Sharon

Reich

Paulsen

Sharon Reich Paulsen is Vice President for Legal Affairs, General Counsel, and Senior Advisor to the President at the University of Vermont. Prior law practice experience includes work as a trial attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice, where she engaged primarily in constitutional litigation; and complex business litigation experience in private practice. Ms. Paulsen has also served in senior leadership positions at The George Washington University.

Ms. Paulsen’s academic experience includes appointments at the University of Minnesota, where she served as associate vice president for academic affairs and chief of staff to the provost, and as associate dean at the law school. She has co-authored three law school text books and written two book chapters. Law school teaching experience includes Conflict of Laws, Trial Practice, and a variety of litigation-related courses.

Ms. Paulsen has taught in China and Sweden, and has traveled five times to Uzbekistan to engage in rule of law work funded by the U.S. State Department. Her service experience includes appointment by the Minnesota Supreme Court to two three-year terms on the Lawyers Professional Responsibility Board, where she also served as a hearing panel chair and on the Board’s Opinion Committee. She received the Minnesota State Bar Association’s President’s Award as a member of the Task Force on the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct. Ms. Paulsen currently serves on the boards of United Educators Insurance and the Vermont Symphony Orchestra.

Ms. Paulsen earned her B.A., summa cum laude, from Yale University, where she received the William M. Massee Award for her senior economics thesis and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She received her J.D. from Stanford Law School, where she was Note Editor of the Stanford Law Review and received the Board of Editors Award for her editorial contributions. She clerked for the Honorable Harlington Wood Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Ms. Paulsen’s research interests focus on litigation strategy and procedure, including trial practice, case development and discovery, depositions, and appellate advocacy.