Sigrid McCawley
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Sigrid McCawley is an American attorney who is known for representing victims of
Jeffrey Epstein Jeffrey Edward Epstein ( ; January 20, 1953August 10, 2019) was an American sex offender and financier. Epstein, who was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York City, began his professional life by teaching at the Dalton School in Manhattan, des ...
such as
Virginia Giuffre Virginia Louise Giuffre (''née'' Roberts; born August 9, 1983) is an American-Australian campaigner who offers support to victims of sex trafficking. She is an alleged victim of the sex trafficking ring of Jeffrey Epstein. Giuffre created Vict ...
and others in several civil cases against their abusers. McCawley is one of the co-managing partners of Boies Schiller Flexner, a firm where she has worked for more than 20 years. As part of the firm, she has represented clients in several notable cases including class action suits against
Amway Amway (short for "American Way") is an American multi-level marketing (MLM) company that sells health, beauty, and home care products. The company was founded in 1959 by Jay Van Andel and Richard DeVos and is based in Ada, Michigan. Amway and it ...
and
Halliburton Halliburton Company is an American multinational corporation responsible for most of the world's hydraulic fracturing operations. In 2009, it was the world's second largest oil field service company. It has operations in more than 70 countries ...
. Before joining Boies Schiller Flexner, McCawley practiced law in Washington, D.C., with Morgan, Lewis & Bockius and clerked for U.S. District Judge Jose Gonzalez Jr. in the Southern District of Florida.


Early life and education

Sigrid McCawley was born in
Upstate New York Upstate New York is a geographic region consisting of the area of New York State that lies north and northwest of the New York City metropolitan area. Although the precise boundary is debated, Upstate New York excludes New York City and Long Is ...
. She attended the
University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...
, where she graduated in 1994 with a B.A. in history. In 1997, she graduated with a J.D from the University of Florida's
Levin College of Law The University of Florida Fredric G. Levin College of Law (UF Law) is the law school of the University of Florida located in Gainesville, Florida. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest operating public law school in Florida, and second oldest overall ...
.


Career

After law school, McCawley had a clerkship with Judge Jose Gonzalez Jr. at the
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida The United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida (in case citations, S.D. Fla. or S.D. Fl.) is the federal United States district court with territorial jurisdiction over the southern part of the state of Florida.. Appeal ...
. In 1999, McCawley joined Morgan, Lewis & Bockius in
Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
After two years at Morgan Lewis, in 2001, McCawley moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where she joined Boies Schiller Flexner, a firm based in New York City and led by
David Boies David Boies (; born March 11, 1941) is an American lawyer and chairman of the law firm Boies Schiller Flexner LLP. Boies rose to national prominence for three major cases: leading the U.S. federal government's successful prosecution of Microsof ...
who was establishing operations in South Florida. As this was a small office, McCawley was often given the opportunity to represent the firm's large clients, companies such as
Del Monte Foods Del Monte Foods, Inc (trading as Del Monte Foods) is an American food production and distribution company headquartered in Walnut Creek, California. Del Monte Foods is one of the country's largest producers, distributors and marketer of br ...
and
Carnival Cruise Line Carnival Cruise Line is an international cruise line with headquarters in Doral, Florida. The company is a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc. Its logo is a funnel shaped like a whale's tail, with a red, white, and blue color scheme. This ...
. In 2014, Boies Schiller Flexner began representing
Virginia Giuffre Virginia Louise Giuffre (''née'' Roberts; born August 9, 1983) is an American-Australian campaigner who offers support to victims of sex trafficking. She is an alleged victim of the sex trafficking ring of Jeffrey Epstein. Giuffre created Vict ...
, a victim of
Jeffrey Epstein Jeffrey Edward Epstein ( ; January 20, 1953August 10, 2019) was an American sex offender and financier. Epstein, who was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York City, began his professional life by teaching at the Dalton School in Manhattan, des ...
who also accused
Alan Dershowitz Alan Morton Dershowitz ( ; born September 1, 1938) is an American lawyer and former law professor known for his work in U.S. constitutional law and American criminal law. From 1964 to 2013, he taught at Harvard Law School, where he was appoin ...
and Prince Andrew, Duke of York of sexually abusing her when she was a minor. McCawley was assigned to take on the case because of her experience volunteering with abuse victims in the
foster care Foster care is a system in which a minor has been placed into a ward, group home ( residential child care community, treatment center, etc.), or private home of a state-certified caregiver, referred to as a "foster parent" or with a family ...
system. In September 2015, Boies and McCawley filed a defamation suit against
Ghislaine Maxwell Ghislaine Noelle Marion Maxwell ( ; born 25 December 1961) is a British convicted sex offender and former socialite. In 2021, she was found guilty of child sex trafficking and other offences in connection with the financier and convicted sex o ...
on behalf of Giuffre. McCawley was not the first to represent Giuffre but the case against Maxwell, who is also accused of recruiting minors for Epstein and others, brought new attention to the case. The firm decided to file for defamation because the
statute of limitations A statute of limitations, known in civil law systems as a prescriptive period, is a law passed by a legislative body to set the maximum time after an event within which legal proceedings may be initiated. ("Time for commencing proceedings") In ...
for criminal charges had expired. In May 2017, they reached an undisclosed settlement, but Giuffre reportedly received a sum in the multimillion-dollar range. Besides representing Epstein's victims, McCawley also brought a
class action A class action, also known as a class-action lawsuit, class suit, or representative action, is a type of lawsuit where one of the parties is a group of people who are represented collectively by a member or members of that group. The class actio ...
suit against
Amway Amway (short for "American Way") is an American multi-level marketing (MLM) company that sells health, beauty, and home care products. The company was founded in 1959 by Jay Van Andel and Richard DeVos and is based in Ada, Michigan. Amway and it ...
which was accused of fraud and racketeering. After a decade-long litigation battle, she reached a $155 million settlement with the company. In another case, her team litigated a securities fraud class action suit against
Halliburton Halliburton Company is an American multinational corporation responsible for most of the world's hydraulic fracturing operations. In 2009, it was the world's second largest oil field service company. It has operations in more than 70 countries ...
. The case against the energy company twice went to the Supreme Court before reaching a $100 million settlement in 2018. In December 2019, McCawley became an equity partner at Boies Schiller Flexner. By this point, she had been representing the victims in the Jeffrey Epstein case pro bono for the past five and half years, including directly representing eight women and as co-counsel for three others. In October 2020, McCawley also won a lawsuit to unseal the deposition transcripts from the earlier settled defamation lawsuit against Maxwell. The unsealed transcripts led to criminal charges being filed against Maxwell. In December 2020, McCawley was appointed one of three co-managing partners at Boies Schiller Flexner. After filing a civil sex assault case against Prince Andrew in which he was scheduled to be deposed in March 2022, the BBC wrote in February 2022 that McCawley "is considered one of America's lead attorneys for sexual abuse cases". Before the date of the deposition, Prince Andrew reached a settlement of an undisclosed amount including "a substantial donation to Ms. Giuffre's charity in support of victims' rights". For her work representing victims of sexual abuse, McCawley was chosen as a finalist for ''
The American Lawyer ''The American Lawyer'' is a monthly legal magazine and website published by ALM Media. The periodical and its parent company, ALM (then American Lawyer Media), were founded in 1979 by Steven Brill.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCawley, Sigrid
20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American lawyers Fredric G. Levin College of Law alumni Living people University of Florida College of Liberal Arts and Sciences alumni Year of birth missing (living people)