Page 55 - The First Fifty Years

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CARRY ON BOLDLY 49

readers on the topic at hand. Themed issues, even those bereft of
a physical “symposium” event, are vitally important to successful
journals.

In Houston Law Review’s teenage years, the publication of
themed issues skyrocketed (a trend that would continue unabated
throughout the next three decades). These themed issues allowed
the Review to work towards its goal of achieving national
recognition while simultaneously serving the needs of the Texas
Bar and focusing on consistent quality in the published scholarship.
Seven of the decade’s 10 volumes contained at least one themed
issue, with Volumes 14 and 18 each containing two. Bookended by
Perdue’s The Law of Medical Malpractice in Volume 11 and Newell
Blakely’s Texas Rules of Evidence Handbook in Volume 20, Decade
2’s contents also included: four energy symposia (Volumes 15, 16,
17, and 18); Professor Sidney Buchanan’s nine-chapter book, The
Quest for Freedom: A Legal History of the Thirteenth Amendment
(Volumes 12 and 13); Sales & Perdue’s Strict Liability in Texas
(Volume 14); a symposium on tax reform (Volume 14); and a
symposium on health law (Volume 18). Individually, these themed
issues produced numerous articles written by academics and
practitioners on a broad range of topics and intended for a wide-
ranging audience.

During the 1976–1977 academic year, the College of Law
teamed with the University of Houston College of Business
Administration to host A Symposium on Tax Reform at the
Crossroads. This symposium addressed “legislative prospects for
reform, basic tax reform in general, international aspects of tax
reform, and taxation of national resources.”56 The symposium
included articles by U.S. Representative Bill Archer,
Washington, D.C., tax lawyer William Goldstein, U.S. Treasury
Department tax lawyer Charles Kingson, and Texas energy
lawyer Frank Burke Jr.—a demonstration of the Review’s ability
and desire to include scholarship geared toward both local and
national interests.

Volume 18, under EIC David Caudill (who, inspired by
Sidney Buchanan’s example, went on to become a law professor
himself),57 brought about a different kind of themed issue, with
several nationally known professors joining Jim Perdue to
consider various issues in the area of health law, although
without the traditional label of “symposium.” University of
Tennessee College of Law professor Joseph H. King authored The
Duty and Standard of Care for Team Physicians;58 two
practitioners from Washington State contributed Hospital
Admitting Privileges and the Sherman Act;59 a law professor from
the University of New Mexico combined with a philosophy