Iuliano named Harvard’s vice president and general counsel:

Robert W. Iuliano has been named the University’s vice president and general counsel, President Lawrence H. Summers announced June 16.

A member of Harvard’s Office of the General Counsel (OGC) since 1994, Iuliano became deputy general counsel in 2000, and has served this past academic year as the acting vice president and general counsel.

“Bob Iuliano is an outstanding lawyer with a wealth of expertise in the array of legal issues facing Harvard,” said Summers in announcing the appointment. “He is a person of intelligence, integrity, and insight – an excellent problem solver and a trusted counselor greatly admired by the many people across the University who have benefited over the years from his advice and practical wisdom. He has also emerged this past year as an important and valued addition to the Massachusetts Hall team, bringing his steady judgment and wide-ranging experience to a host of complex matters. I am very pleased that he has agreed to carry forward in one of the University’s most essential administrative roles.”

“I am enormously grateful to President Summers for entrusting me with this responsibility, which is one of the best opportunities any lawyer could hope for,” said Iuliano. “Harvard is an amazing institution propelled by remarkably talented people, and dealing with the wide span of legal issues facing the University is a consistently rewarding and engaging experience. I look forward to continuing to work with colleagues across Harvard to address such issues as thoughtfully and effectively as possible. And I especially appreciate the support, wisdom, and friendship I have received throughout my nine years at Harvard from my colleagues in the Office of the General Counsel.”

In nearly a decade as a member of the OGC, Iuliano has been responsible for a wide array of legal matters, in areas including student affairs, tenure issues, scientific misconduct, federal investigations and audits, police and security, labor and employment, intellectual property, litigation, and sponsored research. Within the past year, he has led the OGC’s efforts in such diverse matters as the filing of an amicus brief in the University of Michigan admissions cases pending before the U.S. Supreme Court, the implications of the USA Patriot Act for higher education, and the work of the Committee to Address Sexual Assault at Harvard.

As vice president and general counsel, Iuliano will have overall responsibility for the University’s legal affairs while also overseeing both the Harvard University Police Department and the Harvard International Office. The vice president and general counsel is one of five vice presidents with responsibility for different areas of universitywide administration.

Iuliano received his A.B. from Harvard College in 1983, and his J.D. from the University of Virginia, where he was editor in chief of the Virginia Law Review. He was a law clerk for the Honorable Levin Campbell, chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit. He next spent four years at the Boston firm of Choate, Hall & Stewart, specializing in labor law and litigation. He then joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Boston, where he investigated and prosecuted criminal violations of the federal drug, tax, fraud, money-laundering, and labor laws from 1991 to 1994.

In 1994, Iuliano accepted an offer to serve as a university attorney at Harvard, and soon emerged among the OGC’s most highly regarded and versatile lawyers. Since becoming deputy general counsel in 2000, he has been responsible for the day-to-day management of the OGC, including the assignment of cases, supervision of outside counsel, and helping to plan for the University’s long-term legal needs.

Iuliano has also brought his legal expertise into the classroom. As an instructor at the Harvard Extension School, he designed a popular course called “Introduction to Law,” which he taught from 1998 to 2001. In addition, since 2000, he has served as a lecturer on education at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, offering a course on “Higher Education and the Law.”

Iuliano lives in Sudbury with his wife, Susan, and their two sons, Jeff and Ben.