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

July 2010

Editor, Dan Baker djbaker2@central.uh.edu

Previous editions of Faculty Focus can be accessed here.

Dan Baker presented his paper, “Citations to Wikipedia in Law Reviews”, at the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) during a program called “The Librarian as Author: AALL/LexisNexis® Call for Papers” on July 12 in Denver. His paper won the award for the New Member Division and has also been accepted for publication in I/S: A Journal of Law and Policy for the Information Society.

Geoffrey Hoffman was interviewed on 90.1 KPFT radio about the impact of the Carachuri decision and the role of the UHLC Immigration Clinic on June 17, 2010. Professor Hoffman’s commentary on the case was used during a news report on Carachuri with Pacifica Radio’s Renee Feltz on June 15, 2010. On June 25, 2010, Prof. Hoffman presented a talk on representing clients with mental disabilities in Immigration Court, as part of the Joe Vail workshop. He also moderated the panel discussion on developing issues in asylum law. The panel was composed of a current Immigration Judge, Howard Rose, government counsel, CIS officers, and several local lawyers. The workshop was sponsored by the UH Clinic, Texas Appleseed, YMCA, and Cabrini Center-Catholic Charities. Prof. Hoffman attended the annual American Immigration Lawyer's Association (AILA) conference in Maryland June 30-July 3, 2010. The Immigration Clinic of the University of Houston was recognized for its work on Carachuri-Rosendo v. Holder in an address at the National Lawyer’s Guild reception held July 3, 2010, which took place at the annual AILA conference. The students of the UH Immigration Clinic were also recognized by President and Chancellor Renu Khator in a letter dated June 29, 2010 for their work on Carachuri-Rosendo v. Holder. Prof. Hoffman gave an interview for an article on the case with the Houston Lawyer and which is to appear in the “Legal Trends” column of the July/August issue.

Jim Lawrence co-authored a chapter in the recently released 2nd Edition of The Art of Advocacy in International Commercial Arbitration (Doak Bishop & Edward Kehoe, editors). The chapter is entitled “Psychological Dynamics in Arbitration Advocacy”.

Peter Linzer, after eleven years' work, submitted his manuscript of Volume 6 of the Revised Edition of Corbin on Contracts (Chapter 25, “The Parol Evidence Rule”; and Chapter 26, “Implied Terms, Default Rules, and Good Faith”). He has no idea how long it will be in print, but it is either 3.25 MB or 4.5 MB, and his eyeball estimates are terrifying (possibly 900 pages). He's more interested in it being good than long, but so far only he and Professor Joe Perillo have read it, and Perillo (general editor) seems satisfied (or just polite). Prof. Linzer left for Paris on July 7, and will return to teach Contract Drafting in our program for Angolan oil lawyers at the end of July.

Rick McElvaney participated as a panelist on the topic of Consumer Law Clinics at the Center for Consumer Law’s Teaching Consumer Law Conference in May. He also taught Consumer Rights for the Kaplan Bar Review Course in July.

The manuscript for the 11th edition of Cases & Materials on Corporations, including Partnerships and Limited Liability Companies, by Jonathan Macey and Douglas Moll, is completed and will be published shortly. Prof. Moll has also finalized the manuscript for the statutory supplement and the teacher’s manual to accompany the casebook; they will be published shortly as well. Professors Moll and Robert Ragazzo completed the 2010 Supplement to their treatise on The Law of Closely Held Corporations (Aspen Publishers).

Tom Oldham will be speaking at SEAALS in early August about his paper pertaining to the rights of spouses upon death in non-community property states.

Michael A. Olivas conducted a panel in DC at the New Law Teachers Workshop, on how to make the most of service obligations (urging the new teachers to do as he says, not as he has done). For the Ford Foundation, he conducted a weeklong workshop in NM for pre-tenured scholars in the field of higher education. He also responded to over a dozen interview requests concerning the US Supreme Court decision in CLS v. Martinez, the law school organization recognition case, and on the need for Comprehensive Immigration Reform. He published an editorial (“Who Gets to Guard the Gates of Eden?”) on the case in InsideHigherEducation.com on June 29, the next morning.

Ben Sheppard spoke at the Spring Meeting of the ABA International Law Section in New York on a program titled “Seventh Annual What’s New in International Dispute Resolution”. His topic was “Taking Charge –Proven Tactics for Effective Witness Control”, dealing with cross-examination techniques in international arbitration. Prof. Sheppard moderated a panel discussion dealing with regional oil and gas disputes in North America at the joint conference sponsored by the International Centre for Dispute Resolution and the Association for International Petroleum Negotiators titled “Dispute Resolution in the International Oil & Gas Business” held in Houston. Prof. Sheppard addressed the 2010 Houston Bar Association ADR Section 2010 Annual Conference on ADR on the topic “Commercial Arbitration—Trends and Developments.” Prof. Sheppard addressed the 4th annual international arbitration symposium hosted by the Permanent Court of Arbitration (The Hague), The Houston International Arbitration Club, and The University of Texas on the subject of arbitral subpoenas. Prof. Sheppard also addressed the Fifth Annual Conference on International Arbitration & Mediation at Fordham Law School with a presentation titled “Fortress U.S.A.—Two Troublesome Defenses against Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards.”

Lauren Schroeder delivered a talk on researching oil and gas law at the AALL Annual Meeting in Denver on July 13.

Spencer Simons delivered a talk on accounting and budgeting in the various environments in which law librarians work at the AALL Annual Meeting in Denver on July 12.

Sandra Guerra Thompson appeared on Channel 13 evening news regarding a Supreme Court decision in the Jeffrey Skilling case. She was also quoted on ABC’s website in an article regarding the Houston trial of a woman who failed to protect her daughter who was killed by the mother’s boyfriend.

A review of International Petroleum Exploration and Exploitation Agreements: Legal, Economic and Policy Aspects, coauthored by Jacqueline Weaver, was published in the OGEL (Oil, Gas & Energy Law Intelligence) e-letter. The reviewer concluded that the book "provides an excellent overview of the legal and policy issues relating to international petroleum agreements,” and provides "an up-to-date overview of various contracts in the international petroleum industry with countless examples from contracts used in various petroleum producing countries around the world." Prof. Weaver taught 12 lawyers from Sonangol, the Angolan national oil company, a short course on Oil and Gas at the Law Center in July. It was a very enjoyable teaching experience.