University officials announced yesterday that two vacancies in the University’s Office of the General Counsel have been filled.

According to a press release distributed by the University yesterday attorneys David Masson and Margaret Marchack will fill the posts, both called associate vice president and deputy general counsel. Marchack’s and Masson’s appointments are pending approval from the University’s Board of Regents.

Masson, who has worked for the University’s Office of the General Counsel since 2000, was promoted to the post of associate vice president and deputy general counsel. The position was left vacant after Gloria Hage — who worked in the role and was interim associate vice president and deputy general counsel at the University of Michigan Health System — left the University to become the general counsel for Eastern Michigan University on March 1.

In his new role, Masson will be responsible for aiding Vice President and General Counsel Suellyn Scarnecchia in running the University’s legal operations from the Fleming Administration Building.

In a statement released yesterday, Scarnecchia said Masson was truly the best candidate for the position.

“As an experienced and successful litigator, David brings broad and deep knowledge of the University and legal community to the role,” Scarnecchia said in a statement.

Throughout his time in the Office of the General Counsel, Masson has specialized in labor and employment matters. Prior to joining the University’s legal team, Masson worked as the chief assistant corporation counsel for the Labor/Worker Compensation Division of the City of Detroit Law Department.

Masson is a University alum. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in political science with distinction from the University and earned his law degree from Wayne State University’s Law School.

Marchack will fill the other associate vice president and deputy general counsel position when she arrives on campus on April 5. Her position will involve helping Scarnecchia to oversee legal affairs at the University of Michigan Health System.

The position was left vacant after Edward Goldman left the post at the end of 2008 to become a professor in the University’s School of Medicine. From that point until her departure at the beginning of the month, Hage served as interim associate vice president and deputy general counsel for the UMHS.

In a press release issued yesterday, Scarnecchia praised Marchack’s depth of experience.

“Margaret’s extensive experience in health care law at local, regional and national levels will add valuable expertise and perspective to our busy Health System Legal Office,” Scarnecchia said in a statement. “This is a field that changes rapidly and her practice has been and will continue to be on the cutting edge.”

Marchack is currently a shareholder with Hall, Render, Killian, Heath and Lyman, PLLC — a national health care law firm in Troy, Mich. Her latest specialty is health information technology, though she has focused on other areas within health law in her nearly 30 years of private practice.

Marchack has also worked for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, prosecuting civil health care fraud cases, and has served as an in-house attorney for Mercy Health Services.

Marchack is also a University alum, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors and a Master of Business Administration degree. She, too, is a graduate of Wayne State University’s Law School.