Major Players
Bill Gates, 44
Microsoft Chairman
William H. Gates III co-founded Microsoft in 1975 with his friend Paul Allen shortly after Gates dropped out of Harvard in his junior year. He was chief executive of Microsoft until this year, when he named Steve Ballmer to that position. He is now chairman and chief software architect at the company and the richest person in the world. He did not appear at the trial, but excerpts of his videotaped deposition were played frequently.
Career Highlights
* Chairman and chief software architect, Microsoft
* Co-founder, Microsoft, 1975
Education
Student at Harvard University, 1973-75
Other
Author, “The Road Ahead,” 1995
*
Thomas Penfield Jackson, 63
U.S. District Judge
Jackson is known as an opinionated and sometimes outspoken jurist. He laughed openly when the videotaped deposition of Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates was played at the trial. Appointed by President Reagan in 1982, he is no stranger to high-profile cases, having presided over Washington Mayor Marion Barry’s drug trial in 1990. He also ordered then-Sen. Bob Packwood (R-Ore.) to turn over his diaries to Senate investigators in an ethics and sexual harassment case in 1994.
Career Highlights
* U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
* Jackson & Campbell, associate, partner, 1964-1982
Education
* Dartmouth College, A.B., 1958
* Harvard University, LL.B., 1964
Other
U.S. Navy, 1958-61 (served to lieutenant j.g.)
*
David Boies, 59
Lead counsel, Justice Department
A private attorney hired by the Justice Department to be lead counsel in the Microsoft case, Boies has been on the other side of antitrust litigation as well. He defended IBM Corp. in a successful 13-year antitrust battle with the government. He is described as a “brilliant strategist” and a “truly gifted trial attorney” by colleagues. The Martindale-Hubbell legal directory rating of AV indicates Boies has a “very high to preeminent legal ability and very high ethical standards as established by” members of the bar. The client list at his firm, Boies, Schiller & Flexner, includes such names as CBS Corp., Unisys Corp. and comedian Garry Shandling.
Career Highlights
* Adjunct professor of law, New York University, 1967-73
* Chief counsel and staff director, Senate antitrust Sources: Times staff and wire reports; Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory; Marquis Who’s Who biographies.
Education
* Northwestern University, B.S., 1964
* Yale University, LL.B., magna cum laude, 1966
Other
Author, “Public Control of Business,” 1977
*
William Neukom, 58
General Counsel, Microsoft
Neukom came to Microsoft by way of the law firm now known as Preston, Gates & Ellis when senior partner William Gates asked him to do some legal work for his son’s then-new software company in 1979. Neukom joined Microsoft as its general counsel and vice president in 1985. He has been successful in fighting off previous challenges to Microsoft’s market dominance, including negotiating the 1994 consent decree between Microsoft and the government. He too has a Martindale-Hubbell rating of AV, indicating the highest levels of legal ability and ethical standards.
Career Highlights
* Partner, Shidler, McBroom, Gates & Lucas, 1978-85
* Attorney, MacDonald, Hoague & Bayless, 1968-77
Education
* Dartmouth College, A.B., 1964
* Stanford University, LL.B., 1967
Other
Sits on many boards including the Greater Seattle
Chamber of Commerce and Dartmouth College.
*
Sources: Times staff and wire reports; Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory; Marquis Who’s Who biographies.
Researched by NONA YATES/Los Angeles Times
