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.
Joseph B. Davidson joined Rice University in 1994 in the Office of General Counsel. As Senior Associate General Counsel for Rice Management Company and Rice University, his principal areas of responsibility include endowment investments, financings, corporate governance, and compliance. His other practice areas include export controls, trade sanctions, intellectual property, research, facilities, and athletics. Earlier in his career, Mr. Davidson worked with the law firms of Dewey Ballantine and Paul Hastings where he focused on mergers and acquisitions, private placements and public offerings, and real estate. Mr. Davidson received his J.D. from The University of Chicago Law School, and graduated magna cum laude from Rice University with a B.A. in Political Science, Legal Studies, and Managerial Studies. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, the State Bars of Texas and California, the American Bar Association, the Houston Bar Association, and the National Association of College and University Attorneys. Mr. Davidson serves on the board of the Chance for Hope Foundation.
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.
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.
Staff
Melissa Sibley (she/her)
Melissa Sibley joined the Office of General Counsel in 2015 and serves as Office Manager and Paralegal. Melissa first joined Rice as a paralegal and assumed her current position in 2016. 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 as a litigation paralegal and executive assistant at an insurance company where she held a property and casualty insurance license. In this position, she handled internal and external audits, worked directly with regulatory officials, trained producers, and managed litigation with outside counsel. Earlier in her career, Melissa was a paralegal for a bankruptcy firm.
Melissa holds a Bachelor of Science in Political Science from the University of Houston-Downtown. She is an Advanced Certified Paralegal with the National Association of Legal Assistants and has held her paralegal certification since 2002. She is also a member of Higher Education Legal Managers and the Corporate Legal Operations Consortium.
Colleen Mosley-Hunt, Paralegal
Janis Madison, Staff Assistant, TABC Form
Linda Ybarra, Office Assistant, TABC Form