William Neukom '64

Microsoft's legal eagle on what he's learned since graduation

-MY TIME AT DARTMOUTH TAUGHT ME THEIMPORTANCE OF BEING OBSERVANT ANDOPEN TO IDEAS, rational and critical in the analysis of information. I came away from Dartmouth with a great appreciation of the value of access to professors who were not only scholars but teachers. It's something that continues to distinguish the school from other institutions."

"THERE'S A NOTION THAT THE BEST WAYTO PREPARE FOR LAW SCHOOL IS TOTAKE HISTORY OR GOVERNMENT COURSES. In my experience quantitative studies are as good or better a preparation. Philosophy was a good preparation for the law because the intellectual processes are quite similar. Law schools aren't trade schools or lawyer schools. It's law school, where you think about policy and the detail of the law."

"THE PRACTICE OF LAW IS BARELY MELODRAMATIC. The law can be subtle and complicated, and much of the day-to-day craft is pretty boring to an outsider. The way the law has been portrayed in the entertainment world does the law a disfavor."

"I'M PLEASED FOR MICROSOFT THAT WE HAVE REACHED AGREEMENT RESOLVING THE ANTITRUST LITIGATION with the Department of Justice and 11 of the original 21 suing states.The mediation was intense, and both sides made valiant efforts to find common ground. It just seemed to the settling parties that the time had come to put this controversy behind us."

"THE 'DOT-COM, DOT-BOMB' PHENOMENON HAS BEEN GOOD MEDICINE. A technology company

can't be successful unless it has intellectual property, not just rhetoric. And it had better have a business plan that leads to profitability."

"I BELIEVE IN WHAT MICROSOFT is DOING. It was clear to me when I moved in-house in 1985 that Bill Gates had an applied genius for understanding what the users of personal computer software wanted. It's hard to imagine anything more satisfying than delivering tools that enable people to improve themselves as workers and as individuals."

MY COMMITMENT TO PUBLIC SERVICE HAS A LOT TO DO WITH MY PARENTS, my liberal arts education at Dartmouth, my law school experience and coming into the practice in the late 19605, when there was a heightened awareness on the part of lawyers that they had the opportunity, if not the responsibility, to create a more fair and just community."

"I ADMIRE PEOPLE WHO DO A GOOD JOB OF BALANCING THEIR WORK LIVES WITH THEIR PERSONAL LIVES. Nobody has the answer but I think a lot rests with having a set of natural interests and making informed and wise decisions about what to do with your limited resources."

"I'M ALWAYS AMAZED WHEN PEOPLE CITE THE SHAKESPEARE LINE ABOUT KILLING ALL THE LAWYERS rather than quoting the entire passage that makes clear Shakespeare's meaning: that it would lead to anarchy."

"I SPEND A LOT OF TIME THINKING ABOUT MY CLIENT AND LEARNING MORE ABOUT TECHNOLOGY BUSINESS AMD THE LAW. I have been blessed by a wonderful family and a circle of critical but supportive friends. I continue to be fascinated by things as unconnected as jazz and baseball, and why trout eat certain I tain flies under certain conditions—but rarely mine." Interview by Lisa Furlong

JOB TITLE: Executive Vice President, Law & Corporate Affairs, Microsoft Corp. PERSONAL: Married to Sally; daughters Josselyn '90, Samantha '91, Gillian; son John '97. Lives in Seattle, Washington. SERVICE: Dartmouth trustee since 1996, board member of the YMCA of Greater Seattle, trustee of University of Puget Sound. Active in local, state and national bar associations. EDUCATION: Dartmouth A.B. in philosophy; LL.B. from Stanford, 1967