Microsoft Corp. has promoted deputy general counsel Dev Stahlkopf to the newly created position of general counsel and corporate vice president. She will lead the new legal affairs team within Microsoft's corporate, external and legal affairs department in Redmond, Washington, the company announced Tuesday.

Stahlkopf, who was not immediately available for comment, will report to president and chief legal officer Brad Smith.

In a statement, Smith said, “Dev is an outstanding lawyer and leader. She has a strong track record working across groups to bring people together and solve tough problems. We're transforming, just as our customers are, and I'm confident Dev will accelerate innovation in our legal work.”

Microsoft said Stahlkopf will be responsible for most of Microsoft's legal work, including for engineering groups, marketing teams, employment law, litigation, competition law, compliance, intellectual property, and support for business development and corporate strategy group, and the work of the corporate legal team.

Following up on Smith's statement, the company said the new GC is expected to accelerate the pace of innovation in legal services, increase focus on talent development and drive new initiatives for the legal team. She also will represent Microsoft in the broader legal community.

As deputy general counsel at the company for two-and-a-half years, Stahlkopf oversaw the human resources legal function with responsibility for employment, immigration and employee relations legal work.

She has authored at least one Microsoft blog post. In February 2015 she wrote about praising a U.S. rule change that allowed spouses of high-skilled immigrants on H-1B visas to be eligible to work in the United States. Her post explained why the change was important to the economy as well as to immigrant families.

Stahlkopf joined Microsoft in 2007 as a senior attorney and three years later was promoted to associate general counsel. She became deputy general counsel in 2015.

Prior to Microsoft, Stahlkopf practiced law at Perkins Coie in Seattle, and at Cooley. She earned her law degree from the University of Arizona.

Microsoft said Smith would continue his oversight of legal as well as his other duties, which include leading customer security, privacy, regulatory affairs, government affairs and public policy, corporate social responsibility and company philanthropies.