Harvard University has named Diane E. Lopez as its next vice president and general counsel. She will take over on June 1 from Robert Iuliano, who is leaving after 16 years in the post to head Gettysburg College.
Lopez, who is now deputy general counsel, came to Harvard in 1994 as a University attorney in the Office of the General Counsel (OGC). She has been deputy general counsel since 2011, dealing with a range of issues at the University, including embryonic stem cell research, intellectual property, laboratory safety, scientific misconduct, privacy, and student affairs.
Lopez will lead the OGC, whose in-house lawyers and staff provide a broad range of legal advice and services to the University and its faculties and departments. The OGC also retains and oversees outside counsel when situations call for it.
The OGC is staffed with roughly 17 attorneys and legal professionals, as well as administrative staff. In addition to heading the office, Lopez will serve as chief legal adviser to Bacow and other University leaders.
Before coming to Harvard, Lopez worked for eight years in the New York office of the law firm O’Melveny & Myers, concentrating on commercial litigation, as well as pro bono work.
Lopez arrived in the OGC just a month after Iuliano. He said that over the years she has proven herself not just a skilled attorney but also a valuable colleague, willing to deal with complex and pressing issues even if it meant long hours.
As his deputy, Lopez provided invaluable support and advice and deserves a large share of the credit for the office’s accomplishments, Iuliano said.
Lopez and Iuliano agreed that the office’s work is unlikely to slacken in the years to come. As a premier educational institution, Harvard is often held up as an example of what may be right or wrong in higher education, both in public debate and in the courtroom. Lopez said there’s no reason to believe that the steady drumbeat of such cases will slow.
In addition, the cutting-edge nature of much faculty research, along with the University’s commitment to continuing innovation in how it pursues its educational mission, means a steady demand for legal advice in an array of fields, including intellectual property, regulatory compliance, real estate, labor and employment, online learning, privacy and security, charitable giving, and litigation.
Lopez was born in the Bronx, and grew up in a low-income, largely Puerto Rican and African-American neighborhood. She attended the private Fieldston School starting at age four. Lopez said she benefitted from the school’s affirmative-action policies and scholarships, and she attended until her family moved to New Hampshire when she was in middle school.