Counsel's office works to defend CU's 'principled institutional decisions'

James Mingle, university counsel, and Shirley Egan, associate university counsel, stand near their offices in the Computing and Communications Center. Frank DiMeo/University Photography

By Edward Hershey

They often encounter enough interesting issues on a single day to supply all the sub-plots for an episode of "LA Law" or "The Firm" -- a point driven home last month when three of their cases before the State Court of Appeals made headlines in the same week.

But the nine attorneys who work at one of central New York's busiest and most successful law offices are not part of a firm. They are the legal brain trust of the University Counsel's office, representing the interests of Cornell -- and often its employees -- in a wide range of matters.

"We are fortunate to have a full-service shop of seasoned attorneys and support staff who cover a broad spectrum of legal issues and can handle the vast majority of our cases in house," said James Mingle, who left the University of Virginia to head the office four years ago, supervising eight lawyers in Ithaca and two who work with the medical college in New York City.

Because in most cases Cornell is equipped to defend itself without retaining outside counsel, Mingle said, matters are pursued on the merits, not settled merely to avoid added cost. "Also since we are familiar with our clients and the policy issues at hand, we are always positioned to vigorously defend principled institutional decisions," he said.

In one of the three recent appellate cases, New York's highest court rejected the plaintiffs' appeal of a lower court dismissal of a lawsuit against Lake Source Cooling, leaving the $55 million project with its clean bill of health. That week the court also heard arguments from Mingle and Associate Counsel Nelson Roth on two cases connected to action Cornell took four years ago against a professor sanctioned for sexual harassment. The cases involve questions concerning the university's enforcement of its sexual harassment policies and the opening up of confidential faculty, staff and student records to public scrutiny.

Cornell indemnifies employees against legal action stemming from proper official duties, an approach that put Roth in the middle of another prominent case last year. He successfully defended Kate Bronfenbrenner, director of labor education research at the School of Industrial and Labor Relations, who was sued by a chain of nursing homes after her Congressional testimony about the chain's labor record. Before taking on her defense, Roth said, the counsel's office had to determine that because of ILR's outreach role, Bronfenbrenner acted in an official capacity when she testified.

The victory on Lake Source Cooling was especially sweet for associate counsel Shirley Egan, a 19-year veteran of the office who tracked legal issues related to the project for five years. "On major projects like Lake Source Cooling," Egan said, "I am part of the project team from its inception. One of the first questions we have to ask is, 'What kind of a record are we going to have to make through the permitting process if we are challenged later on?' In the case contesting the construction of Sage Hall, that was crucial, and it was important again for Lake Source Cooling."

When governmental authorities are sued along with Cornell, Egan said, the university usually works cooperatively with those local authorities, but complications can arise. In the Lake Source Cooling case, for example, Cornell and the town of Ithaca defended the municipal decisions that paved the way for the project and won at every level, but the town refused to grant a building permit for a heat-exchange facility citing a town law that precludes permits while suits are pending. Egan challenged the town's interpretation, behind the scenes at first in order to preserve unity. Several months and about $500,000 in construction delays later, Cornell filed an action in State Supreme Court and obtained a ruling enabling the town to grant the permit.