Life Imitates Golf: Tenacity Leads Bill Collins ‘85 to Success on the Course and at the Negotiating Table

Legendary golfer Tiger Woods said of the game, “No matter how good you get, you can always get better — and that’s the exciting part.”

Avid golfer and Albany Law School alumnus Bill Collins '85 would probably agree with this statement -- not just about his golf game, but about the practice of law as well.
Growing up, Collins worked in the pro shop and caddied at a country club in Kingston, New York. Through the club, he came to know a number of lawyers who had graduated from Albany Law. In college, he played varsity golf for the University of Virginia. As a history major there, law school seemed like a logical next step.

A small-town kid, Collins assumed he’d become a litigator for a local firm but wanted to give New York City a try. One summer after his second year at Albany Law School, he did just that, working for the venerable Wall Street firm Mudge, Rose, Guthrie, Alexander & Ferdon. That experience introduced him to transactional practice and changed the course of his career.

“I split my summer between litigation and corporate work, and after being exposed to the corporate practice, I realized that it was the perfect fit for my personality,” said Collins. “Litigation usually involves fighting over a problem, and in corporate deals, the lawyers involved are more or less engaged in finding a collaborative, negotiated roadmap leading to a closing, which is the prize for the whole team, the clients and the lawyers.”

Adapting to change, shaping the future

After graduation, the former country kid with aspirations to be a small-town lawyer began his career at Sullivan & Cromwell in New York City, where his work ethic shone through. After a few years, Collins followed some former Sullivan & Cromwell lawyers to Howard, Darby & Levin, a boutique transactional firm that held its own among some of the largest white shoe firms in the city. Collins became a partner there in 1994. The firm eventually merged with Covington & Burling and all its partners, including Collins, became partners of Covington. Collins has been there ever since. Almost all of his work has focused on the ever-evolving energy industry, which is a fertile arena for a busy transactional lawyer.  Collins thrived in that arena as his career grew.

These days, Collins is focused on mentoring the next leaders of the firm. He grows philosophical when talking about the future. “I’m at a point where I’d like to leave my time on earth being remembered for having helped make the world a better place for other people, young people in particular,” he said.
To that end, Collins recently committed to supporting Albany Law through planned giving. Collins notes, “I’ve thought about institutions that have been really good to me and important to me and vital to me, and Albany Law School was certainly very high up on the list. … Everything that I’ve been able to do has been a consequence of what I was able to achieve at the law school and it set me up beautifully for a for a great career and a great life.”

The mental game
Collins loves golf because, “It’s an individual game, and you’re battling all the elements around you, the course conditions and the weather. Golf is a physical game, but it’s also a mental game. You’ve got to have both. You can’t have just one or the other.”

Like golf, practicing law is about the mental game, but also about working hard for every advantage. Asked what set him apart in his legal career, Collins’ response sounds a lot like Tiger Woods’ philosophy on golf: “I worked my butt off. I mean, I worked very hard my whole career, and took every deadline very seriously and just always tried to get better, never stopped trying to get better. I think that’s the golfer in me.”