Omar A. Syed (he/him)
Omar A. Syed is Vice President and General Counsel for Rice University. He joined Rice in 2022, and is chief legal officer to the University and its Board of Trustees. Omar received his A.B. in Public Policy Studies, with special honors, from The University of Chicago in 1996 and his J.D. from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1999. Before joining Rice, Omar served The University of Texas System for 15 years, most recently as Associate Vice Chancellor and Deputy General Counsel. Earlier in his career, he served as an Assistant United States Attorney in Minneapolis, an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Minnesota, and an associate for an oil and gas law firm in Austin, Texas. Among other community activities, Omar serves on the Board of Directors for the National Association of College and University Attorneys, the campus advisory council for the Liberal Arts and Science Academy High School, and the Region XII Advisory Committee for the Hispanic National Bar Association. He is licensed to practice in Texas; Minnesota; the 5th and 8th U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals; the U.S. District Courts for the Southern and Western Districts of Texas and the District of Minnesota; and the United States Supreme Court. He is also fluent in Spanish and is a first-generation American.
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.
Veta J. Byrd-Pérez (she/her)
Veta J. Byrd-Pérez serves as Senior Associate General Counsel at Rice University, and has been at Rice since 2006. She received her B.A. in Economics, summa cum laude, from Spelman College in 1994 and her J.D. from Yale Law School in 1999. She also completed coursework in international business at L’Ecole Superieure de Commerce in Dijon, France. She is a member of the State Bar of Texas (1999) and a member of the Houston Bar Association and the National Association of College and University Attorneys. Prior to her employment at Rice, she was an associate at Vinson & Elkins, LLP in Houston, Texas, specializing in international mergers and acquisitions, project finance, and commercial lending. Her principal areas of practice at Rice are in art, contracts, digital education, sponsored research, technology transfer, intellectual property, real estate and construction.
Jim Cox has been an Associate General Counsel / Patent Attorney at Rice since July 2018. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan College of Engineering (B.S.M.E. 1987) and a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School (J.D. 1990). He is a member of the State Bar of Texas (2013), State Bar of Michigan (1990), and is registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (1991). He is a member of NACUA, AUTM, and the Intellectual Property Law Sections of the Michigan State Bar and Texas State Bar.
Prior to joining the Office of General Counsel at Rice, he was an Assistant General Counsel / Patent Attorney at the University of Texas System’s Office of General Counsel, at various intellectual property law firms, and in-house at General Motors' IP section, specializing in intellectual property law. He has also been an adjunct faculty member at the Ave Maria School of law and has served as an Armor Officer in the United States Army, deploying to Bosnia-Herzegovia as a Platoon Leader in the 1st Armored Division during Operation Joint Endeavor. He is a licensed pilot, a PADI certified Rescue diver and an amateur thespian (from lead to extra) in several community theater productions. His principle areas of practice at Rice are intellectual property, patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, technology licensing, information technology, and sponsored research.
Joe B. Davidson joined Rice University in 1994 and serves as General Counsel for Rice Management Company and Senior Associate General Counsel for the University. Mr. Davidson leads the legal team for endowment investments and operations, including private equity, venture capital, alternative, real estate, natural resource, and energy transition investments. His other practice areas include sports, public finance, and corporate governance. Previously, Mr. Davidson worked at Dewey Ballantine and Paul Hastings, where he focused on mergers and acquisitions, public offerings and private placements, and real estate. Mr. Davidson received his J.D. from The University of Chicago Law School, and graduated from Rice University, magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, with a B.A. in Political Science, Managerial Studies, and Legal Studies. He is a member of the State Bar of Texas, State Bar of California, American Bar Association, and National Association of College and University Attorneys. Mr. Davidson serves on the boards of the Chance for Hope Foundation, Burrell College of Osteopathic Medicine, Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine, and Center for Health Education and Access.
Nick Goodling (he/him)
Nick Goodling joined Rice University as Associate General Counsel in 2024. His practice focuses on real estate and facilities matters. Nick received his B.A. in foreign affairs from the University of Virginia in 2000 and his J.D. from Vanderbilt University Law School in 2003. Following law school, Nick practiced real estate finance and development law for firms in Georgia and Louisiana. Before joining the Office of General Counsel, Nick practiced in-house for utility-scale renewable energy developers and governmental entities, including The University of Texas System, focusing on real estate acquisition, disposition, development, finance, leasing, construction, and land use matters. He is a member of the State Bar of Texas, the Louisiana State Bar Association, and the State Bar of Georgia.
Robinson Vu, Assistant General Counsel Robinson Vu has served as Assistant General Counsel since 2025. He is a graduate of Rice University (B.S. EE and B.A. 1999) and Columbia Law School (J.D. 2004). He is a member of the State Bar of Texas (2004), admitted to practice in the Eastern, Western, Northern, and Southern Districts of Texas, and registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (2007). His principal areas of practice at Rice are intellectual property, patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, technology licensing, information technology, and sponsored research.
Prior to joining the Office of the General Counsel at Rice, Robinson was a partner at Baker Botts LLP where he practiced intellectual property law since 2004. He provided intellectual property and patent prosecution counsel to oil-field services and general electronics companies. He litigated trade secrets cases as well as patent cases involving refrigerators, voice-over-IP (VoIP), semiconductors, upstream mud equipment, and web-based telecommunications technologies. His intellectual property litigation experience includes all phases of discovery, venue and jurisdiction disputes, prior art research, pretrial, and trial work. He has represented clients before the USPTO in inter partes reviews, on appeals before the Federal Circuit, and before the International Trade Commission (ITC) in Section 337 proceedings. Prior to law school, he worked as a systems engineer for The Boeing Company on the International Space Station program.
Staff
Melissa A. Sibley (she/her)
Melissa Sibley joined the Office of General Counsel in 2015 and serves as Director of Legal Operations, managing the professional staff and legal operations supporting the Vice President & General Counsel and the in-house legal department. Her experience at Rice has varied, with focus in contracts, employment, public information requests, compliance, corporate governance, and operations. Before joining Rice, Melissa spent 12 years in different legal roles at an insurance company, where she held a property and casualty license. In this position, she handled internal and external audits, worked with regulatory officials, trained producers, and managed litigation with outside counsel.
For her counterparts across the country, Melissa organized and hosted a 3-day conference in September 2024 at Rice’s Suzanne M. Glasscock School of Continuing Studies. Twenty-seven institutions, 14 speakers, and over a dozen Rice offices participated and contributed to the endeavor.
Melissa is pursuing a Master in Public Service & Administration degree at Texas A&M University full-time, with a principal focus in nonprofit management and operations. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Political Science from the University of Houston-Downtown. She is the founding group leader of the Corporate Legal Operations Consortium Higher Education Affinity Group. She is also an Advanced Certified Paralegal with the National Association of Legal Assistants and has held her paralegal certification since 2002.
Colleen Mosley-Hunt, Paralegal
Janis Madison, Staff Assistant, TABC Form
Linda Ybarra, Office Assistant, TABC Form