Three months after firing the previous university counsel for the state flagship school, Virginia Attorney General has selected Cliff Iler to be a senior assistant attorney general and U-Va.’s, university counsel.
According to the Roanoke Star, Iler has extensive experience in higher education and healthcare law, most recently serving as Deputy General Counsel for Faculty, Students, and Research at the University of Kentucky and Associate General Counsel for the school’s healthcare operations and healthcare colleges. He also has thirty years of legal experience in private practice and advising public university clients,
Miyares, in a statement Friday, praised Iler:
“Cliff is a brilliant attorney with over a decade of experience in higher education and healthcare law,” Miyares said. “I am confident he will be an excellent addition to the University of Virginia and serve the students, faculty, staff, and Commonwealth well.”
Miyares firing Iler’s predecessor was a controversial move that he made just weeks after first taking office. Before he was fired in January by the newly installed attorney general, Tim Heaphy had been on leave from his position at UVA to work as an investigator for the U.S. House of Representatives panel investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol. Some Democrats accused the move of being a political one, however, Myares’ spokeswoman Victoria LaCivita said in January that Mr. Heaphy had been a “controversial” hire and that the “decision was made after reviewing the legal decisions made over the last couple of years.”