Remembering William H. ‘Bill’ Neukom

Stanford Law School alum and benefactor William H. “Bill” Neukom, LLB ’67, Microsoft’s first general counsel and former CEO of the San Francisco Giants, died on July 14, 2025. He was 83 years old. With a legal career that spanned law firm practice, the tech industry, major league baseball, and promotion of the rule of law, Neukom also dedicated his time and leadership to philanthropy, notably at Stanford Law School where he endowed two professorships, established the Neukom Center for the Rule of Law, and supported the growth of the Law School with the lead gift for the Neukom Building.

“I had the pleasure of getting to know Bill and benefiting from his wise counsel during my time as dean of Stanford Law School,” said Stanford Provost Jenny Martinez. “His commitment to the highest values of the legal profession was truly inspiring. Whenever I had a hard problem, Bill was one of the very first people I would call. He was humble and down to earth in a very old-fashioned way. I’m so grateful to both Bill and his wife, Sally, for their support for the Rule of Law Center that we launched in 2023. Bill dedicated his life to supporting the rule of law – in his work as a lawyer, through the ABA and then the World Justice Project, and in his support for Stanford Law School. It gives me great pleasure to know that his legacy will live on through generations of students who will be trained to the highest standards and with deep appreciation for the importance of lawyers to society.”

As a lawyer who wove the ethos of giving back into his life and work, Neukom became a trusted advisor to six Stanford Law School deans. He was a longtime member of the Dean’s Advisory Council (which he chaired in 2013-14) and played a crucial role as a volunteer for multiple class reunion campaigns and as a member of the steering committee and leadership council for The Stanford Challenge, a major university fundraising campaign.

“In my brief time so far as dean, I was fortunate to be able to rely on Bill’s principled judgment, wise counsel, and enduring affection for Stanford,” said George Triantis, Richard E. Lang Professor of Law and Dean of Stanford Law School. “In their extraordinary support of the Law School, Bill and Sally have demonstrated their deep commitment to educating generations of ethical leaders in the legal profession and strengthening the rule of law across the globe. We will long cherish Bill's legacy to Stanford Law.”

A life in law, well lived

Neukom was born in Chicago on November 7, 1941. He studied philosophy at Dartmouth College before entering Stanford Law School in 1964. He developed an “abiding instinct for fair play” during his time at Stanford, he recalled in a 2008 Stanford Lawyer profile. “I wanted to paint on a bigger canvas, and I thought it was a high calling to solve people’s legal problems.”

His classmate Charles G. “Chuck” Armstrong, JD ’67, former president of the Seattle Mariners Baseball Club, recalled his “keen intellectual curiosity.”

“Bill was an excellent law student who even then always cared about the greater good and what the law should be, not necessarily what it was,” he said.

After a clerkship with the King County Superior Court and a stint at a small law firm, Neukom joined Shidler McBroom & Gates. Sometime around 1978, Neukom was asked by the senior partner, William Gates Sr., to advise his son’s small software startup, Microsoft, that had just moved to Washington state. Neukom later recalled that he had “never known why Bill Gates Sr. would approach a new lateral hire with absolutely no technical background to take on that task.” But he did, and following six years as outside counsel, Neukom was invited to join Microsoft full time.

In 1985, Neukom became Microsoft’s first general counsel. It was an exciting time in technology – and in law – when startup culture was gaining speed. He helped lay the legal groundwork for the nascent company and set an example for tech startups to follow.

Neukom retired from Microsoft in 2002 and returned to his law firm, Preston Gates & Ellis, now K&L Gates, serving as its chair from 2003 to 2007. Neukom was also active in the legal community, serving as president of the American Bar Association (ABA) from 2007 to 2008. In 2020, Neukom was honored with the ABA Medal, the organization's highest award, in recognition of his exceptional service to the legal profession.

A lifelong Giants fan, Neukom’s career took a turn in 2008 when he became the chief executive officer of the San Francisco Giants baseball team. He served the team until 2011, helping to steer it to the World Series win in 2010, its first since the team moved to California in 1958.

Armstrong recalls that he and Neukom shared a passion for baseball that kept them close, and the two would meet during their respective teams’ spring training in Phoenix. 

“Bill and I shared the same philosophy that operating a major league baseball team is akin to managing a public trust. One is the caretaker for all the fans and the community in which the team plays. Every day, you are held accountable. It is an amazing experience,” he recalled. 

Passion for the rule of law

Neukom’s dedication to the legal profession was also realized in his philanthropy, where he often focused on strengthening the rule of law. In addition to establishing the World Justice Project in 2006, an organization devoted to promoting the rule of law throughout the world, in 2022, along with his wife Sally, Neukom made a significant gift to the Law School to establish the Sally B. and William H. Neukom Center for the Rule of Law. Their gift also included support for an endowed chair and faculty fellows.

“Bill was everything we teach our students to be: a lifelong lawyer of deep integrity who was committed to the legal profession and the rule of law. Despite his enormously successful career, he was humble, reminding everyone constantly that he considered himself a small-town lawyer,” said Diego Zambrano, associate dean for global programs and faculty director of the Neukom Center for the Rule of Law. “He was a fierce defender of our legal traditions and institutions. And he had a passionate interest in how courts could deliver for everyday people.” 

A home for research, teaching, collaboration, public discourse, policy labs, and practical initiatives, the Neukom Center works to reverse global trends toward autocracy and turn the tide toward accessible, impartial justice and open government. The center’s focus on interdisciplinary projects elevates rule-of-law issues across Stanford, including through the university’s Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law, as well as academic institutions globally.

“Fundamental to an equitable world, the rule of law is the very foundation of communities of justice, opportunity, and peace,” Neukom said in the 2022 announcement about the new center. “Stanford Law School has an important role to play on an international stage in advancing the rule of law, and Sally and I are pleased to support that effort.”

Neukom established the William H. Neukom Professor of Law Chair at Stanford Law School in 2002 to support faculty working in human rights, intellectual property rights, ethics and legal responsibility, global rule of law issues, and antitrust and consumer protection.

“Bill was an absolute prince of a man,” recalls Mark Lemley, ’88, the William H. Neukom Professor of Law and director of the Stanford Program in Law, Science, and Technology. “Everyone who dealt with him, whether working with or against him, recognized him as a model of what a gentleman lawyer should be.”

He was also a lecturer at Stanford Law School where he taught a seminar on the rule of law.

“The first time I met Bill, I was serving as the Law School’s associate dean for curriculum and had scheduled a meeting to talk about a class that he had taught as an adjunct lecturer,” Martinez recalled. “We were sitting in the building named for him – the Neukom Building – but he was quite insistent that I make sure his teaching evaluations were good enough before I invited him back again. Of course, the students loved him.”

In 1995, Neukom and his children founded the Neukom Family Foundation, which supports nonprofit organizations in the fields of education, the environment, health, human services, and justice. He is survived by his wife, Sally; four children, including Stanford Law School alum John “Jay” M. Neukom, JD ’04; and 14 grandchildren.

This story first appeared in Stanford Report.