Bill Neukom, president-elect of the American Bar Association and chair of Preston Gates & Ellis LLP in Seattle Wash., will be visiting Washburn University on Thursday, April 12. He will be speaking to 11 a.m. business classes in Henderson 112.

Neukom served for 17 years as the executive vice president of Law and Corporate Affairs at Microsoft, managing the company’s government affairs and philanthropic activities. He oversaw the Apple Computer vs. Microsoft Corporation case, which spanned from 1988 to 1995, and also led Microsoft’s legal battle with the U.S. Justice Department and the European Union on antitrust issues.

Neukom became president-elect of the American Bar Association in August 2006 at the association’s annual meeting in Honolulu. He has been active in organized bar work, serving as chair of the Young Lawyers Division of the Seattle-King County Bar Association from 1972 to 1973 and in the same capacity with the American Bar Association from 1977 to 1978. He also served on the ABA Board of Governors as secretary from 1983-1987, and as Washington State Delegate to the ABA House of Delegates from 1999 to present. He chaired the ABA Fund for Justice and Education from 1997 to 1999; the ABA task Force on Goal VIII from 2002 to 2003, which examined the association’s rule of law programming; and the ABA Governance Commission from 2003 to 2005.

Neukom currently serves as chair of the Dartmouth College Board and as a board member of the Dean’s Council at Stanford Law School, the Pacific Council on the International Policy, the Policy Consensus Center and the YMCA of Greater Seattle. He chairs the Gates Challenge Endowment Campaign of the United Way of King County and is general partner in San Francisco Baseball Associates, L.P., the ownership group of the San Francisco Giants.

“I think he will offer our students an incredible learning opportunity,” said David Sollars, dean of the School of Business.