Boies Schiller Star’s Ski Accident Tests Strength—and Builds It

What does it mean to be a “survivor”? How do people make it through adversity? And what do we learn from these experiences?

I’ve thought about these questions a lot since 2020 when a near-death experience with Covid-19 sent me to the hospital for about three weeks, including almost a week on a ventilator. It profoundly affected me—and, among other things, brought me back to writing.

Survivorship isn’t a foreign concept to Sigrid McCawley, managing partner at Boies Schiller Flexner and one of the nation’s leading litigators. In addition to handling complex commercial litigation, McCawley represents survivors of sexual abuse and sex trafficking—most notably, victims of late financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Sigrid McCawley and David Lat in Manhattan, New York City in June 2024.

Photo courtesy of Sigrid McCawley.

And in light of something difficult she went through earlier this year, I asked McCawley: Might she be a survivor herself?

She politely rejected the term, insisting she is in no way comparable to the true survivors she has the privilege of representing. But regardless of the label, there’s no doubt she endured a life-threatening, life-altering experience—and will never be the same, in ways both good and bad.

This past winter, McCawley and her husband took their four children on an annual family ski trip to Vail in February. One day, after working in the morning, McCawley hit the slopes with her oldest son. While taking a run on a mountain she had skied “hundreds of times,” her boot came out of her ski, and she fell—hard.

Sigrid McCawley and her family in Vail, Colo. the day before her accident in February 2024.

Photo courtesy of Sigrid McCawley.

The pain was immediate. And excruciating.

“I have never felt pain like this in my entire life—and I’ve delivered four kids,” McCawley told me. “I thought my leg had come off my body.”

McCawley had broken her femur—in five places. Running from the hip to the knee, the femur is the longest and strongest bone in the body—and one of the most painful to fracture, given the tremendous amount of force required to break it. Because of the complications it can cause, a femoral fracture can even be life-threatening if not addressed immediately.

Upon arriving at Vail Hospital, McCawley was rushed into four hours of emergency surgery. A metal rod and supporting wires were inserted into her right leg—and will remain there the rest of her life.

She wound up staying in the hospital for five days. And while McCawley was most definitely immobilized, her work continued apace.

Three days after the accident, she and her partner David Boies filed Bensky v. Indyke, a lawsuit against Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime lawyer and accountant for allegedly “aiding, abetting, and facilitating” his sex trafficking. McCawley reviewed and edited drafts from her hospital bed—but let her trusted colleagues take the lead, given she was still in great pain (and on “serious painkillers”).

The surgery and hospital stay were only the beginning of a long and laborious recovery. She left the hospital in a wheelchair. Over the months that followed, she transitioned from a wheelchair to a walker to crutches to a cane (in a shiny rose gold).

A few weeks ago, she resumed walking. But it remains painful, and running is off-limits until the fall—which has been tough for McCawley, an avid runner who completed the New York City Marathon in 2021. Her skiing days might also be over, according to her orthopedist.

So the first half of 2024 has been uniquely challenging for Sigrid McCawley. She has had to juggle her recovery—involving ongoing pain, difficulty sleeping, numerous doctor visits, physical therapy sessions that leave her exhausted (and often in more pain)—with the demands placed on her as a top trial lawyer, leader of a major law firm, and mother of four.

But in a series of chats we’ve had over the past few months, McCawley showed nothing but good cheer, grace, and gratitude—for her doctors, physical therapists, and Boies Schiller colleagues, among others. I asked her what she has taken away from this experience.

In a comment that definitely resonated with my own Covid ordeal, when I received get-well wishes from around the world—McCawley cited “the loveliness of the human spirit. I feel so blessed to be surrounded by so much love—from my kids, spouse, family, friends, BSF colleagues, and the many other people in my life who worried and cared for me.”

McCawley—who for years has been a leader and a doer, someone who clients, colleagues, and family members have depended upon—has had to depend on others. She’s had no choice in this—for example, having to have associates or her son carry her bags—“but the role reversal has been tough, and I still feel guilty.”

Sigrid McCawley and her daughter at a Taylor Swift concert in Edinburgh, Scotland in June 2024.

Photo courtesy of Sigrid McCawley.

And some of her discomfort with vulnerability—which led her to be initially circumspect about her accident and its consequences, with both clients and colleagues—might have a gendered aspect: “As a woman in litigation, I’ve always felt that I have to be strong and look strong, and that I can’t flinch. Maybe this is all in my own head, but I’ve always felt this way.”

McCawley told me, “I’ve never had anything that knocked me out quite like this—and I feel I’ve learned how brave I can be. And I’ve always thought of myself as empathetic, but this experience has taken it to a new level.”

For our final conversation, McCawley and I met up in person in New York City late last month. She came up from Fort Lauderdale for oral argument on motions to dismiss in Bensky, the case she filed from her hospital bed back in February—and her return to the courtroom struck me as a return to form for the hard-charging litigator.

During the lengthy proceedings—which pitted her against veteran litigators from two top firms, Hughes Hubbard & Reed and Patterson Belknap—McCawley deftly fielded tough questions from District Judge Arun Subramanian of the Southern District of New York. And while he hasn’t yet issued a ruling, it appeared to me, based on the judge’s comments from the bench, that Bensky isn’t getting dismissed (at least not in its entirety).

After the hearing, McCawley and I adjourned to a nearby café. Wearing a white dress suit, a smart choice given the summer weather, she navigated the uneven Manhattan sidewalks with ease—in heels, while wheeling a roll-aboard suitcase (which I offered to handle for her, but she refused).

As usual, she was in good spirits. She had celebrated her birthday just two days ago, and two weeks ago she had returned from a European vacation with extended family.

Although she had to take it relatively easy, hanging back at times with some older members of the group, she was pleased she had been able to do a good amount of walking. She was even able to stand for hours—and dance a little—at a Taylor Swift concert in Edinburgh.

Sipping a vanilla latte, McCawley recalled to me how five years ago, in July 2019, Jeffrey Epstein was arrested on federal sex-trafficking charges—and the world became aware of his predations. It was a watershed event for McCawley, who had been representing Epstein survivors since 2014—and whose work contributed to the arrests of Epstein and his co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell.

Over the years, McCawley and her Boies Schiller colleagues have represented survivors who have obtained many millions in Epstein-related settlements—including $365 million in a class action filed against two major banks that had Epstein as a client.

But while she did some reflecting on the past, marveling at how dramatically her life and career have changed over the last five years, McCawley focused on the future. She talked about an important new client: the family of John Barnett, the Boeing whistleblower who died by suicide this past March.

And McCawley, who chairs the pro bono committee at Boies Schiller, is exploring how the firm’s considerable resources—which over the years have aided survivors of sex abuse and trafficking, LGBTQ couples seeking to get married, and undocumented immigrants—can be used to advance the rights of people with disabilities. She is hosting an event at the firm on July 30 for Disability Pride Month—featuring a fellow Florida lawyer, disability-rights advocate Haley Moss.

“Until now, I’ve never had to deal with any physical disability or limitation,” McCawley said. But the past few months have given her a new sense of perspective, after she has had to endure accessibility challenges at gas stations, hospitals (of all places), and her own house (which she had to radically revamp).

“Today I have an even more profound respect for people with disabilities than I did before,” she said. “It has been mind-blowing to me to see what they have to deal with every day. And I’m eager to hear from organizations interested in working with us at Boies Schiller to elevate these conversations, push things forward, and have an impact on the law.”

David Lat, a lawyer turned writer, publishes Original Jurisdiction. He founded Above the Law and Underneath Their Robes, and is author of the novel “Supreme Ambitions.”

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