Tom Robertson leads the Corporate, External and Legal Affairs team that supports the Experiences and Devices Group, which is responsible for Office, Windows, Microsoft 365, Microsoft’s generative AI Copilots and platforms, Microsoft Surface devices, Skype, Teams, and many other products and services across consumer and commercial experiences. He has led other product teams and the Corporate Standards organization in Seattle, was the overall regional lead based in Tokyo, and led the regional intellectual property policy and enforcement team out of Hong Kong since joining Microsoft in 1997.
Before joining Microsoft, Robertson served as associate general counsel in the Office of the United States Trade Representative, where he was responsible for intellectual property issues globally and general trade issues with U.S. trading partners in the Asia Pacific region. Before that, Robertson practiced law at Covington and Burling in Washington, D.C., and London, and was a law clerk to then-Chief Judge Albert Bryan Jr. of the U.S. Federal Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Alexandria, Virginia.
Robertson holds both Bachelor of Science (computer science, concentrating in electrical engineering) and law degrees from the University of Virginia. At UVA, he was notes editor of the Virginia Journal of International Law. He is admitted to practice in Virginia; Washington, D.C.; and Washington state. He serves on the boards of the Asia Society of Northern California and Seattle, the National Bureau of Asian Research, the Minority Corporate Counsel Association and Town Hall Seattle. He is a life member of the Council of Foreign Relations and a fellow of the U.S.-Japan Leadership Program.
He lives in Seattle with Marcelle O’Connell and daughters Stella, Ava and Annabel.