John Frank

Mr. Frank is currently Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, in the Office of the General Counsel, Microsoft Corporation in Redmond, Washington.  John reports to Brad Smith, Microsoft’s General Counsel and Senior Vice President of Legal & Corporate Affairs.  In this role, Mr. Frank serves as chief of staff, and manages the Office of Legal Compliance and the Office of Strategic Relations, and devotes substantial time to international competition law and policy issues.  Mr. Frank joined Microsoft in Paris in August 1994 to coordinate the legal and regulatory affairs of the Microsoft Network, the first pan-European online service (now MSN).  From July 1996 to July 2002, Mr. Frank was Associate General Counsel responsible for managing Microsoft’s Legal and Corporate Affairs group for Europe, Middle East and Africa.  His responsibilities focused on competition law matters with the European Commission and national governments, software licensing and copyright law and regulatory policy for the Internet.  The EMEA Legal and Corporate Affairs team grew in that period from 25 to 60 employees.  Prior to joining Microsoft, Mr. Frank practiced law in San Francisco with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom (January 1988 to August 1994) where he specialized in securities law, mergers & acquisitions, and cross-border investments, and with Orrick, Harrington & Sutcliffe (November 1985 to December 1997).  Mr. Frank received his A.B. degree from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs in 1981 with a specialization in economics and his J.D. from Columbia Law School in 1985 with specialization in legislation and business.