Paula Mercado Hak

Paula Mercado Hak, Esq.

Vice President and General Counsel & Chief External Affairs Officer

Prior to joining SPU, Paula served as the Assistant Vice President for Academic Labor Relations at Rutgers University where she focused on labor and employment matters pertaining to aligned faculty and academic employees, managed university-wide labor relations, negotiated collective agreements with the unions, and provided regular advice to all schools and administrators regarding faculty, negotiated agreements and university policies.

Paula also served as the General Counsel and Chief Administrator of Human Resources for the non-profit corporations forming the social and behavioral healthcare services arm of the Archdiocese of Newark, which included Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Newark, Mount Carmel Guild Behavioral Healthcare, Mount Carmel Guild Schools, and corporations providing programs and services in four New Jersey counties relating to education, workforce development, transitional living, homeless assistance, immigrant and refugee legal assistance, intensive family support, behavioral and mental healthcare, and other areas.  In her roles, she provided strategic decision-making support and handled employment, litigation, corporate governance, legal compliance, and human resource matters.

Additionally, Paula was the General Counsel of the Jersey City Public Schools where she served as chief labor counsel, negotiated collective agreements with the various unions, handled labor and employment litigation, maintained relationships with external stakeholders, and provided daily legal counsel to leadership, the school board of education and all levels of management.  Paula has more than a decade of experience as a corporate and commercial litigation attorney with Weiner Lesniak LLP (now Weiner Law Group LLP) where she was a Partner specializing in appellate and federal practice, emergent relief applications, and public entity, commercial and constitutional law.  In addition to her attorney and university administrator roles, Paula was also an adjunct professor of law at Seton Hall Law School where she taught legal research and writing to first year law students.

Paula received her Bachelor of Science degree from Pennsylvania State University, University Park and her Juris Doctorate degree from New England Law School, Boston where she had an article published in the school’s environmental journal.  She is a member of the New York and New Jersey State Bars.  Paula, born in Bolivia, is a proud member of the Jersey City and Latino community and St. Aedan’s parish.  She grew up in Jersey City, within blocks of SPU, ever since her family emigrated from Bolivia and continues to live in Jersey City with her husband and children.