Prominent attorney David Boies has joined the legal team representing video-sharing platform Rumble in its multibillion-dollar antitrust case against Google, further escalating a legal battle that alleges the tech giant unfairly stifled competition in the online video space.
Boies, who has spent decades at the center of landmark legal showdowns, is no stranger to high-profile antitrust litigation. He first rose to national prominence in the 1990s while leading the US government’s case against Microsoft, one of the most consequential antitrust prosecutions in modern corporate history.
In that case, Boies argued the software company abused its dominance to crush competition, a claim that draws parallels to Rumble’s current accusations against Google.
Rumble, which filed the lawsuit in 2021 in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, is seeking over $2 billion in damages. The platform asserts that Google rigged its search algorithms to prioritize YouTube results while simultaneously working with mobile device manufacturers to block Rumble’s preinstallation on Android phones. The complaint frames these actions as part of a broader strategy to cement YouTube’s dominance in online video distribution.
To pursue the case, Boies will collaborate with attorneys from Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, including Nicholas Gravante Jr. Gravante previously spent more than 20 years alongside Boies at Boies Schiller Flexner, where he held senior roles before departing for Cadwalader in 2020. Their partnership dates back even further to their early careers at the Wall Street law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore.
Google, represented by Williams & Connolly partner John Schmidtlein, an experienced litigator in major antitrust and regulatory matters, has denied the allegations. The company has asked US District Judge Haywood Gilliam Jr. to resolve the matter before it reaches trial, which is currently scheduled for July.
Boies’s involvement deepens the significance of the case. Beyond his victory in the Microsoft matter, he has frequently been tapped for major legal fights involving corporate power and civil rights. His courtroom résumé includes challenging Google in a separate action alleging consumer privacy violations.
