meanwhile, plans to assert counterclaims against Giuffre for defamation and "other tortious conduct." He previously said he is also mulling whether to file a separate suit against Giuffre.

Both sides are due in court Nov. 13 for a case conference before Preska.

Epstein died by suicide Aug. 10 at a New York federal jail, but relatives are disputing the medical examiner's conclusion, pointing to homicide as a possibility. He was detained on sex-trafficking charges after avoiding federal prosecution in Florida in exchange for a Palm Beach County plea deal allowing him to stay out of jail for much of a lenient sentence.

The Miami Herald published a series last year detailing allegations about Epstein that included dozens of women and specific allegations leveled against Dershowitz by Giuffre, one of the first women to comer forward against Epstein.

Read More:

Boies Schiller Attorneys Disqualified in Dershowitz Defamation Case

Alan Dershowitz's Lawyers Urge Dismissal of Epstein Accuser's Defamation Suit

AG Barr Warns Jeffrey Epstein Co-Conspirators Investigations Will Continue