Harvard University announced April 11 that William F. Lee, a nationally known Boston lawyer with deep roots in the university, has been elected to the Harvard Corporation, the institution's principal governing body. Lee, who is co-managing partner of the Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr law firm that employs 1,000 lawyers, will join the seven-member Harvard Corporation July 1, when James R. Houghton, 73, its longest-serving member, steps down after 15 years of service.
Lee, twice named one of the 100 most influential lawyers in America by the National Law Journal, graduated from Harvard in 1972 and taught courses at Harvard Law School for about five years. He served for six years on the Harvard Board of Overseers, the 30-member consultative body elected by university alumni.
Lee, a Philadelphia-born son of Chinese immigrants who came to the United States in 1948, was named one of the 50 most influential minority lawyers in the United States in 2008 by the National Law Journal.
From 1987-89, Lee served as associate counsel to Independent Counsel Lawrence E. Walsh in the Iran-Contra investigation, which led to several convictions of Reagan Administration officials. (Source: James F. Smith. Boston Globs, apr 12, 2010)