Michael Weston, Northwestern’s general counsel and vice president for legal affairs, announced last week that he will retire at the end of the academic year.

“VP Weston has done a superb job as general counsel,” University President Henry Bienen wrote in an e-mail Friday. “Our office is widely respected and VP Weston has won accolades among his peers. We do program reviews here, bringing in external as well as internal reviewers, and his office gets very high marks.”

Weston came to NU in 1973 as a university attorney and was elected vice president for legal affairs in 1981 and general counsel in 1990.

“Mike has been really superb to work with,” said Vice President for University Relations Al Cubbage. “He has a tremendous institutional knowledge and memory. He knows background and context for everything the university faces, not just the narrow legal aspect of it.”

Weston has been involved with several university and community initiatives during his career. He served on several NU committees, including the Committee on Art Accessions and the Research Park Steering Committee.

He is president of Youth Organizations Umbrella, an Evanston agency that offers social service, educational and recreational programs to middle school-age children. He is a member of the Chicago Council of Lawyers and the American Bar Association.

“He is someone who genuinely cares greatly about what’s best for Northwestern,” Cubbage said. “I am saddened to see him go.”

Bienen added: “I have relied on VP Weston’s advice in many areas. Because I came to admire Mr. Weston’s wisdom and to highly value his advice, I sought him out on matters way beyond legal ones.”

A search committee headed by Vice President for Administration and Planning Marilyn McCoy will conduct a nationwide search for a new general counsel, Cubbage said.

“It’s going to be a successor, not a replacement,” he said.