Page 20 - The First Fifty Years

Do Not Delete 1/8/2015 10:14 AM

14 HOUSTON LAW REVIEW

followed in Volumes 3 through 5. Barely has a volume gone by since
that time without the inclusion of one or many articles on IP law,
an emphasis (at least partially explained by the importance of
patents and trade secrets to Houston’s petrochemical, biomedical,
and astrophysical industries) that has remained constant through
the years.

“Off the Record”
Volume 2’s first issue introduced a special section of the
Review intended to balance the competing visions of the
publication. Off the Record’s stated purpose was “to present
discussions of problems of practicing attorneys in an informal
manner, rather than to replace the regular article section.”48
All practicing attorneys with experience in a particular field
were invited to submit short pieces.
Submissions such as Operation of the Discovery Rules,
Alternative Testamentary Administrations, and “In Lieu”
Royalty Agreements in the Oil Industry afforded practitioners a
steady voice in the Review and a continued interest in the
contents of publication. Although this section eventually was
set aside as the Review grew in size and stature, Off the
Record would come full circle in 2010 when Board 48 began
publication of the practitioner oriented HLRe: Off the Record,
a feature designed to advance many of the same goals of the
original feature first conceived in 1964.

The Content’s the Thing
Board 1 Editor in Chief Dan Matthews set forth the
Review’s ultimate vision in his editor’s page of Volume 1, Issue
1. Enduring greatness was the goal, but much work would be
needed to get there. The arc of Decade 1 illustrates an
organization initially regional (and often simply state-based)
in scope, publishing the output of mostly practitioners and
Houston law professors but fitfully providing a glimpse of the
levels of scholarship and acclaim to which the early editors
aspired. Professors, judges, and academics from around the
country filled the Review’s pages as the decade progressed,
necessitating an increase in annual issues from three to five.
“Off the Record” and other such ephemera gave way to
Harvard, Stanford, and Penn. As the decade concluded, much
had been accomplished.