Frequently Asked Questions

No, The University is our client, and therefore, we cannot provide legal advice or representation to faculty, staff or students regarding personal legal issues or matters. For faculty and staff, Metlaw offers a variety of professional legal counsel for a variety of legal matters. The State Bar of Wisconsin also offers lawyer referral services that provide for an initial consultation and referrals to local attorneys. Students should contact Marquette University's Student Affairs office.

The Deputy General Counsel, Associate and Assistant General Counsel serve as legal counsel for the University and represent the University as a corporate entity in legal matters. All matters requiring legal advice and/or legal action (including, for example, contracts and agreements, lawsuits, subpoenas, correspondence raising legal claims, issues of government regulatory compliance, taxation, and real estate) must be referred to the Office of the General Counsel. The Deputy General Counsel is responsible for coordination of all legal services for the University, and must approve in advance any engagement of outside counsel to advise or represent the University.

Yes, our legal assistant is a Notary Public.  She is available to notarize University documents as well as personal documents of University faculty, staff and students at no additional charge. Please call extension (414) 288-7343 to schedule an appointment to have your document notarized.  Be sure to bring a state or government issued I.D. with you and do not sign the document until in the presence of the Notary.

Yes, if students are required to participate in field trips or other activities off campus, the Office of the General Counsel should be contacted and any forms provided by the off campus site submitted to the Office of the General Counsel for review.

Yes, our office has a Contract Processing and Approval Form that should be completed prior to sending to our office. Making sure the contract has the information that you agreed to or making any edits to the contract prior to sending to our office could provide a quicker turn around time. Generally, turnaround time is 2 weeks. If you have more questions, please refer to our Contract FAQ form. 

Contracting authority, according to the Contract Review and Approval Policy, is given by the President to each of the Vice Presidents of the University. The Vice Presidents, in turn, delegate signing authority to those individuals within their division they deem appropriate. If you do not have signing authority you cannot sign contracts on behalf of the University. If you are not sure if you have signing authority contact our office or your divisional vice president to verify. If you do not have signing authority and your divisional vice president would like to delegate that authority to you, ask your divisional vice president to contact our office to prepare the appropriate paperwork.

The following contracts must be reviewed by OGC BEFORE they are signed.

1. Contracts for goods or services for $10,000 and more unless you are using an unmodified standard university/OGC agreement.
   • What is an unmodified standard university/OGC agreement?
     1. An OGC approved affiliation agreements and externship agreements
     2. An agreement posted on the OGC website
2. Any contract (no matter the dollar amount) for software, cloud or web-based services and web-based applications.
3. Standard university/OGC agreement IF revisions to the terms have been made. E.g. an OGC approved affiliation agreement with a hospital facility and the facility has asked to delete or revise any term of the agreement.

• Contracts for goods or services under $10,000 unless the good or service is IT-related.
• Faculty appointments.
• Grant contracts and subawards.
• Standard university/OGC agreements for any amount unless revisions to the terms of the agreement have been made.

1. Complete, sign and submit a Contract Processing and Approval Form (CPAF), the unsigned contract and the Bid Exception Form, if required (check with the Office of Purchasing) to generalcounsel@marquette.edu.
   • Contracts and CPAFs must be submitted to OGC at least TWO WEEKS before contract approval and signature are needed.
2. Before submitting a contract and CPAF to OGC, you must review all business terms (e.g. cost, deliverables and deadlines) and Statements of Work to ensure that they are complete and correct.

1. The contract will be assigned to an attorney in OGC who will review the contract as to its legal form.
2. OGC will inform you of any necessary or recommended changes to the contract, and will assist in negotiating and finalizing those changes.
3. OGC will them approve the contract, as to its legal form, and will digitally sign/approve the contract. OGC’s signature is a stamp of approval, it does not mean that the university has signed and finalized the contract.

Once OGC approves the contract, OGC will send the approved, as to form, contract to the appropriate signatory to sign the contract and copy you on that email.

For information regarding appropriate signatory, See UPP 1-06 Contract Review and Approval.

1. You will need to send the Marquette signed contract to the counter-party (the person or entity you are contracting with) for them to sign and ask them to return a fully signed copy of the contract to you.
2. Keep a fully signed copy of the contract for your department’s records. OGC does not keep copies of contracts. You are responsible for keeping the fully signed contract.