Boies attended the University of Redlands, and studied law at Northwestern and Yale. He received a B.S. from Northwestern in 1964, an LL.B. magna cum laude from Yale in 1966, an LL.M. from New York University 1967, and an LL.D. from the University of Redlands in 2000. He has been married three times.
He helped defend IBM in an antitrust case, and years later famously took the "other side" by representing the Justice Department in the United States v. Microsoft case. While the Court trial was a victory for Boies, Microsoft won many issues on appeal. He defended CBS in the action brought by General Westmoreland which was settled at trial but CBS lost its preeminence as the Tiffany news network. Following the 2000 U.S. presidential election, he represented Vice President Al Gore in the ensuing unsuccessful legal battle and participated in Bush v. Gore. He has also, unsuccessfully, defended Napster when the company was sued by the RIAA for facilitating copyright infringement.
As of November 2003, he is representing deposed Chief Financial Officer of Enron, Andrew Fastow, and has been retained by the SCO Group in their pursuit of alleged infringement of their rights to the UNIX intellectual properties. He is also representing Lord Black of Crossharbour regarding the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Ontario Securities Commission probes of Hollinger International's disclosure of $32 million (U.S.) in unauthorized payments to Black, fellow executives, and parent company Hollinger Inc.
Other current clients include Tyco International Ltd., and Qwest Communications International Inc..
Boies was also Chief Counsel and Staff Director of the United States Senate Antitrust Subcommittee in 1978, and served as Chief Counsel and Staff Director of the United States Senate Judiciary Committee in 1979.