As a unit of the Chancellor's Division, the Office of the General Counsel ("OGC") provides, manages, and coordinates all legal services for UNCW in a collegial, responsive, and professional manner.
The Office provides these services on university matters to the Board of Trustees, the Chancellor, the senior officers, other university administrators, and faculty who are acting on behalf of the university. The attorneys and legal staff are committed to rendering high quality, cost effective, and responsive legal and risk management advice to facilitate the achievements of UNCW's goals of teaching, research, scholarship, community engagement and service.
As a premier higher education legal office, our goals are to provide professional advice, minimize risk, reduce litigation, and identify and respond to legal issues affecting the university. OGC also advises the university on compliance issues by researching and analyzing applicable federal and state laws, regulations, and UNC policies. OGC further, drafts, analyzes, and reviews contracts, grants, leases, and license agreements, and advises the university on a wide variety of legal and risk management matters, including employment, student affairs, civil rights, litigation, public records, real property, public finance, facilities development, sponsored programs and research, data governance and data security, and intellectual property matters.
Our office is responsible for selecting, engaging, and supervising all outside counsel retained by the university or any of its associated entities. We represent the university in a variety of administrative proceedings and coordinate all litigation conducted by the North Carolina Attorney General's Office on behalf of the university.