THE YOUNG LAWYER THAT I WAS IN THE 1980S....WILMER CUTLER & PICKERING AND ITS PRO BONO PROGRAM -- TURNING DOWN TED BUNDY

My first law firm and the people who trained me in the law:

https://en.wikipedia.org/…/Wilmer_Cutler_Pickering_Hale_and…

Unlike many academic's who detest the practice of law, I actually liked it, although I did resent the long hours, the pressure, and the competition...

I googled the colleagues of the past (1980s) with so much nostalgia: everybody I worked with then is now listed as retired partner.

I could still see myself, back then: the girl from Vietnam that I was...product of the historic year 1975, who became a big-firm lawyer, with so many unrealistic dreams about America I didn't know what to do with them...Then came 1990 and the selection for the White House Fellowship, yet I left Washington D.C. ...(the rest would have to be for the memoir I still have to write)...

The description below on the web does not completely describe Wilmer: In 1986 when it hired me, the firm was Wilmer Cutler & Pickering, known as a "spin-off" of NYC's Cravath Swaine & Moore. Wilmer was regarded as the "lawyer's lawyer," famous nationally for its pro bono docket as a way to train young lawyers. When I got there, I was put in the "securities litigation" group to handle the settlement between Ivan Boesky and the SEC, and then in the middle of all that intensive work, I was asked by Polly Nelson to join her in the pro bono representation of Ted Bundy. I said No (...all for my yet-to-be-written memoir, again). Polly Nelson went on to become the ex-lawyer who wrote a book about that experience.

Back then, during my time (the 1980s), Wilmer had a few hundred lawyers. Today, it has about 1,000.

It was/is a unique place. Like no other law firm. 

One example of some of the unpopular pro bono representation undertaken by Wilmer follows: 

Polly Nelson, my former colleague/friend, at Wilmer, graduate of University of Minnesota undergrad and law. She represented the infamous Ted Bundy until his execution, under Wilmer's pro bono litigation program.. In 1986, she asked me to join her in the defense team, and I said No.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polly_Nelson

Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr - Wikipedia

Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP (known as WilmerHale) is a large American law firm with offices across the United States, Europe and Asia. It was created in 2004, through the merger of the Boston-based firm, Hale and Dorr and the Washington-based firm Wilmer Cutler & Pickering; and employs...

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