WILLIAM NEUKOM, President, American Bar Association

SPEAKER: WILLIAM NEUKOM, President, American Bar Association

TITLE: Advancing the Rule of Law in the U.S. and Abroad

President-elect of the American Bar Association, William Neukom will identify the most important legal battlegrounds in the U.S. today, and present the ABA’s goals for the future. As former vice president of law and corporate affairs at Microsoft, Neukom will discuss the effect that the internet has had on intellectual property rights, and where the ABA will stand on corporate law.

This coming August, Neukom will take over the helm of the ABA, one of the world’s largest professional organizations and one of the most influential groups in law, politics and society. He enters this new position faced with growing concerns that the democratic rule of law is being threatened by the Bush Administration’s policies, its politicizing of the judiciary branch and its growing restrictions on civil liberties.

Neukom currently chairs the Seattle law firm of Preston Gates & Ellis, where he was a partner until 1985. He spent 17 years at Microsoft, where he was instrumental in securing the landmark legal victory in the Apple v. Microsoft case spanning thirteen years, and successfully defended Microsoft against antitrust cases brought by the Federal Trade Commission, the US Justice Department, and the EU. Neukom has been active in the American Bar Association since the 1970’s, serving in the ABA House of Delegates since 1999, and as the ABA secretary from 1983 to 1987. Neukom received his LL.B. from Stanford University in 1967 and his B.A. from Dartmouth University in 1964.

This program was recorded live on August 14, 2007