It has been a long-standing policy and practice at the University that only the Office of the General Counsel may retain outside lawyers or law firms to represent the University or any School, Department or other unit, or affiliated person, and that the University may only pay legal bills submitted to the Controller's Office by the Office of the General Counsel.
This policy and practice allows the University to maintain both quality and cost control and to avoid conflicts of interest.
Requests for legal services on a University matter should be made to the General Counsel's Office. The General Counsel’s Office provides many legal services without the necessity of retaining outside counsel. When this Office provides legal services in conjunction with outside counsel, we carefully select that counsel, taking into account areas of expertise, billing rates, and any prior experience with the firm.