McCawley will primarily oversee communications with the public and the media on major developments connected to the case. She joins an already high-powered legal team representing Lively as the high-profile dispute enters a more critical phase.
"It is a privilege to work with Blake Lively's world-class legal team on a case that is fundamentally about a woman who experienced a hostile work environment and is now facing attacks for standing up to protect herself and other female colleagues," McCawley, the managing partner of Boies Schiller Flexner, tells PEOPLE.
Lively, 38, continues to be represented by attorneys Mike Gottlieb and Esra Hudson, who have spent months navigating intense discovery disputes, sealed court filings and subpoena battles as both sides prepare for trial in the Southern District of New York.
Gottlieb and Hudson said they were enthusiastic about McCawley's addition to the team, noting her extensive experience handling sensitive, high-profile cases. They cited her long history of representing Jeffrey Epstein's victims and described her work as speaking truth to power. They expressed confidence that her background would be an asset as the case becomes increasingly public.
McCawley is widely known for representing survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, including Virginia Giuffre. Her legal work helped expose Epstein's abuse network and contributed to several major settlements and criminal prosecutions.
She has also represented Leslie Sloane, Lively's publicist, after Baldoni filed a countersuit against her. That case was dismissed by Judge Liman in June 2025.
McCawley's hiring comes at a pivotal point, as the court prepares to unseal additional depositions, text messages and other records expected to play a central role in the case.
A key hearing is scheduled for Jan. 22, when the judge will consider Baldoni's motion for summary judgment, which seeks to dismiss some or all of Lively's claims before they reach a jury. The trial, initially slated for March, has since been postponed to May 2026.
During a May 2025 hearing, Gottlieb confirmed that Lively plans to testify at trial, calling it the moment when a plaintiff's story is fully told.
Lively sued Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios in December 2024, alleging sexual harassment and retaliation tied to her work on It Ends With Us. Baldoni denied the allegations and later filed a countersuit accusing Lively and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, of defamation and extortion, claims that were ultimately dismissed by a judge.
