Jeff Barnes serves as Associate General Counsel for Rice University, and has been at Rice since 2019. His principal areas of practice at Rice are employment, faculty affairs, student affairs, litigation, and public safety and police issues. He received his J.D. from the University of Virginia in 2004 and his B.A. in history, magna cum laude, from Washington & Lee University in 2001. He is a member of the State Bar of Texas (2004) and is board certified in labor and employment law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. Before joining Rice, he served as Senior Legal Officer at the University of Texas Health Science Center. Prior to working in higher education, he specialized in labor and employment law as a partner at Fisher Phillips and Jackson Lewis, and an associate at Baker Botts. He is a member of the National Association of College and University Attorneys and the Labor & Employment Section of the State Bar of Texas.