Jason Barnwell is an attorney in Microsoft’s Corporate, External, and Legal Affairs department, resident in the Office of the President. He leads Microsoft’s law firm engagement strategy. His work is focused on creating deeper engagement with and more value from Microsoft’s outside counsel relationships. He partners with Microsoft’s Legal Operations team to build a virtuous value cycle built upon empowering Microsoft’s legal professionals to: select the right partners; teach them about their business; ensure they assemble teams with talent and diverse perspectives; create incentives to innovate and work efficiently; measure partner performance and work quality; and collect, re-use, and build upon knowledge assets.

His previous roles at Microsoft include leading the Open Source Software practice group and counseling the Cloud and Enterprise Business. Prior to joining Microsoft, he was an associate in the Emerging Companies practice group at Cooley LLP. Before entering law school, he worked as a software engineer developing enterprise software. He earned his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from MIT and his J.D. from the University of Southern California School of Law. He is passionate about technology and still codes when his work permits it.