Charles Jake & Blake Billings on leading legal at KSU: A modern land-grant university

In this episode of The Legal Leaders Podcast, host David Lancelot talks with Charles Jake, General Counsel, and Blake Billings, Deputy General Counsel, at Kansas State University (KSU) about what it takes to lead legal at a modern land-grant university.

From supporting a statewide public mission to building a strategic and scalable legal function, Charles and Blake share how KSU’s legal team navigates institutional complexity while staying focused on trust, operational excellence, and long-term impact. They discuss the unique challenges of higher education law, the role of strategic planning in shaping a legal department, and how a strong General Counsel–Deputy General Counsel partnership helps drive efficiency and effectiveness across the institution.

They discuss:

• What makes legal leadership at a land-grant university uniquely complex
• How KSU built a strategic roadmap for its legal department
• The importance of trust, operational discipline, and team structure in modern legal functions

Tune in for an unfiltered conversation on legal leadership, higher education, and building a legal team designed to support an institution for generations to come.