Page 86 - The First Fifty Years

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80 HOUSTON LAW REVIEW

Mark Rothstein (health law): 3 articles and other
contributions, 3 years as Faculty Advisor
Joseph Sanders (tort law): 1 article, 7 years as Faculty
Advisor

Sandra Guerra Thompson (criminal law): 1 article
Other outstanding appointments of the period who
contributed significantly to the formation of specialized programs
during Decade 3 included: Mary Anne Bobinski, Seth Chandler (a
4-year faculty advisor to HLR), and William Winslade in health
law; William Streng and Richard Westin in tax law; and Gary
Conine, Sanford E. Gaines, and Karl Rabago in environmental,
energy, and natural resources law.12
As will appear shortly, the hiring of the Decade 3 faculty
members, together with the carry-over of specialists from
appointments during Decade 2, would lay the foundation for the
official rechristening of UH’s erstwhile College of Law as the new
“University of Houston Law Center” in the 1980s.

A “Law Center,” Officially!

On the eve of Decade 3, the College of Law changed its
name, both to reflect what it already had become and to position
itself for the future. The developments that the name change
made “official” would have profound impacts on Houston Law
Review going forward.

The announcement of the change was compact and efficient.
The May 1982 issue of Briefcase, published by the Law Alumni
Association, noted simply that the revision had been approved by
the University of Houston Board of Regents the preceding January
at the behest of Dean Robert L. Knauss, himself a 1981 hire and a
former dean at Vanderbilt:

[T]he new designation more accurately describes not only the
expanded physical facilities at the law school but also the
growing involvement of the law school in areas of a broader
nature than in years past.

The University of Houston Law Center now encompasses
the basic J.D. program, the Continuing Legal Education
Program, the Energy Studies Program, the National College of
District Attorneys, and the College of Criminal Defense. The
Law Center also supports a Mexican Legal Studies Program
as well as operating a Health Law Institute with the
University of Texas Health Science Center.13