Faculty Focus is a monthly publication documenting the activities, accomplishments, and honors of the University of Houston Law Center Faculty.
RICHARD ALDERMAN published the two volume "Texas Commercial and Consumer Law Annotated;" the 2001 ed. of "Texas Consumer Law Cases and Materials;" and "Contracts for the Sale of Goods: Warranties and Remedies" in 4 Tex. J. Consumer L. 1(2000). He also delivered a paper at the University of Houston Law Center Advanced Business Litigation Seminar and presented a two hour program on law for small businesses to the Galveston County Small Business Association. He gave a CLE presentation for the Houston Bar Association entitled "
A DTPA Update" and conducted a seminar for the Texas Society of Certified Public Accountants on "Legal Issues Surrounding the Internet." He gave three presentations at the annual meeting of the National Association of Consumer Advocates in Denver on "Warranties Under Article 2 of the UCC," "Ethical Issues in Dealing With the Media," and "How to Effectively Deal with the Media." Along with Mary Anne Bobinski, Professor Alderman spoke with administrators at St. Luke's Hospital about "Legal Issues in the Health Care Industry." He also recently spoke to the Hobby Airport Rotary, the Nothingham Forest Homeowners Association, the Briar Park Civic Organization and at the Life Skills Seminar for Youth Moving into Adulthood, sponsored by the CPE Partnership.
MARY ANNE BOBINSKI has two recent publications: Medical Ethics: Codes, Opinions, and Statements (editor, with M. Rothstein, et al. 2000)(Volume One of a two-volume project) and "Genetic Information, Legal, ERISA Preemption, and HIPAA Protection," in The Encyclopedia of Ethical, Legal, and Policy Issues in Biotechnology (Thomas H. Murray, et al., eds. 2000). She is completing her portion of a new casebook, HIV Law & Policy (Carolina Academic Press, forthcoming 2001). Professor Bobinski spoke about "Women, Poverty, and Access to Health Care," at a symposium sponsored by the University of Iowa's Journal of Gender, Race, and Justice. She also spoke on "Legal Aspects of Health Care" at St. Lukes Hospital, with Professor Richard Alderman. Professor Bobinski was recently appointed to two national committees: the ABA Section on Legal Education's Committee on Curriculum and the AALS Committee on Curriculum and Research. Finally, Professor Bobinski continues to serve on the University of Houston's Commission on Women and as a board member of the Montrose Clinic.
ROD BORLASE has added a new guide to Borlase Law Library & Legal Research Guides, entitled "The Perfect Initial Law Library."
DAVID DOW has been selected as a juried poet in the 16th Annual Houston Poetry Fest. His poem, "mourning in carolina" will be published in an anthology featuring work of the juried poets.
SANDRA GUERRA was interviewed in a front-page article in the Houston Chronicle on September 30th regarding the use of DNA testing to exonerate convicted persons. She authored a column, together with Prof. Jimmy Gurule of Notre Dame Law School, which will appear in the AALS Criminal Justice Section newsletter this month. It describes the reform of the civil asset forfeiture law brought about by the Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act of 2000. She and Prof. Gurule also completed work on the 2000 Supplement to their treatise, The Law of Asset Forfeiture, published by Matthew Bender.
CHRISTINE HURT presented a seminar on writing legal memoranda to the Tax Department of Enron Corp. on October 12, 2000. Christine’s presentation was part of an ongoing series designed to train new tax associates on many legal topics, including technical writing.
PETER LINZER gave a major paper at the Contracts 2000 Conference at the University of Wisconsin Law School on Saturday, October 14, 2000. The paper, which will appear in the Wisconsin Law Review in Spring 2001, is currently entitled "Restitution, Reliance and Implied Contracts -- A Grand Theory of Rough Justice." He gave a preview of the talk at the Monday Lunch for October 9.
TOM OLDHAM was chosen to edit an issue of the Family Law Quarterly (published by the ABA Family Law Section) pertaining to difficult valuation issues at divorce.
MICHAEL OLIVAS spoke on developing legal issues to the Houston chapter of the National Employment Lawyers Association on October 10.
LAURA OREN'S article, "Righting Child Custody Wrongs: The Children of the Disappeared in Argentina," has been accepted for publication by the HARVARD HUMAN RIGHTS JOURNAL. It will appear in May 2001. She has also been elected Chair of the University of Houston Grievance Committee for the 2000-2001 year.
JORDAN PAUST spoke on local news radio KTRH concerning the recent violence in the West Bank. He was a member of a panel on Economic and International Institutions during the Association of American Law Schools Workshop on Human Rights on October 28th in Washington, D.C.
NANCY RAPOPORT serves on two national committees: the AALS's Professional Development Committee and the LSAC's Programs and Services Committee. She also serves on two workgroups for the LSAC: GLBT issues and Alternative Admissions Models. She was also recently named a Legal Pioneer by the Nebraska State Bar Association for being the first woman to serve as a dean of a Nebraska law school.
IRA B. SHEPARD spoke with Professor Martin McMahon of the University of Florida School of Law on "Recent Developments in Federal Income Taxation" on September 18th to the Southern Federal Tax Institute in Atlanta. He also edited the papers at the week-long Institute, a task he has performed since 1974. While he was in Atlanta, his recent developments outline was used by another speaker at the State Bar of Texas Advanced Tax Course in Houston. He and Professor McMahon will speak on "Recent Developments in Federal Income Taxation" on November 1st to the University of Texas Tax Conference in Austin, on the same day to the Austin Tax Study Group, and on November 6th and 7th to the Tulane Tax Institute in New Orleans. He will speak on "Real Estate Tax Update" to the University of Houston Law Foundation Advanced Real Estate Short Course on October 13 and 20 in Dallas and Houston. He also spoke on “Current Developments in Taxation” in September and October to the Wednesday Tax Forum in Houston. Professor Shepard was quoted in the October 9th issue of Tax Notes in a story on the upcoming appeal to the Eleventh Circuit of the United Parcel Service case. Tax Notes is a weekly magazine published by the Ralph Nader people that even sensible conservative tax professionals read.
RONALD TURNER'S article, "The Unenvisaged Case, Interpretive Progression, and the Justiciability of Title VII Same-Sex Sexual Harassment Claims," was published in 7 Duke Journal of Gender Law and Policy 57 (2000).
STEPHEN ZAMORA has been asked by the AALS to serve as a member of a working group of international legal educators formed to seek to increase financial resources available to support international exchanges among law schools around the world. This is one of several working groups formed as a result of the AALS-sponsored “La Pietra Conference” held in Florence, Italy, in May 2000, which brought together 50 legal educators from around the world.