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68. Interview by Rebekah Reed with Alvin Zimmerman, Chair, Zimmerman, Axelrad,
Meyer, Stern & Wise, P.C. (Oct. 16, 2011) (on file with Houston Law Review).
69. John Maurice O’Quinn (b. Houston, Texas, Sept. 4, 1941; d. Houston, Texas, Oct. 29,
2009) was the founding partner of The O’Quinn Law Firm and a famed Texas plaintiff’s
personal injury lawyer.
70. As did the institutional history of Houston Law Review earlier in this essay, the text
below draws heavily upon MIXON, supra note 2. For the content that follows regarding John
O’Quinn, see generally id. at 127–29.
71. Larry J. Doherty, who practiced law with O’Quinn early in their careers, credits
childhood hardship and abuse as a factor in making O’Quinn a successful trial lawyer. See id.
at 120 n.115.
72. Alvin Zimmerman, In Memoriam, 47 HOUS. L. REV. 255, 257 (2010).
73. Issue 4:3 was the initial installment in a planned series of surveys “annually
reporting, discussing, analyzing, dissecting, and criticizing” the work of the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
74. Despite his great intelligence, O’Quinn was not a natural as an advocate. His friend,
Mark Lanier, has written:
John explained to me once that some cars come equipped with all you need, while
other cars require installation of certain things. John self-installed communication
skills in a way that made most think his skill set was original factory equipment! He
joined Toastmasters, read speech books, and took every opportunity to watch the
communication masters work. John would tear apart every great trial lawyer’s
successes to the nuts and bolts. John would then seek to rebuild them into his own
practice.
W. Mark Lanier, John O’Quinn: The Power of Drive and Hard Work, 47 HOUS. L. REV. 249, 249
(2010).
75. MIXON, supra note 2, at 129.
76. Id. at 128. O’Quinn also was capable of generous gifts. A drive from Houston to
Galveston, as Mixon notes, takes one through the John M. O’Quinn Estuarial Corridor. Id. He
funded an environmental law chair at the University of Houston and, during one of the many
lean periods in University support, renovated the Law Library.
77. O’Quinn served on HLR’s Board of Directors from 1973 until the day of his death.
78. Grutter v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 306, 327 (2003).
79. Cf. “The Wizard of Oz” (1939).
