About

Jan Widmer serves as the director of legal affairs for Microsoft, where he heads the legal and corporate affairs department for Switzerland. As a business savvy and tech-impassioned lawyer he has focused on supporting cross-functional teams at Microsoft in an international context to enable customers and partners in reinventing their business models through digital transformation by using cloud computing, something Widmer says will ‘empower customers in every industry for good’. Widmer is a member of the executive management team and the compliance and advisory board, advising the multinational technology company in matters involving business, legal and regulatory topics. He has accumulated expertise in cloud computing/software licensing, AI, FinTech, data privacy, commercial law, IT/IP, regulatory affairs and compliance. ‘Having seen how quickly technology has been evolving during the past couple of years, it‘s fair to assume that in the future the progress of innovation will even more speed up. Hence, I’m promoting to the team to proactively dedicate time to educate themselves quite deeply on fundamental topics like AI, blockchain, encryption’, explains Widmer. It is here where Widmer remains prepared to stay ahead of the curb, arguing that lawyers may need to also have coding skills in the future to be able to give diligent legal advice on specific topics like smart contracts. ‘Fact is that technology created a plethora of highly interesting and sometimes seemingly insolvable legal questions. But it’s also technology, that might in the end become the solution to this legal conundrum’, says Widmer. In such a fast moving industry key to success for us is to build trusted relationships with customers, regulators and industry stakeholders. Widmer supports and mentors law and business students with Microsoft subject matter experts, hosting round tables for law students and helping connect Swiss start-ups with the Microsoft ecosystem.