The Ohio Attorney General is the chief legal officer for all state of Ohio institutions of higher education.  Subject to the authority of the Ohio Attorney General, the General Counsel serves as the chief legal advisor to the Board of Trustees, to the President and Dean and to senior NEOUCOM officers and administrators on matters of legal significance to the College. 

The Office of the General Counsel (“OGC”) manages the legal affairs of the College.  It serves an advisory as well as educational function, providing training to the NEOUCOM community in matters of potential legal risk to the College.

Some examples of the types of legal services provided by the OGC to the College include:

• Litigation management;
• Coordinating the College’s response to external investigation inquiries;
• Reviewing, drafting, negotiating and enforcing legal documents;
• Reviewing, drafting, interpreting and advising the College regarding policies and procedures, bylaws and other administrative documents with legal significance to the College;
• Working with departments during audits and other compliance reviews;
• Advising and assisting with property matters, personnel and EEO matters, insurance and risk management, tax and business issues and patent, trademark and copyright issues; and
• Advising and assisting the College in student, faculty and staff grievance and disciplinary proceedings.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING CONFIDENTIALITY – PLEASE READ

Communications regarding legal matters with OGC lawyers are ordinarily protected by attorney-client privilege and therefore are confidential if they are made for the purpose of seeking legal advice on behalf of the College.  Such communications can be revealed only to other College officials on a need-to-know basis. 

By law the OGC cannot provide personal legal advice or representation to individual members of the NEOUCOM community in connection with matters against the College or with other personal matters; however, the OGC can provide referrals if needed.  Communications with OGC lawyers on personal legal matters (including matters against the College) or on non-legal matters are not privileged or confidential.  We may be affirmatively obligated to disclose any such communications to other College officials if the communications affect NEOUCOM’s legal interests.  If you are not sure whether your matter is College-related or a personal matter, please check with the OGC before sending us any communications that you wish to remain confidential. 

Although e-mail communications are protected by the attorney-client privilege to the same extent as communications made by other means, email is not completely secure.  We therefore encourage you to exercise appropriate discretion in using e-mail to communicate with us about sensitive matters.