Ed. note: Welcome to our daily feature, Quote of the Day.
Trial work is—not to engage in age discrimination— younger people’s work.
It’s hard on you, mentally and physically. It requires a degree of mental and physical stamina that, at least for me as I’m in my 70s, was not something that I could look myself in the mirror and claim that I was sure that I had.
Part of this is to clear the runway for the next generation, but also so the next generation knows what they should be doing with those generations that follow.
— Bill Lee, 74, managing partner of WilmerHale, in comments given during an interview with Litigation Daily, where he spoke of succession planning at his firm. “I’m a big believer that it’s better to go before people want you to go,” Lee said. “You don’t want to be the person who someone says, ‘Wow, he used to throw 95 miles an hour. Now he’s throwing 80,’ or ‘He used to be good.’” Lee is no longer taking on trial work, and hasn’t done so since the end of 2002, following a lengthy run of seven trials. He now prefers to watch his granddaughter play soccer, which he calls “the best possible use of my time.”
Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on X/Twitter and Threads or connect with her on LinkedIn.
