Stuart
Singer
(via
Boies
Schiller)
Boies
Schiller
partner
Stuart
Singer
recently
added
day-to-day
firm
management
to
his
ample
list
of
tasks,
joining
Sigrid
McCawley
and
Matthew
Schwartz
as
co-managing
partners
while
David
Boies
transitions
out
of
his
role
as
firm
chairman.
It’s
a
lot
to
take
on
for
a
partner
still
busy
running
his
own
book
of
business
and
only
a
couple
years
removed
from
a
cancer
fight.
But,
as
he
told
Litigation
Daily,
when
he
was
asked
about
taking
on
the
added
responsibility,
he
told
Boies
and
Jonathan
Schiller
he
was
up
for
it
“if
they
thought
it
would
be
helpful
to
the
firm”
that
he
worked
at
for
the
last
24
years.
Before
taking
on
his
new
gig,
Singer
wrapped
up
a
job
helping
out
a
cause
he’s
cared
about
for
even
longer
than
the
last
24
years. Like
a
lot
of
prominent
attorneys,
Singer’s
professional
journey
started
with
competitive
policy
debate.
A
graduate
of
Miami
Senior
High
in
the
Little
Havana
neighborhood,
he
credits
his
access
to
debate
for
bringing
him
to
traditional
collegiate
debate
powerhouse
Northwestern.
That
decision
worked
out
well
for
him,
having
won
the
National
Debate
Tournament
for
the
Wildcats.
And,
in
turn,
his
time
at
Northwestern
propelled
him
to
Harvard
Law,
running
the
law
review,
clerking
for
Justice
Byron
White,
and
a
Biglaw
career.
It’s
telling
when
someone
sporting
accolades
from
president
of
Harvard
Law
Review
to
Supreme
Court
clerk
to
Biglaw
managing
partner
isolates
one
high
school
experience
as
transformative.
And
for
the
last
several
years,
Singer
has
worked
to
make
sure
that
experience
remains
available
to
future
generations.
From
2017
until
earlier
this
year,
Singer
served
as
the
chairman
of
the
board
of
the
National
Association
for
Urban
Debate
Leagues,
an
organization
working
with
20
leagues
across
the
country
to
provide
inner
city
public
school
students
with
access
to
policy
debate
competition.
Traditionally
a
staple
high
school
extracurricular
offering,
debate
had
increasingly
become
the
province
of
private
schools
or
suburban
public
schools.
The
urban
debate
league
system
arose
to
reverse
that
trend
and
bring
programs
back
to
metropolitan
public
schools.
At
this
point,
NAUDL
and
its
affiliated
programs
reach
around
10,000
students
annually.
That
reach
matters
because
research
conducted
on
the
impact
of
just
having
access
to
debate
programs
finds
that:
- For
each
semester
that
a
student
debates,
their
individual grades
improve- Urban
debaters
are
more
likely
to test
as
college-ready in
English,
Reading,
Math,
and
Science- Urban
debaters
have
both
a
higher
high
school
graduation
rate- Urban
debaters
have
a higher
rate
of
college
enrollment- Urban
debaters
are
more
likely
to
attend
a
four-year
college
And
as
an
urban
public
school
graduate
himself,
Singer’s
commitment
to
the
urban
debate
league
project
is
personal.
Debaters
don’t
have
to
become
lawyers,
of
course.
But
few
academic
endeavors
outside
of
debate
breed
the
nerdtastic
enjoyment
in
research
and
analysis
that
make
legal
work
a
thrill
rather
than
a
slog.
I
once
read
a
description
of
a
debate
in
the
1920s
between
American
and
British
students
that
said,
“The
Americans
prepared
their
case
like
lawyers
arguing
before
a
judge,
their
arguments
showed
factual
mastery
of
the
subject
and
were
well
organized;
the
Englishmen
made
clever
and
witty
speeches
which
amused
the
audience.”
That
sums
up
the
difference
between
the
two
national
traditions.
American-style
debate
still
isn’t
built
on
sounding
pretty
—
it
can
in
fact
alienate
an
unfamiliar
ear
—
instead
placing
all
its
emphasis
on
research
and
evidence
analysis.
Debate
does
more
to
reward
hours
scouring
electronic
research
and
briefing
out
fine
distinctions
between
conflicting
support,
tracking
the
motion
practice
and
litigation
strategy
skills
that
take
up
far
more
of
the
day
as
a
litigator
than
trying
to
charm
jurors.
As
Singer
notes,
debate
encourages
a
team
culture
of
celebrating
research
that’s
ideal
for
working
in
this
profession.
Boies
told
Litigation
Daily
of
Singer
“I
think
he
really,
genuinely,
as
I
do,
enjoys
what
we
do,”
and
firms
work
best
when
people
really
enjoy
the
mission.
Over
the
years,
Boies
Schiller
has
taken
advantage
of
that
culture.
Boies
debated
in
high
school
and
at
the
University
of
Redlands,
where
Singer
would
later
coach
while
in
law
school,
including
coaching
former
BSF
partner
Bill
Isaacson.
The
NAUDL
aims
to
keep
this
pipeline
open
for
students
at
schools
suffering
some
of
the
most
daunting
resource
challenges
in
the
country.
Earlier
this
year,
the
organization’s
annual
dinner
honored
Singer’s
tenure
with
a
short
video
with
appearances
by
Boies
and
Massey
&
Gail’s
Lenny
Gail.
(credit
National
Association
for
Urban
Debate
Leagues)
Singer’s
chairmanship
involved
navigating
urban
debate
leagues
through
the
COVID-19
pandemic.
It’s
not
easy
to
convince
a
high
school
student
to
give
up
their
weekends
bussing
to
some
far
off
campus
to
discuss
the
finer
points
of
infrastructure
policy
when
they
do
get
to
hang
out
with
a
bunch
of
like-minded
peers.
Convincing
them
to
throw
themselves
into
research
so
they
can
Zoom
from
home
is
a
whole
other
level.
And
yet
the
urban
debate
league
program
survived
the
lockdown
and
continues
to
thrive
with
support
from
Boies
Schiller,
White
&
Case,
and
other
Biglaw
and
boutique
firms
represented
on
the
board.
But
it
can
always
use
more
help
and
if
there’s
a
local
chapter
in
your
area,
consider
helping
them
out
directly.
After
Battling
Cancer,
Boies
Schiller
Rainmaker
Stuart
Singer
Tackles
Something
New:
Day-to-Day
Firm
Management
[Litigation
Daily]
Joe
Patrice is
a
senior
editor
at
Above
the
Law
and
co-host
of
Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
Feel
free
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