Earl Nance was appointed by Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli as university counsel at Old Dominion University, effective Nov. 14. He succeeds Pat Kelly in the position.

Nance has served as a senior assistant attorney general for the commonwealth of Virginia since 2006. Over the past five years, he provided legal assistance to various state agencies, including the Department of Historic Resources, the Department of Conservation and Recreation, Longwood University, Virginia State University, James Madison University, John Tyler Community College and Virginia Military Institute, serving in the Real Estate and Land Use Section.

He has 20 years of claim adjudication and risk analysis experience, including senior claims management, budgetary formulation and administration. He worked for 15 years as a real estate and business law attorney, performing insurance defense work and handling a varied financial service and transactional caseload.

Nance has successfully defended Employee Retirement Income Security Act claims involving senior officer compensation claims, and negotiated and resolved potential class-action discrimination suits involving former senior officers. He also resolved more than 25 cases involving age and other discrimination allegations.

A 1971 graduate of Auburn University with a bachelor's degree in history and speech communications, Nance was a pitcher in the Boston Red Sox organization from 1971-73.

He received a Juris Doctor from the University Richmond School of Law in 1976 and earned an M.B.A. from UR in 1994.