WilmerHale is pleased to announce that Robert L. Boone, a former Southern District of New York Assistant US Attorney with significant trial experience in high-profile cases, is joining the firm as a partner.
Mr. Boone, who spent nearly a decade as a federal prosecutor, will be part of the firm’s industry-leading White Collar Defense and Investigations Practice and based in the firm’s New York office.
During his time in the SDNY, several of Mr. Boone’s cases produced national headlines. His prosecution of two overlapping corruption schemes, one involving the acceptance of bribes by a close advisor of then-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the other a bid-rigging scheme by the then-president of a state university, resulted in multiple guilty pleas and eight convictions after two trials.
Mr. Boone was the lead prosecutor in the NCAA corruption scandal in which ten people were ultimately convicted, including a former Adidas executive, an aspiring sports business manager, and college basketball coaches.
He also brought charges against disgraced celebrity lawyer Michael Avenatti for attempting to extort $20 million from Nike Inc., charges that eventually led to Mr. Avenatti’s conviction and a sentence of 2-1/2 years in federal prison.
For Mr. Boone, his arrival at WilmerHale in October will actually mark his return to the firm. He was a Litigation/Controversy Department senior associate in the firm’s New York office until joining the SDNY in 2012.
“We’re so pleased to have Robert with us again,” said Susan Murley, WilmerHale’s co-managing partner “His years as an SDNY trial lawyer handling such high-pressure cases will prove invaluable to our clients. With Robert, we further bolster our considerable trial strength.”
“I’m looking forward to working shoulder to shoulder once again with some of the best lawyers in private practice to help clients through some of the most serious challenges they’ll ever face,” Mr. Boone said.
Before his previous WilmerHale role, Mr. Boone was an associate in New York for another international law firm. He also clerked for the legendary Judge Damon Keith of the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Mr. Boone earned his JD in 2007 from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. He earned his BA, summa cum laude, from Howard University in 2004.