Faculty Focus is a monthly
publication documenting the activities, accomplishments,
and honors of the University of Houston Law Center Faculty.
December 2009
Gavin Clarkson’s paper
entitled “The Social Efficiency of Fairness,” co-authored with
MIT economist Marshall Van Alstyne, was recently listed on SSRN's Top Ten
download list for Property, Citizenship, & Social Entrepreneurism. The
paper is available at http://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=1514137.
Along with University of Michigan professor Lada Adamic and others, Dr. Clarkson
submitted a manuscript to Science
magazine on “Individual Focus and Knowledge Creation.” That article
includes information derived from the Patent Cartography research currently
underway at UH. Dr. Clarkson recently advised the US Department of the Treasury
on a pro bono basis regarding tribal corporate
structures and the operation of tribal business off reservation. Finally,
as part of Native American Heritage Month, Dr. Clarkson gave a guest lecture
in Professor Turner’s “Race and the Law” course on “Race,
Law, and Indian Stuff.”
Geoffrey Hoffman gave a talk
to approximately 100 counselors about the immigration options for children
at the Post-Secondary Guidance & Counseling Program meeting at the Spring
Branch Independent School District. In addition, the U.S. Supreme Court just
granted cert in an important immigration case regarding subsequent drug possessions,
Carachuri -Rosendo v. Holder. The UHLC’s Immigration Clinic is the
co-counsel and will be assisting a D.C. law firm with briefing before the
Supreme Court.
Craig Joyce was reappointed
as Chair of the American Society for Legal History’s Committee on Conferences
and the Annual Meeting at the Society’s 2009 meeting in Dallas.
Rick McElvaney spoke on Landlord
and Tenant law at two CLE programs: Consumer Law Training sponsored by the
Center for Consumer Law and The New Lawyer Course sponsored by TexasBarCLE
and the Texas Young Lawyers Association. He has also joined the faculty of
the Kaplan PMBR bar review course.
Michael A. Olivas published a
book review, “Catherin Dauvergne, Making
People Illegal: What Globalization Means for Migration and Law”,
in the Journal of American Ethnic History (2009).
He delivered a talk on Plyler v. Doe
at Washington University in St. Louis, participated in a panel on scholarly
publishing at the Association for the Study of Higher Education annual conference
in Vancouver, and served as an outside promotion and tenure reviewer for six
faculty in various institutions in Fall, 2009.
Ron Scott gave a continuing
medical education presentation on December 1, 2009 to physicians at Northwest
Medical Center addressing the legal implications involved in choosing and
implementing an electronic health record system.
Diana Velardo was a Guest
Speaker at the Children at Risk Trafficking CLE Luncheon Series, which is
sponsored by the Texas Bar Foundation. She presented on “The Effects
of Human Trafficking on International Victims and the Network of Services
Available to Serve Them”. Over 80 attorneys attended the luncheon aimed
at recruiting attorneys to take human trafficking victims’ cases on
a pro bono basis. Diana served as the Guest
Speaker at the “Broken Cords” Concert at Jones Hall, a benefit
concert to raise awareness of human trafficking in Houston, an even that drew
over 200 people. Diana was also a presenter at the Domestic Violence and Human
Trafficking Law Enforcement Response Training spearheaded by the US Attorney’s
office of the Southern District of Texas and Family Time Foundation, where
she taught an audience of over 100 law enforcement personnel the intricacies
of immigration law in relation to victims of domestic violence, crimes, human
trafficking, abused children and persecuted individuals. The University of
Nebraska extended an invitation to Diana’s proposed “Presentation
on Human Trafficking”. Diana co-presented with Charlotte Morris, Chair
of Houston Coalition Against Human Trafficking, at the First Annual Interdisciplinary
Conference on Human Trafficking in Nebraska. The Presentation was titled “Lessons
Learned from the Biggest Human Trafficking Bust on U.S. Soil”, and it
was attended by over 60 professors, researchers, and several directors of
non-profit organizations working tirelessly to end modern day slavery.
Greg Vetter presented an
Internet Law lecture on November 18, 2009 to a delegation of lawyers and judges
visiting Houston from China on an educational tour for exposure to the U.S.
intellectual property system. Also, on November 11, 2009, he attended the
Law Center Class of 2004 reunion event.
Jacqueline Weaver, from November
13-16, gave two presentations to the legal department of Ecopetrol, the Colombian
national oil company, as part of a four-weekend legal seminar series held
at the University of La Sabada in Bogota, Colombia. She spoke on “Are
Legislative Reforms Necessary to Attract Foreign Investment?” and “The
Future of the Petroleum Industry under Global Warming”, with an update
on the current U.S. proposals to curb greenhouse gases. She then explored
Bogota with former LLM students who have successful practices in petroleum
law in Colombia. (Bogota is wonderful and very safe to visit.) She also hosted
a visit to the UHLC by Mr. Bertrand Deprez, a senior consultant and policy
analyst for a Brussels think tank who is touring the U.S. under the auspices
of our US State Department to learn more about the US approach to global warming,
and especially to discuss the petroleum industry’s reaction to recent bills controlling greenhouse gases. She
also filed an amicus brief in the Miesch case, urging the Texas Supreme
Court to rehear the case because the Court’s initial opinion seriously
misreads the oil and gas lease at issue and severely limits the ability of
state agencies to prevent waste in Texas oil and gas reservoirs. A few days
later, the Court granted the motion for rehearing, which had been pending
for months.