The University of Houston Law Center Faculty

Elizabeth Trujillo

Mary Ann & Lawrence E. Faust Professor of Law
Founding Director, Initiative on Global Law and Policy for the Americas

University of Houston Honors College (BA)
University of Houston Law Center (JD)

Elizabeth Trujillo is the Mary Ann & Lawrence E. Faust Professor of Law and the Founding Director of the Initiative on Global Law and Policy for the Americas. She was Professor of Law at Texas A&M University School of Law (2016-2019), and at Suffolk University School of Law in Boston (2007-2016) where she received the 2012 Latina Trailblazer Award by the Hispanic National Bar chapter, Massachusetts Association of Hispanic Attorneys. She has also been a Visiting Professor at Florida State University School of Law (2005-2006), a Visiting Scholar at Harvard University Law School (2011-2012), and an Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Law and International Law (2015-2016). Professor Trujillo writes and teaches in international trade and investment law, international business transactions, sustainable development and energy, and contracts, using comparative law methods. Her publications have appeared in top 50 law reviews, books, and peer-reviewed journals including Boston College Law Review, Harvard Latin American Law Review, and the Journal of International Economic Law. It examines fragmentation in deep trade and investment models and their relationship to domestic regulatory structures, specifically in the areas of energy and the environment, sustainable development, and international commerce.

Prior to entering academia, she worked for the Houston office of the New York law firm LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene and MacRae (later known as Dewey and LeBoeuf) in the areas of corporate law, project finance and international business transactions, with an emphasis on energy and Latin America. Due to her expertise on USMCA/NAFTA, Latin America, and international trade and investment, she has been interviewed by media outlets including the Houston Chronicle, Dallas Morning News, CBC News, EcoAmericas, and Bloomberg BNA News.

In 2024, she received the  UH Global Faculty Award from the University of Houston Provost Office and was inducted into the UH President’s 2025 Circle Awards for her contributions towards research and scholarship.  As GLPA director, Professor Trujillo collaborates on grant-funded research with the University of Bologna Department of Political and Social Sciences, including hosting “Sustainability Week” at the University of Bologna in November 2024.

This GLPA project arises from a grant from the University of Bologna, as part of its collaboration with the University of Houston Law Center.

In Spring 2025, she was the recipient of the Fernand Braudel Senior Fellowship at the European University Institute (EUI) Department of Law.  She is a Visiting Fellow with the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies at the EUI. 

Professor Trujillo is an elected member of the American Law Institute. 

COURSES:
Contracts
International Trade
USMCA
Trade, Investment, and Development
Trends in International Law and Sustainable Development