Role of the Office of General Counsel

The role of the Office of General Counsel (OGC) is to represent and provide legal advice to the University and its Board of Trustees.  Other than those situations qualifying for indemnification pursuant to Article IX of the URI Board of Trustees Bylaws, OGC does not and cannot represent any students, employees, or other members of the University community in their personal capacities. Please do not attempt to request personal legal services other than a request for indemnification pursuant to the above-referenced provision.

Reporting Legal Concerns and Confidentiality

If you wish to report a legal or compliance issue or concern, you should feel free to reach out to any attorney in the OGC but it is important that, in doing so, you understand that the role of attorneys in the OGC is to give legal advice to URI and its Board of Trustees and to represent URI only.  This means that, although our communications are generally confidential and subject to the attorney-client privilege, that privilege belongs to URI, not to any individual making a report, and we may disclose information we learn from you in the interests of representing URI. If you wish to make a confidential report you are encouraged to make use of URI’s reporting hotlines for students, staff and faculty.

Requests for Legal Services

Please follow this protocol for requests for legal services for any University-related matters.  Requests for legal services on any new University-related matter should be submitted via email to the OGC’s matter intake email at OGC-service-request-group@uri.edu.  All relevant documents and information, including any upcoming deadlines, should be included with your request. If the request is for review or drafting of a contract, please read the Contract Review Protocol for requirements and assure that the Contract Cover Sheet and Appendix A are completed prior to submitting your request.  

Upon receipt of a new request for legal services we will verify that it is a new matter (that there is no existing matter already open).  If there is an existing file already open, the assigned attorney on that matter will email you with the matter number and name.  If it is a new matter, it will be reviewed for completeness and compliance with the Contract Review Protocol, if applicable.  You will be contacted with an initial email from a member of the OGC, generally within one to two working days.  If the request is not complete, this initial contact will be with questions and requests for missing items. Once a new matter request is verified to be complete, an OGC file will be opened and the matter will be assigned to one of our attorneys. You will then receive an email advising you of the matter number and name and who has been assigned to handle the matter.  Once you have received this email, any email communications sent on your matter should be directed to the assigned attorney with the matter number and name in the subject line.  It is not necessary to copy other members of the OGC.

OGC Protocol 01 (1-22)