President Cecil O. Samuelson has appointed Michael R. Orme as assistant to the president, general counsel and corporate secretary at Brigham Young University. The appointment is effective immediately.
Orme replaces Thomas B. Griffith, who was confirmed last summer by the U.S. Senate as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
“We are confident that Mike’s years of experience at BYU and BYU-Idaho will continue to enrich and protect the mission of BYU,” said President Samuelson. “He is already an important member of our administrative team.”
A 1978 graduate of BYU’s J. Reuben Clark Law School, Orme has served BYU since 1990 as associate general counsel. Before arriving at BYU, he had served six years as general counsel at BYU-Idaho (then Ricks College) and practiced law for 10 years in the Idaho Falls area.
As a higher education attorney licensed in both Idaho and Utah, he has been involved for more than 20 years in virtually all aspects of higher education law, working with nine presidents at BYU and BYU-Idaho. During this period, he developed particular expertise in the practice of technology transfer, regulatory compliance, transactions and student issues.
Orme has lectured extensively among higher education associations, has been actively involved in the American Inns of Court movement and is now serving as the director of the National Association of College and University Attorneys.
He is rated “AV,” the highest rating for legal expertise and ethics, by the national Martindale-Hubbell attorney directory.
Writer: Cecelia Fielding
