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Office of General Counsel

 

The Office of General Counsel includes approximately 20 attorneys and seven staff  who provide legal services to all Cornell campuses and units in the United States and abroad. The office operates from two locations: the main Cornell campus in Ithaca, New York and the Weill Cornell Medicine campus in New York City.

Attorneys in the Office of General Counsel collaborate with campus colleagues across a broad range of disciplines, providing advice and counsel on all legal matters affecting the University.  The office’s practice areas include first amendment/speech issues, civil rights, disability law, policy development, corporate governance, drafting and negotiating contracts, business and financial transactions, governmental regulatory matters, development and endowment, labor and employment, employee benefits, student affairs, privacy laws, investment, tax, antitrust, construction and facilities, bankruptcy, land use and real estate, international contracts and initiatives, information technology, environmental health and safety, intellectual property (including patent, copyright and trademark), technology transfer, sponsored research, research integrity, foreign influence and compliance. Attorneys also represent the University and its authorized agents in all litigation matters, administrative and agency investigations, and handle subpoenas and records responses.

The Office of General Counsel also provides university and departmental trainings and workshops on legal and regulatory matters, and attorneys write and speak regularly at state and national conferences on higher education law and related matters.

The Weill Cornell Medicine office in New York City is headed by a Deputy General Counsel. Attorneys in this section additionally provide advice and counsel on matters ranging from health law issues related to the medical college’s clinical practice, clinical trials and other research and technology issues, and student and accreditation issues for the medical college and graduate school of medical sciences.

 

The Secretary of the Corporation

The Secretary of the Corporation serves as Secretary of the Board of Trustees and provides comprehensive administrative support for the Board of Trustees.  The Secretary of the Corporation operates administratively within the Office of General Counsel.

 


The Office of General Counsel only handles University-related matters.
If you need an attorney for personal matters, please use New York State Bar Association’s free referral service by calling 1-800-342-3661.

The Office of General Counsel (“OGC”) serves as legal counsel for the university and will provide legal advice to university employees only for matters that fall within the scope of their authorized employment duties performed on behalf of Cornell. Until you have received confirmation that OGC will provide you with legal counsel, you should not assume that an attorney-client relationship exists. Therefore, please avoid sending sensitive, confidential, or potentially privileged information to our office (see Contact Us page) and provide only as much general information as necessary for this office to understand the nature of your legal needs (e.g., “I need help revising a purchasing contract for my school” or “my unit received a letter from a lawyer”). After we receive your email, someone from OGC will contact you to confirm whether we are able to address your legal needs and/or to gather more detailed information from you.
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