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Bill Whitman believes in leading with curiosity. As lead counsel at FedEx, he values his job’s variety, which keeps his brain sharp.
“We move goods all around the world, whether it be COVID vaccines, dog food, or sometimes even pandas,” Whitman shares. “That creates some risk in logistics and never-ending legal complexities. It’s such a fascinating job.”
Whitman earned his bachelor’s degree in philosophy, theology, and premed at the University of Notre Dame in 1998. After graduating, he moved to Colorado to work with Holy Cross Associates, a volunteer organization affiliated with the Congregation of Holy Cross.
“I lived with six other people in Colorado Springs, and we made less than minimum wage. We all shared whatever we had,” Whitman explains. “We all had different service-oriented jobs, and I worked for Catholic Charities.”
This ministry was Whitman’s first real-life exposure to the field of law. His service to Catholic Charities involved representing the vision of Catholic social teaching to protect mission-based organizations. He attended events in Denver, meeting with legislators to advise them on the Church’s stance on various issues.
For example, at that time Pope John Paul II had recently emphasized the Church’s opposition to the death penalty in almost all cases. Whitman and his colleagues defended the church’s stance on this and other issues, including children’s health initiatives.
From that experience, Whitman learned how to discern and protect a client’s non-negotiables while looking for ways to compromise—a skill he still uses today. “You can’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. There is always room for compromise, and you need to be open and amenable,” Whitman shares. “Understanding where you could negotiate and where you couldn’t was critical as a litigator.”
After his time in Colorado, Whitman returned to Notre Dame for law school and graduated in 2002. He clerked for the Honorable Thomas M. Shanahan in Nebraska before joining Bass, Berry & Sims in Memphis, Tennessee, where he spent a decade honing his arbitration chops.
“I was fortunate to surround myself with some great mentors,” Whitman says about this time at the firm. “I handled a lot of arbitrations that went to final hearings. That has helped me in my current role, where about 75% of my work is in arbitration.”
Whitman first connected with FedEx when former colleagues asked him to play the role of a judge in a mock exercise to prepare for a case in the court of appeals. Impressed by the company, Whitman pursued an opportunity to go in-house at FedEx Ground in Pittsburgh in 2015.
“You can’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. There is always room for compromise, and you need to be open and amenable.”
Bill Whitman
The move to Pittsburgh came at a great time for Whitman’s wife and their four children, who were very young at the time. He shares they have all grown to love Pittsburgh as a great city to raise a family.
At the same time, Whitman’s regard for FedEx has only increased since he went in-house. “There’s no doubt FedEx is an admired company around the world,” Whitman says. And according to outside counsel, Whitman fits right in.
“Bill is the whole package. He combines exceptional global and strategic thinking with an eagerness to tackle critical day-to-day work, perfectly embodying FedEx’s culture of highly skilled and substantive in-house counsel,” enthuses Dan McElroy, a partner at Bartlit Beck LLP. “On top of that, he’s a wonderful person. Bartlit Beck is honored to call Bill a partner.”
On June 1, 2024, FedEx Ground merged with the other operating companies under the FedEx umbrella to form a single organization, Federal Express Corporation. Whitman went from working on a team of forty lawyers to a team of five hundred.
That merger has been exciting and challenging. Whitman’s team has worked to unify different processes and procedures from the various operating companies into one global operation.
“I only had experience in FedEx Ground, so now I get an opportunity to learn about airplanes as well, which is very exciting,” Whitman says. “I will also have the chance to learn from a whole host of attorneys all around the world with Federal Express Corporation.”
When Whitman spoke with Modern Counsel, he was getting to know some of the attorneys he will collaborate with. The colleagues learned side by side at the International Association Defense Counsel Academy, which took place at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California.
Whitman is grateful for the dynamism of his work at FedEx, which allows him to continually learn and grow as a lawyer. Before going in-house, he worried that litigation for one company could get rote or boring. “But nothing could be further from the truth. We’re constantly learning something every day,” Whitman says.
