Michigan State University. Photo: EQRoy/Shutterstock.com

Michigan State University in-house lawyer Paulette Granberry Russell, who was a key player during sports doctor Larry Nassar's sexual abuse scandal and its aftermath, is changing roles.

She is one of several in-house lawyers, including two general counsel, who have changed positions or left the university since the 2016 Nassar scandal. Michigan State has been without a permanent general counsel for the past 11 months.

School president Samuel Stanley announced in a Jan. 10 letter to the campus community that Granberry Russell was transitioning out of her current post as senior adviser to the president for diversity and director of the Office for Inclusion and Intercultural Initiatives. She will remain in her job until a replacement is found, the letter said, when she will become a special adviser to Stanley on special projects and initiatives.

Stanley's letter praised Granberry Russell's 22 years of diversity efforts at Michigan State "during times of significant change."

It did not mention the Nassar case. Granberry Russell, who did not return messages seeking comment Thursday, was in charge of the university's Title IX office at the time.

One of her lawyers led the much-criticized 2014 investigation into Nassar that cleared him of wrongdoing. She reported the results of the probe to then-school president Lou Anna Simon.

Granberry Russell became a key witness in state court hearings last summer when Simon was indicted on four counts of lying to police about what she knew of Nassar's misconduct.

Although Granberry Russell testified that she could not recall specifics of her 2014 conversation with Simon, prosecutors used her notes and a file with Nassar's name on it to show that Simon probably was given Nassar's name, his university position and what he was being accused of doing. The sports doctor was eventually imprisoned for the rest of his life for abusing hundreds of student-athletes in his care over decades.

Simon is still awaiting criminal trial in Eaton County Circuit Court in Michigan after Judge Julie Reincke ruled last October that Simon must stand trial, finding there was probable cause that Simon "concealed information with the intent to deceive."

At a Jan. 9 status hearing last week, Simon's attorney introduced a motion to quash Reincke's trial order. The court set March 20 for a hearing on the motion.

Simon is represented by Lee Silver of Silver & Van Essen in Grand Rapids, who was not immediately available for comment. Silver has repeatedly argued there was no solid evidence that Simon lied about what she knew.