CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – New Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones has announced a “national talent search” to fill chief counsel positions at three state universities, including the University of Virginia.

“This announcement follows AG Jones’ promise to take politics out of Virginia’s higher education system and recruit and hire the best and brightest legal counsel for Virginia’s colleges and universities,” a release from Jones office said.

The three chief counsel positions are at UVA, George Mason University, and VMI.

UVA has been under interim Chief Legal Counsel Barry T. Meek since Cliff Iler, resigned in November 2025 for a position at the University of Arizona.

Former Board of Visitors Rector Rachel Sheridan told alumni publication Virginia Magazine that Iler was “leading every interaction” with the Board of Visitors with the U.S. Justice Department before Jim Ryan resigned.

Jones’ predecessor, Jason Miyares, on his first day in office fired former U.S. Attorney and then Chief Legal Counsel for the House Select January 6 Committee Tim Heaphy and chose Iler shortly after.

The Washington Post reported Jones removed the latter two attorneys the same day Sheridan and other UVA Board of Visitors members resigned.

“Virginia’s world-class institutions of higher education are integral to spurring innovation, building the workforce of today and tomorrow, and driving economic growth,” Jones said in the release.

“Over the past year, the Trump Administration’s continued politically-motivated assaults on Virginia’s academic institutions have sought to tarnish their reputations and undermine their ability to successfully prepare our students for the future. Virginians made it clear this past November that they want leaders who will fight back against this federal overreach, and this national search delivers on that promise.”