© 2013 The Texas Lawbook.
By Mark Curriden
Senior Writer for The Texas Lawbook
When Barry Burgdorf left Vinson & Elkins on Valentine’s Day 2005 to be the general counsel and vice chancellor for the University of Texas System, he told his wife it would be a 10-year job at most.
“The job has changed in recent times,” he says, giving a nod to the controversy that has erupted within the UT Board of Regents with UT President Bill Powers regarding the forgivable loan program established by the UT Law School Foundation. “There is a greater expectation today that the GC will be a regulator and a police investigator. That’s not what I want to do.”
Starting May 3, Burgdorf will essentially start two positions: he will be a shareholder at Beatty Bangle Strama, a 10-lawyer boutique in Austin, and he will be general counsel for Plano-based VuCOMP, which develops computer-aided detection systems for medical image analysis.
Burgdorf says that he will continue to live in Austin, but will spend three days a week at VuCOMP as the company’s first general counsel. Prior to Burgdorf’s hire, VuCOMP’s CFO handled the company’s relationships with outside lawyers, including Haynes and Boone for its corporate legal work and Slater Matsil for its intellectual property legal matters.
“I will shuttle up and down I-35 for a while,” Burgdorf says. “My value is not just being a lawyer who can paper a deal, but be in a position where I can advise a company strategically for growth.”
Burgdorf leaves the UT System’s legal department, which includes 38 in-house lawyers plus staff, in good shape. Burgdorf’s number two, Dan Sharphorn, will serve as interim general counsel while the chancellor institutes an official search committee.
In joining Beatty Bangle, Burgdorf is reunited with his former V&E partner, Brenda Strama, who is a nationally recognized health care law expert.
“Barry brings a breadth of experience and expertise to our firm that is really unparalleled on any scale,” says Matthew Beatty, who is BBS’ managing shareholder and a business litigator. “His practice will largely include outside general counsel services for select clients as well as a transactional practice focused on the representation of public sector and non-profit organizations.
“His experience and expertise will be invaluable to clients seeking representation and guidance with institutional compliance and board governance matters,” Beatty says.
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