A federal magistrate judge in San Jose, California, last week opened the door to the possibility that a trove of emails between lawyers at Boies Schiller Flexner and officials at Theranos could be submitted as evidence in the upcoming criminal trial of the defunct blood-testing company's founder Elizabeth Holmes. While exactly what is contained in those emails will have to wait to be seen, one nugget from the decision over whether the communications were privileged jumped out: Boies Schiller didn't have an engagement letter with Theranos or Holmes.

That lack of documentation is especially surprising considering Boies Schiller's wide-ranging relationship with Theranos, which covered everything from advising on the company's patent portfolio to consulting on interactions with the press to dealing with inquiries from government agencies to handling litigation matters over the course of a half-decade.