Rutgers University announced that Michael Rolek and Melissa Dutton Schaffer have joined the Office of General Counsel.

Rolek joins Rutgers as special counsel. Previously, Rolek was of counsel at Connell Foley LLP, where he advised public entities and business clients on regulatory compliance, corporate law, employment law, and state and federal commercial litigation. At Connell, Rolek served as outside counsel for the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, where he counseled leadership and the N.J. Governor's Office on litigation, major infrastructure deals, procurement issues, arena licenses agreements, and various matters related to the New York Giants, New York Jets, the World Cup, and the American Dream Complex.

Rolek started his legal career clerking for the Superior Court of New Jersey, Law Division - Civil Part. He graduated summa cum laude from Marist College where he earned Third Team ESPN Magazine Academic All-American honors for track & field/cross country, and earned his J.D., cum laude, from Seton Hall University School of Law. Prior to law school, Rolek was a Teach For America Corps member and taught elementary school in Newark for three years. He was recently named a 2025 New Leader of the Bar by the New Jersey Law Journal.

Melissa Dutton Schaffer joins the Office of General Counsel as a senior associate general counsel in the General University Affairs & Litigation Group. Prior to Rutgers, Schaffer served as deputy director of the Administrative Law Practice Group (APG) in the N.J. Department of Law and Public Safety. In that role, she led high-priority and complex litigations at both the trial and appellate levels, and oversaw the APG's administrative and legal matters, which included representing all client agencies, including New Jersey's colleges and research universities. She collaborated closely with senior leadership in the offices of the Attorney General, Solicitor General, and Governor.

Schaffer's experience in higher education includes serving as associate general counsel/privacy officer at The College of New Jersey, and as section chief of the Education & Higher Education Section in the Department of Law and Public Safety. She earned her undergraduate degree from Rutgers University-Camden and her J.D. from Widener University, Delaware Law School.