Faculty Focus is a monthly publication documenting the activities, accomplishments, and honors of the University of Houston Law Center Faculty.

January 2004

Darren Bush accepted an offer from the Oregon Law Review to publish In (Reluctant) Defense of Enron: Why Bad Regulation is to Blame for California's Power Woes, or Why Antitrust Law Fails to Protect against Market Power when the Market Rules encourage its Use. His article, The Law & Economics of Restorative Justice came out in the Utah L. Rev. 439 (2003). Also he has been invited to speak at the 2004 Loyola Chicago Antitrust Colloquium in April  to present his article, Rethinking the Potential Competition Doctrine.

John J. Douglass was interviewed by Channels 13 and 2 on the trial of Saddam and by Channel 39 on the political prospects for the new mayor of Houston.

David R. Dow's op-ed article, on gay marriage, appeared in the Houston Chronicle on November 23rd. He spoke on "The Relevance of Innocence" at the meeting of the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty on January 10th.  He will also speak on "Post-Conviction Use of DNA Testing" at the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association annual meeting, on January 16^th.

Meredith J. Duncan's article, Criminal Malpractice: a Lawyer's Holiday, 37 Ga. L. Rev. 1251 (2003) was reviewed in the most recent edition of Legal AFFAIRS (Review Academy: Elsewhere, 2004-FEB Legal AFF. 59).

Victor Flatt was recently elected to membership in the American Law Institute. In addition he was identified in Outsmart Magazine as one of ten "people who are movers and shakers" in the Houston gay and lesbian community. He was a speaker on "The effect of Lawrence v. Texas on constitutional law issues" at the Alternative Family Law Day held at the University of Houston. Professor Flatt also authored an op-ed in the Houston Chronicle on the Bush administration's proposals on New Source Review. His article summarizing several environmental professor's comments on New Source will be published in the Environmental Law Reporter this month.

Michelle Foss participated in a federal agency roundtable on LNG in Washington, D.C. on October 31st. She spoke on global natural gas issues at a special session of the China Development Forum, China's National Energy Strategy and Reform hosted by the Development Research Center of the State Council, Beijing on November 16-17th. Dr. Foss was the host and facilitator for a meeting of natural gas experts on behalf of the North American Energy Working Group (U.S. Department of Energy, Natural Resources-Canada, SENER-Mexico) on December 10th at University of Houston and she was a delegate at the LNG Summit hosted by Secretary Spencer Abraham, U.S. DOE, December 17-18, Washington, D.C.  Mr. Fisoye Delano of the IELE staff also participated.

Lonny Hoffman completed a first draft of his paper Sygenta, Stephenson and the Federal Injunctive Power, which he subsequently presented at the American Law Institute-American Bar Association conference on Latest Developments in Complex Civil Litigation: An Analysis of the Federal Judicial Center's New Manual for Complex Litigation, Fourth. He also finished preparing his course curriculum and syllabus for Practical Skills (Spring 2004) and graded 150,000,000 exam questions from Procedure I and II.

Joan Krause's article, Foreword: Federal-State Conflicts in Health Care, was published in 3 Hous. J. Health L.  & Pol'y 151 (2003). She also was installed as the Chair-Elect of the AALS Section on Law & Aging.

Byran A. Liang published three articles. The first with Steven D. Small, was entitled Communicating about Care: Addressing Federal-State Issues in Peer Review and Mediation to Promote Patient Safety, 3 Houston Journal of Health Law & Policy 219 (2003). The second was entitled Kentucky Association of Health Plans v. Miller: Any Willing Provider Laws Survive Supreme Court Review, 15 Journal of Clinical Anesthesia 549 (2003). His third article was Comment: Another Matter of Life and Death: What Every Anesthesiologist Should Know about Ethical, Legal, and Policy Implications of the Non-Heart Beating Cadaver Organ donor, 47 Survey of Anesthesiology 319 (2003). He also made two presentations: "HIPAA and Community Health: The Impact on Patient Safety Activities," California Western School of Law, Faculty Colloquia Series, San Diego, CA on December 9th and on December 4th at Methodist Hospital, Houston, TX he spoke on "Philosophical and Legal Perspectives on Medical Error: A Conspiracy of Silence? Plenary Lecture, Response to Medical Error and Substandard Performance," at Ethics Grand Rounds. Professor Liang was invited to the invitation-only conference, Alternatives to Litigation: No Fault and Other Avenues, to advise the Florida Legislature on its tort reform activities on January 13-14, 2004.

Douglas Moll's article, Shareholder Oppression & Dividend Policy in the Close Corporation, was published at 60 Washington & Lee Law Review. He also moderated a panel of the New Law Professors Section at the AALS Annual Meeting. The topic was "Ten Things You Need to Know as a New Law Professor that No One Ever Tells You." Depending on who you talk to, approximately 80-100 law professors were in attendance.

Tom Oldham was on a panel at the AALS meeting pertaining to the regulation of unmarried partners. The program was sponsored by the AALS property and family law sections.

Michael A. Olivas delivered the inaugural address at the new Institute of Higher Education, University of Georgia, on January 7th. His topic was "Classrooms in Conflict: The Law on Teaching." He published a chapter in the new Cornell University volume edited by economist Ronald Ehrenberg, Governing Academia (2004). In the publication CASE Currents, he wrote a brief essay arguing against legacy admissions; this work was cited in a recent Houston Chronicle story on Texas A&M's decision not to use Grutter in their admissions policy, but to continue using "Aggie legacy points."

Jordan Paust spoke on "U.S. Responsibilities as an Occupying Power in Iraq and Regime Change" during a panel session on "The New Architecture of International Law after Iraq" during the AALS meeting on January 4th. He was also reelected to the Executive Committee of AALS Section on International Law.

Nancy Rapoport spoke at the AALS on a panel on empirical research and its use in academic support program. Also, the Enron book is going to the printers next week, so Victor Flatt, Michelle Foss, Leslie Griffin, Gerry Moohr, and Jacqueline Weaver's essays in the book will be out soon.

Richard Saver was quoted in recent articles in International Medical News and OB/GYN News concerning gainsharing regulations impeding the development of hospital-based disease management programs.

Steve Zamora gave a lecture in Austin on December 4th to the Texas Border Advisory Roundtable, an association of officials of Texas state agencies that deal with Texas-Mexico issues. He gave an overview of Mexican Administrative Law, including recent developments such as the adoption of the first freedom of information act in Mexico.