The EENR Center would like to recognize and thank our current sponsors:
Underwriter
Blank Rome LLP
Bracewell & Giuliani LLP
Benefactor
Vinson & Elkins LLP
Collaborating co-sponsor
with the Center for U.S. and Mexican Law
ENTRA Energy Transactions LLC
The Houston law firm of Connelly Baker & Wotring LLP provided initial funding to create the EENR Center, and we gratefully recognize them as a Founding Partner.
Become a sponsor of the EENR Center
The Environment, Energy & Natural Resources Center at the University of Houston Law Center links energy issues with impacts on environment and natural resources. Building on the academic excellence of the faculty in these areas and the complex and multi-faceted energy and environmental issues in Houston, the Center provides a forum for education and discussion of the most important issues of the day, such as climate change, air pollution, clean coal and renewable energy.
Speaker Series: EPA General Counsel Avi Garbow
On January 28, EPA General Counsel Avi Garbow kicked off the Spring 2015 EENR Speaker Series at the Law Center [Article and Video HERE]
Special thanks to EENR Center Sponsors
Blank Rome LLP, Vinson & Elkins LLP, and Bracewell Giuliani LLP
Avi Garbow with Susan Bickley, John Adkins and Joshua Huber of Blank Rome LLP
Avi Garbow with Heather Palmer of Bracewell Giuliani LLP
Avi Garbow with George Wilkinson of Vinson & Elkins LLP
Dr. Ramanan Krishnamoorti, Avi Garbow, Jacqueline Weaver, Tracy Hester
EENR Archive Calendar of
Prior
Environmental Events in Houston
Research & Publication
Tracy Hester’s article, Restating Environmental Law, was published in redacted form by The Environmental Forum as the lead article for its January/February 2015 issue. The full version of the article will appear in The Columbia Journal of Environmental Law’s Spring 2015 issue. Professor Hester was also named as a resident scholar at the Environmental Law Institute for 2015, and will work at ELI’s Washington, D.C. office during the summer on his research projects involving the governance of climate engineering and on the application of U.S. and foreign environmental criminal laws to disasters.
Susan Sakmar's book, Energy for the 21st Century: Opportunities and Challenges for LNG(2013) was recently chosen an Outstanding Academic Title for 2014 by Choice Magazine. Choice is widely read by academic librarians in the U.S. and the awards are chosen based on the best-reviewed titles during 2014. Her book will also be part of an exhibit of all the Outstanding Academic Title winners at the American Library Association’s Mid-winter Conference later this month. Professor Sakmar’s article, LNG Exports: Will the United States Become the World's Largest LNG Exporter? was published in the recent edition of the State Bar of Texas Oil, Gas & Energy Resources Section Report.
Jacqueline Weaver was the Course Director and a lecturer for a 5-day Advanced Legal Studies Program on specialized topics in oil and gas law presented to lawyers from Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. (Petrobras) at the University of Houston Law Center; Houston, Texas from December 8 to 12. Before that, she moderated a panel on Offshore Exploration & Production: Challenges & Opportunities Panel at the 2nd Mexico Oil & Gas Investment Summit; a conference organized by PetroRock Energy LLC; Mexico City, Mexico; December 4, 2014. This conference followed her lecture on “Offshore Safety in the Gulf of Mexico, the New U.S. System,” that was part of a 4-week training program entitled “Regulation of Hydrocarbons: An Advanced Training Program for Professionals,” organized by the University of Houston Law Center, Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM) – Centro de Energía y Recursos Naturales, and Wood Mackenzie; Mexico City, Mexico; December 3, 2014.
Spotlight
UHLC student wins World Bank writing award
University of Houston Law Center student Jessica Ireton is the winner of an international writing competition sponsored by a division of the World Bank for her article exploring the use of WikiLeaks cables as evidence in arbitration hearings.
Ireton, who will graduate in December, has focused her studies at the Law Center on international arbitration, international legal issues, and the energy sector.
The 2014 Student Writing Competition hosted by the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) at the World Bank includes a $1,000 award. Her essay will be published in an upcoming issue of the ICSID Review—Foreign Investment Law Journal, one of the foremost periodicals on foreign investment law and international investment dispute settlement.
Ireton’s article, “The Admissibility of Evidence in ICSID Arbitration: Considering the Validity of WikiLeaks Cables as Evidence,” proposes that international arbitral tribunals operate in a new transnational legal environment rather than the traditional international law environment. It then considers how such tribunals might treat the admissibility of WikiLeaked diplomatic cables and similarly sensitive evidence.
She was encouraged to consider the treatment of WikiLeaked evidence within the developing body of transnational legal theory by Visiting Professor Julian Cardenas while taking his course on International Investment Law.
The ICSID-appointed panel of judges included three experts in the field of international investment arbitration, Dr. Ahmed El-Kosheri, Professor Andrea Bjorklund, and Ms. Mahnaz Malik.
Ireton will join the firm of Chamberlain Hrdlicka as an associate in the Energy section after graduation.
