Theodore J. Boutrous Jr.

Appellate, constitutional and media litigation

It's no exaggeration to say Boutrous has been at the forefront of some of the most contentious and groundbreaking litigation over the past year. He was one of the principal attorneys in Perry v. Schwarzenegger, the lawsuit that led a federal judge to declare unconstitutional Proposition 8, which had outlawed same-sex marriage in California. The nationally watched case is up on appeal. Boutrous also played a key supporting role in the dismissals of a series of lawsuits against Dole Food Co., filed on behalf of Nicaraguans who claimed they had been sterilized by Dole's use of a pesticide on banana farms during the 1970s. He represents Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in the largest employment class action in U.S. history, in which he is attempting to get the U.S. Supreme Court to hear Wal-Mart's appeal of class certification of more than 1.5 million plaintiffs alleging sex discrimination.