NAME: Jeff Bullwinkel
COMPANY: Microsoft
POSITION: Associate general counsel and director of corporate, external and legal affairs (CELA), Asia Pacific and Japan
Tell us a bit about your career so far.
I began practicing law in New York City back in 1991, when I joined the Simpson Thacher & Bartlett. It was, in many ways, a fantastic experience, exposing me to some of the country’s best lawyers and providing a great training ground.
As much as I enjoyed law firm practice, I had a longstanding interest in public service and joined the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) in 1996. I spent four years with the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs, and it was then that I first became deeply involved in Asia. At DoJ, my role involved facilitating bilateral and multilateral cooperation in criminal matters. I worked closely with justice and enforcement officials in Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore Australia and other markets in the region.
The experience I gained ultimately led me to Microsoft, where I joined the company’s corporate external and legal affairs department (CELA) in 2000, initially for a role in Hong Kong. Later postings [were] in Sydney and Singapore, where I’m now based. At the start, I was focused on tackling the problem of high-end counterfeit software – no, we didn’t solve that problem, but I think we made some progress!
Over time, I have been lucky enough to have worked on an incredible variety of legal, policy and regulatory issues in countries across Asia.
How is being an in-house lawyer at Microsoft different from that of other companies?
I have worked in-house only at Microsoft, but there are several things that I think make the in-house experience at Microsoft unique and very exciting.
The first is that we have a broad remit and work on a wide portfolio of issues. CELA encompasses not just Microsoft’s legal department but also our corporate and external affairs functions. So while there are lots of people on the team involved in traditional lawyering, others are busy engaging government leaders on cutting public policy issues, fighting cybercrime, and even driving the company’s philanthropic activities. The variety is endless and there is never a dull moment.
Second, at Microsoft, we are fortunate that our internal business clients really value the work that we do. We are viewed as strategic partners to the business who do not just identify problems but also find solutions. Microsoft isn’t a place where our lawyers wait around for clients to knock on the door, seeking approval from “legal”. We have a seat at the table at the very beginning of key conversations that will shape our future business strategy and direction.
Third, it is just an amazing time to be working as a lawyer in the technology industry and at Microsoft in particular. Our customers are embracing our cloud solutions at a breathtaking pace. But as they do so, fascinating questions arise regarding the laws and regulations that apply in the context of cloud computing – questions that are often without easy answers. With all of this variety and complexity, I feel that doing my job at Microsoft is like sitting in that fascinating seminar in law school that everyone was dying to get into, but was always oversubscribed.
What are some of the major recent trends in your industry?
As our customers increasingly adopt cloud technologies, the biggest change I have felt over the past few years is a shift in the relationship between our team and the legal and business professionals working or our customers.
As a major cloud provider offering solutions at every layer of the cloud stack – including infrastructure as a service, platform as a service, and software as a service – Microsoft sometimes feels like an extension of our customers’ IT departments. That fundamentally changes the dynamics of the customer relationship and creates a strong services mentality for all of us across the company, including in legal.
Our customers and their in-house and external counsel have many good – and often difficult – questions regarding the laws and policies that apply to cloud computing. This is especially true for those in the public sector [as well as] financial and healthcare industries. Is the adoption of cloud allowed in the first place? If so, does data need to be stored on shore? Whose privacy laws apply? What happens when governments ask Microsoft as a cloud provider to turn over customer data? We have not only an opportunity but also a responsibility to offer sound answers to these questions.
How many lawyers does your team have and how does the structure work as a whole?
I’m lucky to work with a fantastic and incredibly diverse group of individuals across the region, with about 70 people sitting in 11 different markets, supporting Microsoft’s sales and marketing organisation in over 30 countries.
Our department includes not just lawyers, but also government affairs specialists and other professionals. It’s becoming increasingly vital for these different functional groups to work closely together, particularly on questions related to public policies affecting cloud technologies and the terms and conditions of our contracts that need to reflect as well as respect those policies.
How would you describe your strategy for the legal team?
We have an excellent leader in Microsoft’s president and chief legal officer, Brad Smith, and each year he drives a process that results in a set of global priorities for the department.
These are aimed at driving our business forward and advancing Microsoft’s core mission – to enable every person and every organisation on the planet to achieve more. I work to create clarity for the team on how they can pursue worldwide priorities in their markets; to generate energy within the organisation; and to ensure we are holding ourselves accountable for specific outcomes that are concrete and measurable.
As part of this, I try to ensure [that] our team has the resources and tools needed for success, be it through training in new areas or support from outside counsel.
Ultimately, I hope for everyone on the team to feel empowered to execute our plans in [ways] that make sense in their markets, with a high degree of creativity and a willingness to take appropriate risks.
In your opinion, what are the key traits that make for a successful in-house lawyer?
I think in order to be truly successful in-house, you have got to have a passion for the law and a passion for the business you are working in.
Everything else flows naturally from there. People often say that it is also important for in-house lawyers to be “commercial” in their orientation. These days, that sounds almost clichéd, but it really is true. For me, what that means is having the ability not just to provide sound legal advice when asked for it, but also to understand your client’s objective and then find a lawful and compliant way to achieve that. Sometimes for legal reasons, we need to tell our clients that they cannot take a certain path in achieving their goals, but we can often find another path that will get them to the same place.
Finally, and it is impossible to overstate the importance of this: in-house lawyers need to model the highest degree of integrity at all times. We hope and expect that everyone in our organisation is focused on fostering a culture of compliance, but it is especially important that we in-house lawyers lead by example.
What is the best advice you have ever received?
My parents taught me from a very young age to always believe in myself, and I will forever be grateful to them for that.
More recently at Microsoft, we have been talking about the need to have a strong growth mindset and to embrace a culture of lifelong learning, which is so important. I have been a lawyer for over 25 years, and while that amount of experience can be helpful, it can also be a blind spot.
So when tackling tough issues, I try to check myself before responding to others’ ideas, especially if my initial reaction is less than positive. There is still so much more to learn, and I constantly remind myself to maintain the right mindset, and to always work hard to listen to and learn from others.
