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

April, 2007

 

Christine Agnew’s article entitled,”Come Hell and High Water: Can the Tax Code Solve the Post-Katrina Insurance Crisis?” was accepted for publication in the Lewis and Clark Law Review. She also wrote an article on recent developments in the partnership tax area. That article will appear in the next issue of the Journal of Passthrough Entities. Professor Agnew was nominated as a Council Director for the American Bar Association Section of Taxation. She will oversee the Tax Section’s Teaching Taxation Committee and the Law Practice Management Committee.

 

Richard Alderman published Consumer Credit and the Law, 2007 (Thomson/West with Pridgen); “Attorney’s Fees and Breach of Warranty”, in 10 J. of Comm. & Consumer L. 56 (2007). He discussed debt collection at Consumer Law in the 21st Century held at Ohio State University Moritz College of Law; chaired a session and spoke at the School of ROK at South Texas College of Law; discussed consumer law with Katrina victims at a meeting organized by St. Vincent DePaul’s Church; lectured on the DTPA at a Trial Litigators Conference in Law Vegas; gave two presentations, on the UCC and DTPA, to the El Paso Bar Association Consumer Law CLE program; addressed the Houston Electrical League regarding consumer matters; taught a class on Texas Consumer Law to the UH Paralegal Program; and spoke to Exxon Retirees about consumer rights.

 

Darren Bush completed revisions to his article titled, “Electricity Merger Analysis: Market Screens, Market Definition, and Other Lemmings, which is now being peer-reviewed at the Rev. Ind. Org. He also completed an article titled, “Deterring International Cartels in the Face of Comity and Jurisdiction: A Legal, Economic, and Empirical Evaluation of the Extraterritorial Application of U.S. Antitrust Laws”, (coauthored with John Connor, Prof. of Industrial Economics at Purdue University). On March 19th, he was quoted in a National Law Journal article concerning a case before the U.S. Supreme Court, Credit Suisse v. Billing, No. 05-1157, in which he, along with counsel representing the American Antitrust Institute, prepared and submitted an amicus brief (available at http://www.antitrustinstitute.org/Archives/crsuis07.ashx). His testimony at a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission technical conference was discussed at length in a March 14, 2007 Foster’s Electricity Report article (testimony available at http://www.ferc.gov/EventCalendar/Files/20070308090625Bush.%20University%20of%20Houston.pdf). His op-ed piece, titled “Check Grounding Before We Look at Flipping Switch on Electric Market”, was published in the Houston Chronicle on April 1, 2007. Finally, the Antitrust Modernization Commission’s (AMC) report to Congress is available at www.amc.gov. The report cites, numerous times, his oral testimony, supplemental written testimony, and report to the AMC (coauthored with Stephen Ross and Gregory Leonard), all of which are available at http://www.amc.gov/commission_hearings/statutory_immunities_exemptions.htm

 

Meredith Duncan’s article, “Sex Crimes and Sexual Miscues: The Need for a Clearer Line Between Forcible Rape and Nonconsensual Sex”, will be published by the Wake Forest Law Review in the fall, all things being well.

 

Sandy Gaines’s article “Environmental Policy Implications of Investor-State Arbitration Under NAFTA Chapter 11” has been published in the Europe-based journal International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics.

 

Gidi helped to create the first LLM program in Angola, at the University of Agostinho Neto in Luanda and he has been appointed Academic Advisor to the program. His paper, “Ensiegner la Procedure Civile Compare,” was published in a collected work in honor of Professor Pelayia Yessiou-Faltsi, the first female Civil Procedure professor in Greece. After three years serving on the Board of Directors of the American Society of Comparative Law, Gidi was selected to the Board of Editors of the American Journal of Comparative Law.

 

Leslie Griffin submitted her essay, “Political Reason,” to St. John’s Journal of Legal Commentary, and spoke on that subject at St. John’s conference, Religion and Morality in the Public Square, on March 23. On March 24, she was a panelist at a conference sponsored by the New Hampshire Humanities Council, in Manchester, on Shifting Ground: Religion and Civil Life in America.  She submitted the final version of “The Genesis of Creation Science,” which tells the story of Edwards v. Aguillard, to Professor Olivas for inclusion in his forthcoming book, Education Stories. Prof. Griffin’s review essay of 11 recent books about religion and politics, “Religion and Politics 2004-2007,” will be published soon in the Journal of Law and Religion. She submitted the manuscript for the Teacher’s Manual for her casebook, Law and Religion: Cases and Materials, to Foundation Press.

 

Laura Hermer was offered and accepted the position of Assistant Professor of Health Policy at the Institute for the Medical Humanities, UTMB. She gave a presentation on an article in progress, “Medicaid in an Era of Personal Responsibility,” at a symposium entitled, Laboratories of Democracy? Innovations in Health Law and Policy, held at Hamline University School of Law on March 8, 2007. She has also been invited to speak on the issue of EMTALA and emergency department overcrowding to the Health Law Section of the Houston Bar Association May 9, 2007.

 

Lonny Hoffman published two papers in March: “Intersections of State and Federal Power: State Judges, Federal Law and the ‘Reliance Principle’”, 81 Tulane Law Review 283; and “Access to Justice, Access to Information: The Role of Presuit Investigatory Discovery”, 40 U. Mich, J.Law Reform 217 (2007). Professor Hoffman was an invited faculty lecturer in March at the continuing legal education program, Civil Practice and Litigation Techniques in Federal and State Courts (St. Thomas, Virgin Islands) where he spoke on a number of subjects in federal and state procedure relating to forum contests and on issues arising in class action and other complex litigation. On March 7, he participated in an editorial board conference call meeting with First Chair Press, a new publication board within the Litigation Section of the American Bar Association. During the month, he also participated in several in-person and conference call meetings of the Houston Bar Association, Administration of Justice Committee devoted to planning for the 2007 Houston Bench/Bar conference(to be held in Galveston, Texas, April 13-14, 2007). In connection with his work as Reporter for the Supreme Court of Texas Task Force on Jury Assembly and Administration, Prof Hoffman reviewed proposed legislation relating to jury reform. On March 21, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted a petition for discretionary review filed by the appellee in Vasilas v. State, a case in which Prof. Hoffman on a pro bono basis filed an amicus curiae brief on behalf of a number of lawyer groups and civil rights organizations supporting the appellee’s petition. Professor Hoffman will represent the appellee before the court on the merits of his appeal. Oral argument, granted but not yet scheduled, is anticipated later this summer.

 

Paul Janicke will speak on patent law for nonspecialists at the UH CLE program in Houston on April 20 and in Dallas on April 27.

 

Joan Krause was appointed to the university’s team for the Houston Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences, and agreed to serve on the National Association of Women Lawyers Roster of Legal Experts.

 

Gail Lutz, Supervising Attorney for the Juvenile Advocacy Clinics, is serving on the Juvenile Justice Committee of the Children at Risk Public Policy and Law Center of Houston, Texas. On April 2, 2007, Gail accompanied other members of the Juvenile Justice Committee to testify on behalf of legislation to create independent oversight of the Texas Youth Commission.

 

Ellen Marrus presented at the Center for Children, Law and Policy’s Zealous Advocacy=Best Interests conference on March 23rd and 24th along with Center Research Fellows Malikah Marrus, and Stacey Mathews. This is the sixth year of the conference and over 100 attorneys practicing in the area of juvenile defense attended the conference.  Professor Marrus’ article, “Can I talk Now?: Why Miranda Does Not Offer Adolescents Adequate Protections” appears at 79 Temp.L.Rev. 515 (2006), a symposium issue that focuses on Law and Adolescence: The Legal Status, Rights, and Responsibilities of Adolescents in the Child Welfare, Juvenile, and Criminal Justice Systems. Faculty member Laura Oren and Center for Children, Law and Policy (Center4CLP) researcher Malikah Marrus are speaking at Children and the Law After the Katrina Disaster: An Interdisciplinary Conference on Young Evacuees, on April 20 in Krost Hall. Center Co-Director Ellen Marrus and researcher Stacey Matthews are moderating sessions. This conference has been organized by the Center4CLP at the University of Houston Law Center, in collaboration with the ABA’s Center on Children and the Law. They are also collaborating on a book to be distributed by the ABA. Professors Charles Ogletree and Lawrence Powell will speak along with other distinguished panelists from a variety of disciplines. Additional events associated with this conference include a photo exhibit of pictures from the Times-Picayune of New Orleans depicting children living through the Katrina experience (available throughout the conference) and an event on Thursday, April 19, 5-7 pm in conjunction with the Surviving Katrina and Rita in Houston Project, presenting the views and voices of survivors.

 

Gerry Moohr presented a paper at the University of Georgetown’s Conference on Corporate Criminality: Legal, Ethical, and Managerial Implications. Her paper, “Of Bad Apples and Bad Trees: The Case for Fault-Based Corporate Criminal Liability”, will be published by Georgetown’s American Criminal Law Review this summer. Anna Archer’s paper, “From Legally Blonde to Miss Congeniality: The Femininity Conundrum,” written for Prof. Moohr’s seminar, Employment Law in 2006, was recently published by the Cardozo Journal of Law and Gender. Finally, Prof. Moohr taught two sessions on Employment Law at the People’s Law School.

 

Michael A. Olivas was a busy boy. He gave lectures on his Hernandez book at the University of Texas at El Paso, the University of Colorado Law School, and University of Texas-Brownsville, and a talk (“Governing Badly: Case Studies of Making the Wrong Academic Decision”) at Washington University, St. Louis Law School. The Wash U talk was at a symposium honoring Phil Shelton upon his retirement from the presidency of the LSAC. He also debated UMKC law professor Kris W. Kobach at the Migration Policy Institute in DC, on the topic of the DREAM Act and undocumented college students. His book review of Latinos and the Law was published in Aztlan, while his review of The Law of Higher Education treatise was published in the Journal of College and University Law.

 

Nancy Rapoport gave the keynote address at a conference on What’s Wrong With Legal Education at Capital University, she was a panelist at JURIST’S 10th anniversary conference, and she gave a talk on ethics at the Rocky Mountain Mineral Conference in Santa Fe, NM. Prof. Rapoport also did voiceover work for a sexual harassment training program (against harassment, not in favor of it) and completed a pilot for a radio show.

 

Richard Saver will present as part of the Distinguished Speaker series on health care and medical ethics at the John Peter Smith Hospital and JPS Health Network in Fort Worth/Dallas. The teaching hospital is affiliated with both the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School and Texas A&M’s Health Sciences Center. His presentation will be on “Abandonment of Research Subjects: The Ethical and Legal Dilemmas.”

 

Sandra Guerra Thompson gave an interview in Spanish for Channel 57 Azteca Television on recent Texas amendments to the law of self-defense. She has also accepted an offer to publish a lecture entitled, “Latinas and Their Families in Detention: Caught in the Web of Post-9/11 National Security Concerns and Anti-Immigrant Politics.” The lecture will appear in a symposium issue in the William and Mary Journal of Women and the Law.

 

Greg Vetter presented “What if the General Public License (GPL) Had Been Patented?” at the 4th Annual symposium entitled ”What Ifs and Other Alternative IP & Cyberlaw Stories,” sponsored by the Intellectual Property and Communications Law program at the Michigan State University College of Law, held on March 30-31, 2007.

 

Jacqueline Weaver spoke on “Peak Oil, Big Oil, Chinese Oil, Flags and Open Doors,” to the Committee on Foreign Relations in Tucson, Arizona over Spring Break. She also completed the annual Update Release to the Texas Law of Oil and Gas treatise.

 

 

Harriet Richman, Editor