William H. “Bill” Neukom, Microsoft’s top lawyer during its pivotal corporate milestones and legal cases of the 1980s and 1990s, has died at the age of 83.
Known for his trademark bow tie in a sea of Oxford shirts and khakis, Neukom was defined by a strong sense of fair play, justice, and the rule of law, colleagues said.
“Bill established at Microsoft — and among our lawyers — a deep cultural commitment to excellence, public service, and high integrity,” said Brad Smith, Microsoft’s president and vice chair, who succeeded Neukom as general counsel, in a statement released by the company Thursday evening.
After starting as Microsoft’s first outside lawyer in 1978, Neukom joined the company as its in-house legal counsel in 1985. As executive vice president of law and corporate affairs, he built the Microsoft legal department from a handful of employees to nearly 600 people by the time he retired from the company in 2002.
An independent legal voice
Working with Bill Gates and other executives of that era, Neukom and his team adopted an approach of “professional independence” from their Microsoft colleagues, as he recalled in an interview with the Microsoft Alumni Network as part of a series of oral histories for the company’s 50th anniversary.
“We played softball with them, we ate at the cafeteria with them. We were in many cases best friends with them,” Neukom said. “But we had to tell them what they needed to know — not what they wanted to hear from us.”
At the time, he said, “Many of these young, brilliant people here at Microsoft had no concept of what the legal environment was and how business complies with the law.” The key, he added, was to provide wise counsel without blocking innovation.
IPO and antitrust challenges
Neukom guided Microsoft through its initial public offering in 1985 and led its response to major legal challenges, including antitrust complaints from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department.
He remained firm in his belief that Microsoft had done nothing wrong. He asserted that the company’s actions were fair, legal, and good for consumers, and he strongly opposed the government’s push to break up Microsoft.
Even as pressure mounted, Gates, Neukom and Microsoft refused to settle on terms they believed would hurt the company’s ability to innovate — a stance that some saw as principled, and others saw as stubborn.
Microsoft ultimately reached a consent decree with the DOJ, keeping the company intact. But the antitrust era can be seen in hindsight as a distraction, at best, that kept the company’s leaders from fully capitalizing on the rise of the internet and mobile technologies during a period of massive industry change.
Technology law pioneer
In the broader world of technology law, Neukom played a key role in establishing intellectual property rights for software, and shaped the industry’s approach to software licensing.
After leaving Microsoft, he chaired his former law firm (now known as K&L Gates) from 2003 to 2007, was president of the American Bar Association from 2007 to 2008, and founded the World Justice Project, an organization dedicated to promoting the rule of law globally.
News of Neukom’s death was announced in a statement from the ABA mourning his passing this week. A cause of death has not been disclosed.
Beyond the tech and legal industries, Neukom served as CEO of the San Francisco Giants baseball team from 2008 to 2011, including their World Series victory in 2010.
The values established by Neukom at Microsoft “continue to define our work more than two decades after his retirement,” Smith said. “We will miss him, especially as we reflect on how we benefited from his leadership.”
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