Harvard promotes from within for its new general counsel

Harvard University, with its 22,000 students and an endowment of nearly $40 billion can sit among the largest multinational corporations when it comes to size and global reach. So the appointment of a new general counsel is easily equal to when companies like General Electric or Apple change their top lawyers.

For its new general counsel, Harvard promoted Diane Lopez, who has been a lawyer at the university since 1994, most recently as deputy general counsel (since 2011). On June 1, Lopez will take over from Robert Iuliano, who is leaving Harvard to head Gettysburg College. Lopez will lead the Office of the General Counsel, whose in-house lawyers and staff provide a broad range of legal services to the university and its faculties and departments. The OGC also retains and oversees outside counsel when situations call for it.

“Diane is an outstanding lawyer and colleague, admired across Harvard for her excellent judgment, her exemplary professionalism, her collaborative style, and her strong academic values,” Harvard President Larry Bacow said in a message to the community and quoted in the Harvard Gazette. “A valued member of our Office of the General Counsel for 25 years, she knows Harvard, she has a deep understanding of the complex array of laws and regulations affecting higher education, and she has earned the respect and trust of colleagues across the University.”