UR names new vice president and general counsel

Rachael Honig, vice president and chief university compliance officer at Rutgers University, has been named URochester’s senior vice president and general counsel, effective Aug. 1.

Honig succeeds Donna Gooden Payne, who in October announced her retirement effective at the end of July.

Rachael-Honig “I’m delighted to have Rachael join the University,” UR President Sarah Mangelsdorf stated in a news release.

“Her background at a large, multifaceted research institution, combined with her extensive experience in the U.S. Attorney’s office and her strong grasp of the legal and regulatory environment in higher education and health care, will immediately bring great value to our institution,” she said.

University general counsel has oversight for all institutional legal matters, inclusive of the University of Rochester Medical Center, and leads the attorneys and day-to-day operations of the University’s office of counsel.

At Rutgers, in New Jersey, Honig provides leadership and counsel to the president and senior management, as well as the boards of governors and trustees on all legal compliance matters.

In 2021, she served as the acting United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey — only the second woman to hold that position.

She also worked in the U.S. Attorney’s office from 2018 to 2022 as the first assistant U.S. Attorney and from 2003 to 2016 as an assistant U.S. Attorney, deputy chief of the criminal division (2010-13), and counsel to the U.S. Attorney (2013-16).

From 2016 to 2018, she worked as a litigation and investigations attorney at a biopharmaceutical company.

After graduating from the University of Chicago Law School, Honig was a judicial law clerk for a judge in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and a litigation associate at a law firm in Washington, D.C.

“I am excited to join an institution of the extraordinary caliber of the University of Rochester, as well as a legal team with an already excellent reputation for dedication, collaboration, knowledge and expertise,” Honig stated in a news release.