EmbarrassmentIt was embarrassing. William Nelson was at one of his firm’s parties for summer associates. It was in the San Francisco apartment of one of his partners, offering a great view over the Golden Gate. It was a party where one’s spouse was expected to attend, and several spouses of other partners were there. Kate Nelson was not.
William had followed in his father’s footsteps: Stanford, Stanford Law. His father died with his mother in a car accident about twenty years before, when they were in their early fifties. William, now fifty-two, worked his way up to partner in one of San Francisco’s top Big Law firms, one that had seen and developed ties to growing Silicon Valley firms before most of the others did, and he was part of the group that developed and worked those relationship
