Vice Chancellor for Legal Affairs and General Counsel, University of Houston System
Vice President for Legal Affairs and General Counsel, University of Houston
Dona Cornell became University of Houston System vice chancellor for legal affairs and general counsel and University of Houston vice president for legal affairs and general counsel in June 2002. Prior to her appointment, she served as the deputy chief of the General Litigation Division for the Texas Attorney General’s office.
As deputy chief for litigation, Cornell supervised thirty attorneys with responsibility for the 700-plus cases handled by the division. The division represents state officials and agencies in litigation involving employment law, personal damage claims, whistle-blower cases, civil rights (including class actions), institutional reform for the state facilities for the developmentally disabled and mentally ill, and constitutional law.
Cornell earned her undergraduate and law degrees from The University of Texas at Austin. Prior to receiving her law degree, she served as a committee clerk and legislative aid for the Committee on State, Federal, and International Relations for the 68th Texas Legislature, and as an assistant director of Senate Bill Analysis for the 70th Texas Legislature.
She first joined the Texas Attorney General’s office in 1987 as assistant attorney general in the General Litigation Division. She left that position in 1992 to become a shareholder in the Austin-based law firm Morehead, Jordan & Carmona.
She returned to the Attorney General’s office in 1995 and became Deputy Chief of the General Litigation Division in 1996. She is licensed to practice law throughout Texas and in U.S. District Courts for the Northern, Southern, Eastern and Western Districts of Texas and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
