Legal News

A Q&A With Bill Neukom, a Lawyer Who Stokes Our Envy

By Ashby Jones

No doubt about it: many in-house lawyers seem to have good lives. But for the most part, in-house lawyers don’t tend to go on to become household names or have headline-making careers.

But there are exceptions. And despite the accomplishments of Jeff Kindler, who vaulted from general counsel at Pfizer to CEO, and Chuck Prince, a lawyer who climbed to the top rank at Citigroup, our favorite in-houser-makes-good story is that of Bill Neukom, the former top lawyer at Microsoft.

Neukom’s story is a good one for two reasons. For some time about a decade ago, Neukom was arguably the best-known legal in-houser in the country (though fans of GE’s former top lawyer Ben Heineman may beg to disagree). Neukom grabbed the public eye during Microsoft’s highly visible antitrust fight against the government. Microsoft ultimately lost the case, but the case didn’t bankrupt the company, nor did it do much to tarnish Neukom’s career.

Neukom is now the managing general partner of the San Francisco Giants. (Click here for our post on his getting that job.) While we still hold a grudge against the Giants for beating our Angels three times during the 2002 World Series, we still think Neukom’s job is pretty darn cool, especially for a lawyer.

The WSJ’s Conor Dougherty (not a lawyer but an inveterate Giants fan) caught up with Neukom to talk about his (relatively) new job. The Q&A doesn’t have much to do with law, but for all those interested in Microsoft, the lives of in-house lawyers, or the running of a Major League Baseball team, it’s a good read.

Our favorite bit:

WSJ: You are a fan, but you’re also an owner who can make decisions. Is it hard not to make emotional decisions? Monday night, for instance, the Giants scored three runs in the top of the 14th to go ahead in a 1-1 game – then lost on a grand slam in the bottom of the inning. Many fans would rip their hair out.

Mr. Neukom: I try not to let that happen. I think I’ve been able to contain my fan joy and my fan hurt when we win or when we lose. If you play winning baseball a lot of other good things happen. If you’re not playing winning baseball it’s hard to make a lot of other good things happen. The most clever promotion in the history of baseball, if you’re 10 games below .500, isn’t going to pay off much.

Just coming to work [after the Rockies game], I’ve done a fair job of processing since I turned off the TV. Everybody on that 25-man roster last night made a hell of an effort to win that game. It’s not a bright side, but the fair analysis is it was a heck of a contest. That’s the beauty of baseball: You get to play the next day. A win or a couple wins later you’re feeling better about yourself and the game.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on August 27, 2009 (boomark / email).