Late Wednesday afternoon, University of West Florida Interim President Manny Diaz notified the Board of Trustees that General Counsel Susan Woolf no longer worked for the university.
- The actual notification came from Assistant UWF Vice President Annamarie Mixon: “Good afternoon, Trustees, On behalf of Interim President Diaz, I’m informing you that, effective immediately. Susan Wolf will no longer be serving as our general counsel. Interim President Diaz will provide information related to an interim appointment at a later date. Please direct any questions to me (Annamarie Mixon).”
The message came hours after Woolf sent a memo to the trustees outlining a dispute with Board Chair Rebecca Matthews over the selection of outside legal counsel to advise the presidential search committee.
Details
According to Woolf’s communication, Chair Matthews requested that outside counsel be retained to advise the presidential search committee. In response, Woolf provided the names of two attorneys from different law firms, both of whom she described as “well-qualified for this work.”
- Woolf noted that both recommended attorneys have extensive experience advising universities and colleges, have previously guided institutions through presidential searches, and are well-versed in Sunshine Law and public records requirements that govern such processes at public universities.
Problem: However, Chair Matthews has identified a different attorney and firm that she prefers to hire, despite Woolf’s advice against this selection. The General Counsel expressed concerns about this attorney’s qualifications and experience level compared to those of her recommended candidates.
Governance and Authority Questions
The dispute highlights questions about decision-making authority within the university’s governance structure. Woolf noted that under UWF Policy GC-03, “the authority to hire outside counsel rests with the General Counsel,” and that “External legal counsel may be retained only through the Office of the General Counsel and where appropriate to protect the University’s legal interests.”
- However, Woolf also acknowledged: “The Board of Trustees, of course, has the authority to disagree with my advice and to retain the outside counsel of its choice.” But she added, “No individual trustee has the authority to make that decision for the Board.”
The General Counsel warned that the presidential search “will be closely watched and potentially audited, as occurred at Florida Atlantic University.” She stressed that “the process of the selection of UWF’s next president is, in my opinion, as important as the selection itself.”
Woolf noted that other universities have not hired outside counsel specifically to serve as legal advisors for their presidential search committees, making Chair Matthews’s approach somewhat unusual.
She notified the board that the matter would require formal Board action to resolve. Woolf indicated that an item can be added to the agenda for the scheduled Aug. 14 board meeting, or alternatively, a special Board meeting can be called with a minimum of seven days’ notice to address the issue.
- The General Counsel noted she has not discussed the situation with Interim President Diaz, as he has indicated he will be applying for the permanent president position.
Read Outside Counsel
Background: On May 27, the UWF Board of Trustees unanimously voted to delegate authority to the Board of Trustees Chair to retain the services of an executive search firm and to obtain an executive compensation analysis for the presidential search. The motion did not mention hirings outside counsel.
- Two months later, Matthews has yet to hire a search firm. We reported earlier this month that she was considering RedBalloon, a conservative Christian job board in Moscow, Idaho. A UWF spokesperson called to say RedBalloon was not under consideration and the chair would announce the search firm within days.
That did not happen, and Matthews did not bring up the matter during the special meeting held on July 24.
Who is Susan Woolf?
Susan Woolf had served as UWF’s general counsel since June 2021 after serving as Pensacola’s City Attorney under then-Mayor Grover Robinson.
- Robinson appointed Susan Woolf as the City Attorney in January 2019. Woolf, a native Pensacolian, graduated from Emory University’s undergraduate program and Cornell Law School with a Juris Doctorate with a concentration in Public Law. She served as a law clerk to a federal appellate judge, worked in the local State Attorney’s office as a prosecutor for four years, and was a partner in the local firm of Shell, Fleming, Davis & Menge for nine years before joining the City Attorney’s office as Assistant City Attorney in 2008. She then became the Pensacola Police Department’s General Counsel in 2011 until Clerk of Circuit Court and Comptroller Pam Childers appointed her as General Counsel for the Clerk of Court in 2013.