New American Bar Association president named

Daily Record (Rochester, NY), Aug 17, 2007

Seattle attorney William H. Neukom, a partner in the firm of K & L Gates, was chosen as 2007-2008 president of the American Bar Association at the conclusion of the association's annual meeting, held earlier this month.

Neukom was chief lawyer and vice president of Law and Corporate Affairs at Microsoft Corp. for nearly 25 years.

At Microsoft, Neukom led efforts to establish, distribute and protect international property rights around the world. He was instrumental in securing the landmark legal victory in Apple Computer v. Microsoft Corp., a copyright case that spanned 1988 to 1995.

He also led Microsoft's defense of antitrust claims brought by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, U.S. Department of Justice and the European Union, which culminated in consent decrees in 1994 and 2001.

Neukom managed the company's philanthropic efforts and government affairs for 17 years.

Prior to joining Microsoft he was a partner at the Seattle firm of Preston, Gates & Ellis LLP. He rejoined the firm in 2002. (In January, the firm became K & L Gates following the merger of Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham with Preston Gates & Ellis.)

He holds an LLB from Stanford University (class of 1967) and an AB from Dartmouth College (class of 1964).

In 1995, Neukom and his four children started the Neukom Family Foundation, which supports not-for-profit organizations principally in the fields of health and human services, education, justice and the environment.

He is general partner in San Francisco Baseball Associates LP, the ownership group of the San Francisco Giants.

Neukom became active in organized bar work serving as chairman of the Young Lawyers Division of the Seattle-King County Bar Association (1972-1973), and he served in the same capacity with the ABA from 1977-1978. Later he served on the ABA's Board of Governors as secretary of the ABA (1983-1987); as Washington State Delegate to the ABA House of Delegates (1999 to 2006) and the ABA Governance Committee (2003-2005). He served as a trustee of the National Judicial College from 2003 to 2006.

He has served as a member of the Dean's Council at Stanford Law School since 1999.

Upon his selection as president, Neukom said one of his primary initiatives in the next year will be work with the World Justice Project.