LAWYER PROFILE

William F Lee

Global 2026

WilmerHale

Ranked in 3 practice areas

Life Sciences: IP/Patent Litigation

USA

7 years ranked

Intellectual Property: Patent

USA

16 years ranked

Litigation: Trial Lawyers

USA

13 years ranked

About

Provided by WilmerHale

Global

Practice Areas

Bill Lee is a leading trial and appellate lawyer and intellectual property litigator who has represented a variety of technology-focused clients for more than 40 years. Mr. Lee has tried more than 200 cases to verdict and argued more than 100 cases to the Court of Appeals of the Federal Circuit and other appellate courts. Those have included some of the highest profile cases of the last decade.

Mr. Lee has acted as lead trial counsel for Apple Inc. in the "smart phone war" litigations; in several cases between Apple, Intel and Qualcomm; and in a number of other federal court cases involving genetically engineered products, laser optics, video compression, cellular communications, remote data storage, secure Internet communications, pharmaceutical products, high-speed chromatography and medical devices. Mr. Lee also achieved a victory as lead trial counsel for Harvard in the case challenging its admissions policies as discriminatory.

Mr. Lee was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2017. He was named a 2016 Intellectual Property Trailblazer & Pioneer by The National Law Journal, the 2015 Boston Litigation - Intellectual Property Lawyer of the Year by Best Lawyers in America, the 2014 Distinguished Law Firm Leader by The American Lawyer, and was one of eight finalists selected by The American Lawyer as "Litigator of the Year" in 2012. He has been named "Litigator of the Week" on nine occasions by The American Lawyer.

From July 1987 through June 1989, Mr. Lee served as associate counsel to Independent Counsel Lawrence E. Walsh in the Iran-Contra investigation. In that capacity, Mr. Lee was responsible for certain portions of the grand jury investigation and resulting indictments. He has also served as a special assistant to the Massachusetts Attorney General for the purpose of investigating alleged incidents of racial bias in the Commonwealth's courts.

Career

Government Experience:

Special Investigations: Independent Counsel to the Federal Government

Associate Counsel to Independent Counsel Lawrence E. Walsh, Iran-Contra investigation

State and Local Government

Special Assistant to the Massachusetts Attorney General

Professional Memberships

Mr. Lee is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.

In July 2010, Mr. Lee was appointed a Fellow of the Harvard Corporation. In 2014, he was elected the Senior Fellow of the Harvard Corporation. He previously served as a member of the Harvard Board of Overseers.

Mr. Lee has served on the Harvard Law School faculty for 15 years, first as the John A. Reilly Visiting Professor and then as the Eli Goldston Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School.

Mr. Lee has served on the Advisory Committee of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. He has also served on the Advisory Committee of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts on its local rules; its Committee to Evaluate Administration of the Criminal Justice Act; and its Merit Selection Panel on Magistrate Judges. The Governor of Massachusetts appointed Mr. Lee to serve on a special Judicial Nominating Committee for the selection of judges for the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.

He has also served as a member of the Visiting Committee at Cornell Law School. He is a former member of the Board of Directors of the Broad Institute.

A resident of Wellesley, Mr. Lee has served as chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Tenacre Country Day School.

Admissions:

Massachusetts

US Supreme Court

Publications

Google Victory Is First Step to Address Patent Damages Imbalance - Bloomberg Law

The Broken Balance: How “Built-in Apportionment” and the Failure to Apply Daubert Have Distorted Volume 37 - Patent Infringement Damages - Harvard Journal of Law & Technology

Profiles in Courage: Bill Lee - Profiles in Courage

Education

Cornell Law School

1976

Cornell University

MBA

1976

Harvard University

1972

Awards

Intellectual Property Hall of Fame

The Legal 500 US

2017

Intellectual Property Hall of Fame

The Legal 500 US

2022

Intellectual Property Hall of Fame

The Legal 500 US

2023

Intellectual Property Hall of Fame

The Legal 500 US

2024

Intellectual Property Hall of Fame

The Legal 500 US

2025

Intellectual Property Hall of Fame

The Legal 500 US

2026

Mark T. Banner Award Honoree

The American Bar Association

2022

Top Lawyers - Civil Litigation/defense

Boston Magazine

2021

Lifetime Achiever

The American Lawyer

2019

Icon of Intellectual Property

Law360

2016

Academic Article Award

Concurrences Review

2016

Leading IP Practitioner

World Intellectual Property Review

2016

Leading IP Practitioner

World Intellectual Property Review

2017

Leading IP Practitioner

World Intellectual Property Review

2018

Intellectual Property's MVP

Law360

2011

Intellectual Property's MVP

Law360

2012

Intellectual Property's MVP

Law360

2013

Intellectual Property's MVP

Law360

2014

Intellectual Property's MVP

Law360

2015

Distinguished Law Firm Leader

The American Lawyer

2014

2014 Power 50 list

Boston Business Journal

2014

leading practitioner in patent law (International Trade Commission; Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit; Litigation)