December 2003

 

David Dow together with Bridget McNeese (J.D., 2004), published Invisible Executions: A Preliminary Analysis of Publication Rates in Death Penalty Cases in Selected Jurisdictions, 8 Texas Journal on Civil Liberties and Civil Rights 149 (2003).

In addition his editorial, "On Gay Marriage," appeared in the Houston Chronicle on November 23rd.  He spoke on November 4th at the University of Texas on "The Use of DNA Evidence in Post-Conviction Litigation."

 

Lonny Hoffman published his article, The Trilogy of 2003: Venue, Forum Non Conveniens, and Multidistrict Litigation in The Advocate, the quarterly journal of the Litigation Section of the Texas State Bar. As editor he reviewed and published the Fall 2003 symposium issue, which is devoted to the civil action reforms of the 78th state legislature session. He was quoted in the Corpus Christi Caller-Times about the new proposed Rule 8a of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure concerning limits on attorney referral fees. Professor Hoffman also spoke at the invitation of the Sisterhood of Temple Beth Israel on "The Challenge of Being the Husband of the Rabbi." He also met several times with his 1L mentees to discuss law school, exam preparation, and other subjects. He also mediated two cases, pro bono, for the Dispute Resolution Center of Harris County. Professor Hoffman also met with the other members of the Faculty Appointments Committee and assisted in the selection of faculty candidates for fall interviews. He sheparded Professors Michael Murray and Yariv Brauner, two of the candidates for faculty positions. He met with other members of the Committee on Project Magellen and with members of the UHLC Teaching Committee. Further Professor Hoffman assisted in organizing Steven Brill's visit to UHLC.

 

Craig Joyce attended the Annual Meeting of the American Society for Legal History in Washington, D.C. in his capacity as chair of the Committee on Annual Meetings, and completed the manuscript for the new Teacher's Manual for his copyright casebook.

 

Joan Krause was interviewed by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram on December 2&3rd about recent Medicare reform legislation.

 

Bryan A. Liang published The Metabolic Syndrome: An Interplay of Multiple Subtle Cardiovascular Risk Factors, 39(11) Hospital Physician 31 (2003). He has also been appointed to the Book Publications Review Board, the editorial board of Kluwer Academic Publishers. Professor Liang gave three presentations. The first was on November 3rd   on "HIPAA and Public Health: Outlining the Rules for Public Health Surveillance" to the third Annual Houston Metropolitan Medical Response  System First Responder Conference, Houston Department of Public Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Houston, TX. The second presentation was on November 11th on "Lawyers at the Bedside: Outlining the Issues of Quality Improvement and the Law" to California Western School of Law, Health Policy Seminar, San Diego, CA. The third presentation was the next day, November 12th in Washington, D.C. to the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Closed Session Briefing on "Patient Safety and Public Policy: Impediments to Quality Reform."

 

Douglas Moll and Robert Ragazzo have received a contract from West Publishing to write a casebook on The Law of Closely-Held Businesses: Agency, Partnerships, Limited Liability Companies, and Close Corporations.

 

Raymond Nimmer completed and submitted the 1,000 page manuscript of his new treatise, Licensing Law to be published in January by West. This is the third book that he has completed this year. He also chaired and spoke at the 18th Annual Information and Computer Law Institute in Dallas and was the featured speaker at the International Electronic Commerce program in Seattle, Washington.

 

Tom Oldham completed our second NACLE Comparative Family Law Module in November with colleagues and students from Sonora, Pan American, Arizona, and Ottawa.

 

Michael A. Olivas spoke to financial aid administrators of law schools and other professional schools at the recent Access Group annual conference in Orlando. His topic was "Recent Court Decisions Affecting College Admissions and Financial Aid." He was also re-appointed to chair the Governing Board of the AAUP Legal Defense Fund; in this capacity, he also serves on the AAUP's Committee on Litigation. These two groups determine AAUP litigative strategy, amicus brief submissions, and financial support for faculty involved in actions involving academic freedom and tenure.

 

Jordan Paust was a panel member during the "Symposium: Do We Need a New Legal Regime After September 11th?" at the University of Notre Dame Law School on December 5th. His paper Post 9/11 Overreaction and Fallacies Regarding War and Defense, Guantanamo, the Status of Persons, Treatment, Judicial Review of Detention, and Due Process in Military Commissions, will be published in 79 Notre Dame Law Review (2004). He will also be a member of two panels on Contemporary Trends in International Human Rights and Implementation of Human Rights Domestically during a Conference on Human Rights to be held in Taipei, Taiwan on December 10th.

 

Nancy Rapoport is the Court's fee expert in In re Mirant, a case involving large, jointly administered series of energy company bankruptcies. The case is being tried in Fort Worth.

 

Richard Saver will be a peer reviewer for a new Bioethics text to be distributed by Aspen Publishers in 2004.

 

Jacqueline Weaver's article Can Energy Markets Be Trustee? The Effect of the Rise and Fall of Enron on Energy Markets is now available in PDF form to download at the Houston Business & Tax Law Journal website: www.hbtlj.org.