Stinnett Appointed Permanent General Counsel

KNOXVILLE – Randy Boyd, president of the University of Tennessee, announced the appointment of Ryan Stinnett as permanent general counsel for the system, pending approval during the Board of Trustees executive committee meeting scheduled for May 8.

Stinnett has served as interim general counsel since October 2019.

“Ryan’s leadership during his time as interim general counsel has been exceptional,” Boyd said. “I appreciate his service to the university, and I look forward to continuing our important work together in this permanent role.”

The general counsel is the chief legal officer for the University of Tennessee and all of its campuses and institutes (Knoxville, Chattanooga, Martin, Memphis, the UT Space Institute in Tullahoma, the statewide UT Institute of Agriculture and Institute for Public Service). The position serves as the primary legal advisor to the president for high-level human resources issues, policy development and implementation, federal and state compliance, shared governance, intellectual property, student and employee misconduct, issues pertaining to athletics and other potential legal matters impacting institutions of higher education.

Stinnett has worked in the Office of General Counsel since 2008, having served as assistant general counsel and associate general counsel before being promoted to deputy general counsel in July 2018. During his time at the university, Stinnett has worked extensively on both transactional and litigation matters. He has provided advice, representation and supervision of legal work in several areas, including business transactions and contracts; sponsored research contracts; research compliance, including animal subjects, human subjects, and export controls; information technology; health care; athletics; procurement; financial aid; privacy; construction; accounts payable/collections; intellectual property; bankruptcy; real estate; conflicts of interest; occupational safety; records management; and tax.

Stinnett received a B.A. in political science from Furman University and a J.D., magna cum laude, from the College of Law at the University of Tennessee, where he served as executive editor for Transactions: The Tennessee Journal of Business Law. After law school, he practiced law at Smith, Gambrell and Russell in Atlanta and Leibowitz and Cohen in Knoxville.

Stinnett also has served the university as an adjunct professor, teaching contract drafting and construction law in the UT Knoxville College of Law.