NEWS RELEASE
www.ncsconline.org

Contact: 
Lorri Montgomery, Communications Manager
The National Center for State Courts
300 Newport Avenue
Williamsburg, VA 23185-4147 
757.259.1525
lmontgomery@ncsc.dni.us 

Former Microsoft General Counsel
Inducted into Warren E. Burger Society

Williamsburg, VA (Jan. 10, 2005) – The National Center for State Courts (NCSC) recently inducted William H. Neukom, Esq., former general counsel of Microsoft Corporation, into the Warren E. Burger Society. The Burger Society honors individuals who have demonstrated an exemplary commitment to improving the administration of justice through extraordinary contributions of service and support to the NCSC.  Mr. Neukom is now a partner and Chair of the Seattle firm Preston Gates & Ellis LLP.

Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy and Wisconsin Chief Justice Shirley S. Abrahamson, chair of NCSC’s Board of Directors and president of the Conference of Chief Justices, November 19 inducted Mr. Neukom and other new members into the Burger Society at the NCSC Annual Recognition Luncheon in Washington, D.C.

As general counsel of Microsoft Corporation, Mr. Neukom enthusiastically supported the mission and work of the NCSC as a member of the NCSC General Counsel Committee.  With his endorsement, the NCSC acquired the largest in-kind software donation in its history in 2002. This donation was fundamental to NCSC’s quest to be a model for courts in its use of technology.  

Inductees to the Burger Society are selected by a committee that is chaired by Texas attorney Charles M. Noteboom, Esq., who commissioned the original portrait of Chief Justice Burger that hangs in NCSC headquarters. Each new Burger Society member receives a limited edition print of the portrait, which is signed and numbered by the artist Fran Di Giacomo. Chief Justice Burger’s children own the first two prints and Chief Justice Rehnquist owns the last print, numbered 1986, the year Chief Justice Burger retired and Chief Justice Rehnquist took office.

The NCSC, headquartered in Williamsburg, Va., is a non-profit court reform organization dedicated to improving the administration of justice by providing leadership and service to the state courts. The NCSC, founded in 1971 by the Conference of Chief Justices and Chief Justice of the United States Warren E. Burger, provides education, training, and technology, management, and research services to the nation’s state courts. The NCSC also is taking the lead on several key issues facing the justice system. For example, it has established a major civil justice initiative, a multi-year project that is examining best practices in civil case management and how complex litigation procedures can be improved. Other national initiatives being driven by the NCSC include judicial selection reform and increasing citizen participation in jury service.  

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