Faculty Focus is a monthly publication documenting the activities, accomplishments, and honors of the University of Houston Law Center Faculty.
Candyce Beneke was recently appointed to the Law Focused Education Committee of the State Bar of Texas by State Bar President Lynne Liberato. This committee organizes educational programs for educators and students on various law-related topics such as government, law, political science, and the justice system. She serves as well on the Professionalism Committee of the Houston Bar Association, and has been invited to membership in the Garland Walker Inn of Court.
Johnny Buckles spoke to the Tax Section of the Houston Bar Association on November 1st. His speech was entitled, "The Federal Income Tax Deduction for Donor-Designated Charitable Contributions: A Primer and Guide for Analysis." Thanks to Bill Streng for setting up this opportunity.
John Jay Douglass gave a live interview on December 8th on ABC regarding the Florida Supreme Court and Al Gore's contest of that state's certified election results.
Peter Linzer appeared on Channel 2 News, December 9th to discuss the Supreme Court's stay of the Florida recount. He also taped an interview for Fox 26 News dealing with Gerry Treece and Cass Sunstein.
Douglas Moll spoke to the Corporate Counsel Section of the Houston Bar Association, November 9th on "Shareholder Oppression in Texas Close Corporations: Majority Rule Isn't What it Used to Be." He also learned that Professor Robert Hamilton of Texas Law School will be adding a note citation to Moll's work in the Corporations casebook that Hamilton authors. The note will reference Moll's article, "Shareholder Oppression in Close Corporations: The Unanswered Question of Perspective" that appeared in the April 2000 issue of the Vanderbilt Law Review.
Gerry Moohr's article,"Federal Criminal Fraud and the Development of Intangible Property Rights In Information" has been published by the University of Illinois Law Review. She was also interviewed by Richard Alderman for Channel 13, on whether employees have a privacy right in email.
Tom Oldham was invited by the Duke Journal of Gender Law and Policy to participate in a symposium regarding the gender effects that would result from the proposed ALI Marriage Dissolution project.
Michael Olivas, William B. Bates Professor of Law and the UHLC Director of the Institute for Higher Education Law and Governance was given the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) Special Merit Award at its recent annual meeting in Sacramento. The ASHE presenter noted, "We honor Dr. Michael A. Olivas, one of our most distinguished scholars and leaders in the field of higher education with this award, in recognition of his academic accomplishments and yeoman service. His pioneering work in the law of higher education has been an inspiration to us all, as has his leadership to younger scholars who have read and appreciated his work." Michael Olivas, 49, was given the ASHE Award for Distinguished Research in 1995. Professor Olivas who has attended every ASHE Annual Meeting since its founding in 1976, said, "I accept this generous Award on behalf of my students, who keep me more aware the longer I teach. I cannot image a better job than to be a teacher." He is the author of eight books, including the forthcoming Johns Hopkins University Press work, "Dollars, Scholars, and Public Policy: Financing College Debt in the 21st Century."
Jordan Paust's article "Non-Extraterritoriality of 'Special Territorial Jurisdiction' of the United States: Forgotten History and the Errors of Erdos," 24 Yale J. Int'l L. 305 (1999), has been cited in a third federal case this semester-- most recently by the dissent in United States v. Cory (9th Cir. Nov. 20, 2000) [the cases creating a clash between the 9th and 2nd Cirs., with the S.D.N.Y. in accord with a different case before the 2nd Cir.}. Professor Paust's chapter on "Waves Within and Over the Law of the Sea: Traversing Gaps, Ambiguities, and Priorities," was completed for a Festschrift in honor of Judge Oda of the International Court of Justice that will be published next year by Kluwer Law International.
Nancy Rapoport spoke on a bankrupty ethics panel on December 1st at the Winter Leadership Conference of the American Bankrutcy Institute.
Ira Shepard spoke on "Recent Developments in Federal Income Taxation" on November 29th to the Austin Chapter of the Texas Society of Certified Public Accountants in Austin, on November 30th at the Tennessee Tax Institute in Nashville, and on December 2nd at the William & Mary Tax Conference in Williamsburg. In Williamsburg, he also participated in a panel discussion on "Recent Developments in the United States Tax Court" with Tax Court Judge Mary Ann Cohen. He also spoke to the Wednesday Tax Forum on December 12th.