Attorney General Aims to Clarify Norment Role at WM

By Desiree Parker Wednesday, September 07, 2011

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli recently released a 2008 opinion about state Sen. Tommy Norment’s role with the College of William and Mary to clarify that Norment was not given permission to act as the college’s legal counsel.

In June, Cuccinelli appointed an attorney from his staff as full-time counsel to William and Mary. Norment, who teaches for the college, also offered the college legal advice until the appointment was made (read a letter from William and Mary President Taylor Reveley explaining Norment’s role here). His salary was reduced by $60,000 once the Attorney General's Office staffer came on full-time, according to a university spokesman. Before accepting the position, Norment asked then-Attorney General Bob McDonnell for an opinion on whether the new role would be a conflict of interest. McDonnell said it was not.

Cuccinelli released McDonnell’s earlier opinion to clarify that Norment didn’t have permission to act as the college’s legal counsel. Norment said he believes Cuccinelli offered a modified interpretation of the opinion, and argued that he always acted within the parameters McDonnell laid out.

Cuccinelli said he released the 2008 McDonnell opinion because “recent public statements made by state Senator Thomas Norment suggest that for the past several years, he assumed a role of legal counsel for the College of William & Mary.”

Cuccinelli also said, “In issuing the opinion, it was understood that Sen. Norment's role would not be that of legal counsel, but only that of professor at the law school and lecturer in the government department.”

Norment was hired to teach and also to give supplemental legal advice, according to Reveley’s 2009 statement, which clarified that “as the range and complexity of the legal issues arising on campuses have grown, it has become crucial that these issues receive comprehensive, timely attention.

“To this end, we have on-campus lawyers to supplement the work done for us by lawyers from the office of the state's Attorney General, with which the university has an attorney-client relationship.”

In the 2008 document, McDonnell noted to Norment that, in addition to his teaching role, “the administration of the College may consult with you on policy issues. You state that you and the College will not assume the relationship of attorney and client.”

The opinion also confirmed that Norment would continue his position with the law firm Kaufman & Canoles, and that the firm “is among those I have appointed to serve as outside counsel to state agencies in matters relating to immigration, intellectual property, and employment benefits.

“Under the terms of such appointments, state agencies may directly contact the designated firm to obtain assistance on specified matters; approval by this Office is required prior to a firm being engaged on certain other matters.”

Norment argued that Cuccinelli’s statement offered a “modified interpretation” of the original opinion.

“Contrary to the impression given by the news release from the Attorney’s General office, I have always been in full compliance with the opinion issued by then-Attorney General McDonnell in 2008,” he said.

Norment went on to say, “The ability of our state-supported colleges and universities to employ counsels other than those assigned by the Office of the Attorney General clearly affected the issuing of this modified interpretation of the original opinion.”