J. Terry Roach, the Executive Assistant to the President for Legal Affairs, is the chief legal officer for the University. The Executive Assistant serves as the attorney for the President and the institution's principal administrators, advising them on the intersection of law, policy, and management.

The Office of Legal Affairs serves as the University's interface with the legal community, responding to inquiries, subpoenas, demand letters, summonses, interrogatories, and other forms of legal process directed to administrators, faculty, and staff.

It sees to their representation in judicial and administrative proceedings. The Office of Legal Affairs is responsible for managing incipient legal claims. It is also responsible for supervising and coordinating the investigation of all reports of sexual harassment.

The Office of Legal Affairs drafts, reviews, and negotiates business instruments and policy documents. Counsel review the University's major procurement and research contracts, employment agreements, leases, and conveyances for form and legal sufficiency. The Office prepares and comments on academic and administrative policies, documents, and procedures.

University counsel provide assistance in nearly all fields of law encountered in the academic and business life of the University. These include:

• Constitutional law (e.g., the First Amendment, Due Process and Equal Protection, Search and Seizure, Church and State, and the Eleventh Amendment)

• Civil Rights (e.g., prohibitions against discrimination in academic programs, financial aid, and employment)

• Corporations, Partnerships and Business Entities (e.g., public-private joint research ventures)

• Technology Transfer (e.g., technology licensing, University equity interest arrangements, and "incubator programs"

• Intellectual Property (e.g., copyright, trademark, and patent licensure)

• Intercollegiate Athletics and Sports law (e.g., NCAA Bylaw enforcement, certification, Title IX review, and coaching contract)

• Employment law (e.g., wage and hour claims, worker’s compensation, and unemployment insurance)

• Taxation (e.g., Unrelated Business Income)

• Environmental law (e.g., Superfund Cleanup liability and asbestos abatement)

• Public Ethics, Freedom of Information, and Privacy Act inquiries

• Real Estate (e.g., acquisition, disposition, leasing, and zoning)

• Construction (e.g., architect, manager and builder performance claims)

• Contracting and Procurement

• Sponsored Research and Regulations (e.g., audits, human subject protocols, and scientific misconduct

• Torts (e.g., negligent and intentional injury)

• Administrative law (e.g., U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, Department of Labor, and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaints)

• Estates, Endowments, and Charitable Trusts (e.g., revision of restricted donations and cy pres, permissible fees and reimbursable expenses, the law of fiduciaries, probate actions, and CASE guidelines)