Bill Lee of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr has had succession planning on his mind for a long time.

Back in 2000, when Lee was first named managing partner at Wilmer predecessor Hale and Dorr, his father told him he should be dedicating 25% of his time to the subject. Lee says he initially questioned giving that much focus to something so far on the horizon. But, since Lee respected the business judgment of his father—a man who immigrated from China and ultimately rose to be a vice president at General Electric and a professor at MIT—he listened.