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               ESSAY

             THE GREAT LEAP FORWARD:
               THE FOURTH DECADE OF
                 HOUSTON LAW REVIEW

                     Craig Joyce & Matthew Hoffman

      At the dawn of Houston Law Review’s fourth decade, the
accomplishments of its predecessor ten years were much in
evidence. A relationship with a burgeoning institute that resulted in
publishing numerous top-tier national scholars? Check. A
logistically proficient and technologically endowed publication
process? Check. A copyright on a first-rate and widely purchased
legal handbook to finance the organization’s operations? Check. But
would the advance continue? Could HLR grow further? Perhaps
even exponentially? Leapin’ lizards,1 yes!

             Andrews Kurth Professor of Law, University of Houston Law Center. To the
members of Board 50, Matthew Hoffman and I owe an enormous debt of gratitude. Were
it not for the diligent research of Katherine Witty and the genial patience of Board 50’s
Editor in Chief Peter Danysh, Chief Articles Editor Casey Holder, Managing Editor Cade
Mason, and many others, this installment in the telling of Houston Law Review’s now
four-fifths storied existence could in no way have become, itself, history. Thanks, as ever,
to the O’Quinn Law Library: Director Spencer Simons, Associate Director Mon Yin Lung,
and Research Librarian Christopher Dykes. Matt and I are also grateful to Justice Jeff
Brown, Robert Gonzalez, George May, Alex Roberts, and D’Andra Shu, each of whom was
offered the opportunity to review the manuscript but none of whom are responsible for its
imperfections as published. The authors also benefitted enormously from the Decade 4
Oral History of Houston Law Review, moderated by Mr. Hoffman, with participants
George F. May, Robert Sergesketter, and D’Andra Shu (Mar. 7, 2013) (on file with
Houston Law Review). Finally, Matt and I thank profusely all the members of Boards 31–
40, those who actually lived the story to which we have struggled to do justice here.

             In keeping with the general practice in historical essays, all notations hereafter
appear as endnotes at the conclusion of this essay, where the reader will find also a
compilation of statistical trivia which the authors and the members of Board 50 hope will
enlighten and amuse, if not necessarily in equal degree.

             Law Clerk to United States District Judge David Hittner; J.D. 2012, University
of Houston Law Center; Editor in Chief, Houston Law Review, Board 49.

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