Photo: Jason Doiy/ALM

Boies Schiller Flexner partner Scott Wilson has taken his white-collar and complex civil litigation practice to DLA Piper in New York. Wilson, who joined DLA as a partner in the last month, said he was attracted to the firm's broader practice and geographic reach.

"The needs of my clients had evolved with the market, and I wanted to be able to meet those needs across a more diverse set of practices and across the globe, and that's really what drew me to DLA," he said in an interview.

Wilson, who is 37, practiced at Boies Schiller for about 10 years, including from the time he completed law school in 2007 through 2011 and from 2013 through earlier this month. In between, he worked in the New York Attorney General's Office as senior adviser and special counsel. He said he has faced off against lawyers from DLA Piper and has long respected and admired the firm.

While Wilson wouldn't discuss his clients, court records indicate he previously defended PIMCO in a lawsuit brought by its co-founder Bill Gross in California state court, following Gross' 2014 resignation from the asset manager. That lawsuit was settled in 2017 for a reported $81 million that the parties said would be given to charity.

According to the Wall Street Journal, athletics giant Nike turned to Wilson when confronted with what federal prosecutors have characterized as an extortionate demand by lawyer Michael Avennati in allegedly threatening to accuse the company of making illicit payments to athletes' families if he wasn't given the role of conducting an internal investigation. Avenatti has denied wrongdoing.

Wilson's practice includes civil litigation and white-collar criminal matters, much of it with an international angle. He has worked on investigations involving the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and other laws and regulations, and his clients are involved in a wide array of industries, such as consumer goods, finance, technology and real estate, DLA said.

To illustrate the kind of multifaceted cases he might handle, he described a hypothetical situation where federal prosecutors send a subpoena to a multinational company about a transaction in a South American country, leading to media coverage that triggers public regulatory proceedings or a parliamentary probe in that country. He said his background, including his education in civil law at Sciences Po in France, helped him understand the stakes in such complex cases and communicate them to clients.

At the New York Attorney General's Office, Wilson oversaw investigations, brokered settlements and liaised with other agencies regarding residential mortgage-backed securities.

During his time there, Wilson became even more familiar with DLA litigators when he prosecuted a case involving allegations of collusion between the appraisal manager eAppraiseIT and Washington Mutual. DLA represented the defendants. The case was settled mid-trial for about $8 million, according to reports from the time.

In a statement, Jonathan Schiller, Boies Schiller Flexner's managing partner, said, "We thank Scott for his work for our clients, and we wish him the best at his new firm."