Contact: Monty Jones, (512) 499-4363

Date: October 2, 2000

UT System News Release

Dallas Attorney Named General Counsel of the U.T. System

AUSTIN - Cullen M. (Mike) Godfrey, former general counsel for Fina Inc., was appointed general counsel of the University of Texas System on Monday (Oct. 2) by the Board of Regents.

Godfrey will succeed Ray Farabee, who announced last spring that he planned to retire after 12 years as the system's chief lawyer. Godfrey's appointment will be effective later this year.

"Mike Godfrey has an outstanding record of achievement in the legal profession and will be a highly valued addition to the administrative team of the U.T. System," said Mrs. Rita C. Clements, vice chairman of the Board of Regents. "We look forward to his leadership of the complex and diverse range of legal affairs with which the U.T. System deals."

R.D. Burck, chancellor of the U.T. System, commented: "The university system is fortunate to have attracted an attorney of Mike Godfrey's broad experience and commitment to excellence."

As vice chancellor and general counsel, Godfrey will lead an office of some two dozen attorneys who work on legal topics as diverse as intellectual property, real estate, environmental law, tax law, oil and gas law, and medical liability. The general counsel coordinates and assists in litigation provided by the state attorney general and outside counsel, and he serves as the U.T. System's chief ethics adviser.

Godfrey was an attorney at Fina from 1982 to July 2000. He had been vice president, secretary and general counsel of the Dallas-based oil company since 1990, and senior vice president since 1995. He left Fina when it was acquired and the headquarters were relocated to Houston.

From 1974 to 1982, Godfrey was assistant general counsel at Tesoro Petroleum Corp. in San Antonio. He was a staff attorney for Hunt Oil Co. of Dallas from 1972 to 1974, and he was a partner in the Austin firm of Sloan Muller & Godfrey from 1969 to 1972.

Godfrey, who earned bachelor's and law degrees from U.T. Austin, is a member of the American Law Institute.

Godfrey is immediate past chairman of the American Petroleum Institute's General Committee on Law and a former member of the institute's board of directors. He is a member of the advisory board of the International Oil and Gas Education Center of the Southwestern Legal Foundation, and he is a council member of the business law section of the State Bar of Texas. He has served on numerous committees of national, state, and local bar associations.

He is certified as a specialist in oil, gas, and mineral law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.

Godfrey was honored by the Anti-Defamation League as the 1999 recipient of its Jurisprudence Award for his devotion to the principles in the U.S. Constitution and his commitment to democratic values. He received the Certificate of Merit from the State Bar of Texas in 1999 for having rendered outstanding service to the legal profession in Texas.