SMU Names New Vice President For Legal Affairs

DALLAS (SMU) – Paul Ward, vice president for university administration and general counsel at Arizona State University, has been named vice president for legal affairs, general counsel and secretary to the Board of Trustees at Southern Methodist University, effective Jan. 1, 2009.

Paul Ward

“We are pleased to welcome Paul Ward to SMU,” said SMU President R. Gerald Turner. “As an SMU law alumnus, he knows the University and his extensive background in legal affairs at other universities gives him the knowledge and experience to lead SMU’s legal affairs division.”

At SMU, Ward will oversee legal services to the University, including the supervision of three staff attorneys, and selection and management of outside counsel. Additionally, as Secretary to the Board of Trustees, he will work closely with the president and senior administrative officers in coordinating the Board’s activities.

“Paul Ward brings the perfect combination of legal knowledge and practice for this position, and I am delighted he has been selected,” said Michael M. Boone, chairman of SMU’s Board of Trustees legal committee. “I know he will play an integral role in SMU’s development through his collaborative work with the Board, President Turner, faculty, staff and students.”

Ward became the vice president for university administration and general counsel at ASU in September 2004. He has served as general counsel at ASU since June 1991. In the role of vice president for university administration his areas of responsibility include the police department, university audit and advisory services, and the environmental health and safety department. Ward also serves as an adjunct faculty member in the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law and the Mary Lou Fulton College of Education at ASU. Prior to his association with ASU, he served the University of South Carolina System as general counsel from 1979 to 1991. Previously, he was engaged in private practice in the Washington, D.C., office of Casey, Lane & Mittendorf.

Ward served as president (1996-97) and as a member of the Board of Directors (1988-92 and 1993-98) of the National Association of College and University Attorneys (NACUA). In 1993, he established NACUA's electronic bulletin board, NACUANET, which now has more than 2,000 participating members in the United States and Canada. In June 2000, he received the prestigious Distinguished Service Award from NACUA. He serves as a member of the NCAA General Counsel Advisory Board. He is also a member of the Arizona Corporate Counsel Forum. In addition, he recently concluded a term in the American Bar Association House of Delegates. In 2002, Ward received the Thomas S. Biggs Award at the Stetson University College of Law, National Conference on Law of Higher Education.

Ward graduated from the Southern Methodist University School of Law (J.D., 1975) and Eastern Illinois University (B.S., 1971; M.A., 1974). He has been admitted to practice law in Texas, Arizona, South Carolina, Indiana, the District of Columbia and the United States Supreme Court.

Ward succeeds S. Leon Bennett, SMU’s vice president for legal affairs and governmental relations, general counsel and secretary to the Board of Trustees, who has been with the University since 1983 and will retire Dec. 31, 2008.

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