Bill Mantle, Class of ’74

Bill Mantle ’74 answered questions while walking along a path overlooking the beach and watching a dragon kite struggle against the wind. When he’s not enjoying gorgeous views, he’s often in a college stadium, cheering on the Aggies. Before retiring from Preston Gates & Ellis in Seattle, he wrote the legal paperwork that made it possible for communities to build hospitals, schools, and public housing. He also volunteered on the board of the non-profit Common Ground to help people in public housing access the services they needed.

Bill has been extraordinarily generous to King Hall. In 2021-22, he gave $900,000 to the school. His Mantle Family Scholarship makes it possible for students to attend. His planned gift, which now stands at $3.8 million, supports students’ hands-on learning experiences, including at the King Hall clinics.

None of this might have happened — he might not have gone to law school at all — if a UC Riverside administrator hadn’t decided to take a vacation at the ideal time.

Why do you love college sports so much?

It’s fun to watch them play. It’s more interesting than professional sports because the players are still learning, so they make mistakes. It’s also fun to hang out at college stadiums. The kids are having a great time. The parents come to see their kids play, so I get to talk to them and find out more about the players’ lives. It’s especially fun to watch the Aggie basketball team. I get to see them start out as freshmen and get to be stronger and better players by their senior year.

Why did you choose to attend King Hall?

I never really had my heart set on being a lawyer. I was in college at the height of the Vietnam War. I had a low draft number, so I knew I would be called up when I graduated. We couldn’t go to grad school to avoid being drafted, but we could take an extra year if we had already started grad school. The person at UC Riverside whose job it was to report we had graduated to the draft board timed her vacation so she could send the information late. I was allowed to complete my first year of law school. After the year ended, I was scheduled for my pre-induction physical in San Francisco. Right when I was scheduled to report, President Nixon stopped the draft. I was never a fan of Nixon, but I liked what he did there.

King Hall was the best UC law school where I got an offer. It was still really young. Our dean was the founding dean, Dean Barrett. We had a brand new faculty.

It was different in those days. It was the end of the Vietnam War, so many of my classmates were veterans. Law professors sometimes tried to intimidate law students by making them stand up and recite. The veterans were not intimidated by law professors.

What did you enjoy about being a lawyer?

I specialized in tax law and became a public finance lawyer. I wrote the paperwork for when governments (like counties, cities, school districts) borrowed money to finance projects. There’s a lot of paperwork.

After law school, I had the opportunity to work for the IRS Chief Counsel’s office in Washington, D.C. I had grown up in California and hadn’t traveled much, so I thought it sounded like fun. I was assigned to the division that worked on legislation and regulations. We wrote the regulations that implemented the law. It was fun hobnobbing with Congresspeople in Washington, D.C. It felt like the center of the universe.

When I left the IRS, I went to Kutak Rock in Omaha, Nebraska. We mostly represented investment banks. EF Hutton was our principal client. I flew around the country on the company expense account. EF Hutton was all over the country. It was fun at first, but eventually that gets to be a drag.

Omaha was not my favorite place to live, even though it’s a beautiful town with trees and bluffs along the Missouri River. The people were very nice and friendly.

I moved to Preston Gates & Ellis in Seattle as a principal lawyer. Most of the practice was Washington and Alaska based. There I was representing government projects. I liked that it was not adversarial. We were working together to create these projects. I worked on low-income public housing projects, which was satisfying. The housing had to be for low-income and moderate-income people, because that’s what the tax law required.

I got into working with non-profit organizations. I was on the board of an organization called Common Ground. We were advisors to other non-profits that were developing housing for people with specific needs. Those were interesting projects. It was more of a niche specialty. The organization developing the housing would work with other government units to provide food and counseling to people with needs other than just a roof over their heads.

What is your favorite King Hall memory?

It had small classes and we all got to know each other well. At UC Riverside, everyone had been on their own, competing. King Hall wasn’t cut-throat competition. Everyone was working together.

You’ve been very generous to King Hall. Why is that important to you?

I was successful in my career, and I lucked into being a good investor. I wanted to pay it forward and create a legacy. I could do it. I don’t have relatives I wanted to give the money to. I knew King Hall would be a good thing to support.

I heard Dean Kevin Johnson give a speech on financial aid and how important it is to students. I created a scholarship to individually support particular students. It’s been fun to get to meet the students and learn about them. It’s always fun to talk to students because they’re so bright.

Of what are you proudest?

Being able to say that I helped develop projects that are worthwhile for schools, hospitals, and students at King Hall.

Do you have any advice for current law students?

All of them are really smart. They wouldn’t have been admitted if they weren’t bright and couldn’t succeed. They shouldn’t get too hung up and worried about how well they’ll do. Of course studying hard is important, but have fun too. Don’t just hit the books. Find activities other than going to class and reading cases.