A former Harvard University executive has been named in two ethics lawsuits over the Ivy League school’s payments of nearly $42 million to his law firm while he served on the school’s board of trustees. .
William Lee and Harvard University are in a dispute over whether the university was right to pay Wilmer Hale’s company from 2011 to 2022, when he served as one of the school’s top executives. , could be investigated by the Massachusetts Attorney General.
The paper reported that the Massachusetts Bar Oversight Board and the state’s attorney general filed a formal complaint accusing Lee of “a potential conflict of interest by a trustee/director with a financial interest in a service provider to Harvard University.” I found out that it was sent.
Both indictments were obtained by the Post.
Lee’s latest accomplishments at Harvard University According to the Harvard Crimson, in December a Congressional committee investigating anti-Semitism on campus asked whether calling for the death of a Jew violates university rules “in context.” This included helping prepare for the harrowing appearance of former university president Claudine Gay, who spoke out, according to .
Gay, the school’s first black president, found himself in trouble, and resigned in January amid plagiarism allegations after less than six months in the top job.
Mr. Lee, who graduated from Harvard University in 1972, served as a trustee of the university from July 2010 to June 2022 and as a senior fellow at Harvard University from 2014 to 2022.
Mr. Lee was also a partner at the powerful law firm while serving on Harvard’s board. He served as his co-managing partner from 2004 to 2011.
Wilmer Hale served as outside counsel to Harvard University in the landmark 2014 affirmative action case, Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard University.
Mr. Lee served as Harvard University’s outside counsel during the trial phase of the case until the initial ruling in 2019.
The case was decided in favor of the plaintiffs by the U.S. Supreme Court in June 2023.
Wilmer Hale billed Harvard University for more than $11 million in fiscal year 2019 alone, according to the AG’s complaint.
As of June 2023, Harvard University has completed its payments Over $27 million in legal costs In connection with the case, Bloomberg reported that the high court has ruled that race-based affirmative action programs in college admissions violate the 14th Amendment.
“Given the vast resources entrusted to Harvard University as a nonprofit corporation in the state of Massachusetts, the Bill Lee and Wilmer Hale situation makes it clear that Harvard University and its Board of Directors have no conflict of interest, conflict of duty, or similar “Does it raise questions about whether it has the necessary corporate governance procedures in place to avoid problems?” states the anonymous complaint to the Massachusetts attorney general.
“As a member and chairman of the Board of Directors, Bill Lee oversaw Harvard University’s officers and departments that typically managed relationships with outside law firms, including Harvard University’s General Counsel,” the complaint alleges. are doing.
Lee will step down from Harvard’s board of trustees in May 2022, and said in an interview: harvard university gazettesaid what he will miss most is the “personal relationships” he had with many of the school’s leaders, including the general counsel.
Despite billing Wilmer Hale millions of dollars in legal fees from 2011 to 2019, Harvard’s Board of Trustees said the trustees had “significant financial interests” that were not reported as compensation. The company consistently answered “no” to questions about annual disclosures to the state about whether it had done so. Official documents show.
The Massachusetts Bar Oversight Board told the Post on Wednesday that it could neither confirm nor deny whether charges against the attorney had been filed. A spokesperson said: “This is a confidential matter.”
A spokesperson for the Massachusetts AG said the office had received the complaint but “cannot comment on, confirm or deny the investigation.”
Neither Mr. Lee nor Harvard University responded to requests for comment Wednesday.
