Boies Schiller sign

More departures from Boies Schiller Flexner to rival firms brings this year's total of ex-partners to at least 10.

The latest moves announced Tuesday saw two partners and a counsel leaving the law firm. Two firms with South Florida offices opened earlier this year with former Boies Schiller partners.

In New York, longtime Boies Schiller partner Chris Duffy took his complex commercial litigation practice this week to Texas-based Vinson & Elkins. Duffy, an 18-year Boies partner, has worked with clients including Barclays, Goldman Sachs, the New York Yankees and SpaceX, according to his former Boies biography.

Vinson chairman Mark Kelly cited Duffy's addition as the latest sign of the firm's commitment to growing its New York presence. "He is a talented trial lawyer whose practice complements deep relationships and capabilities we have in the financial services sector across the firm," Kelly said.

Also in New York, former Boies Schiller counsel Joshua Libling joined the litigation finance company Validity Finance, where he'll serve as portfolio counsel. Libling, who also worked on complex commercial litigation matters, was Boies' pro bono coordinator, working closely with firm co-managing partner Jonathan Schiller on the firm's extensive pro bono efforts.

In Washington, Douglass Mitchell joined Jenner & Block in a move that reunites him with two other recent departees, Boies Schiller partners Lee Wolosky and Dawn Smalls, who joined Jenner in February. A veteran litigator with expertise in terrorism-related matters, Mitchell and Wolosky have frozen more than $2 billion in Iranian assets on behalf of terror victims, Jenner said.

"Doug is the nation's foremost lawyer in enforcing U.S. terrorism judgments abroad and is experienced litigating cases against banks under the Anti-Terrorism Act," Wolosky said in a statement.

The latest departures come amid a slow-moving leadership transition for the firm, which lifted long-time partners Nicholas Gravante and Natasha Harrison into managing partner roles along with David Boies and Schiller earlier this year.

Last June, the firm also announced it replaced its office leaders in New York, Los Angeles, Washington, Oakland, California, and Albany, New York.

In previous interviews, Gravante and Harrison said the firm is looking to do "fewer things well" in 2020 and doesn't necessarily see all of the partner departures as bad for business.

In interviews, both Duffy and Lipling said the recent leadership changes did not factor into their respective decisions to leave the firm.

"Nick is one of my closest friends at the firm and in the industry," Duffy said, calling his elevation to co-managing partner "a great thing for the firm."

Gravante said the firm wishes Duffy and Mitchell well in their new endeavors.

The South Florida moves include 15 attorneys opening Roche Cyrulnik Freedman in Miami and New York and three partners creating Heise Suarez Melville in Coral Gables.