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

January 2011

Editor, Dan Baker djbaker2@central.uh.edu

Previous editions of Faculty Focus can be accessed here.

Aaron Bruhl’s article titled “Deciding When to Decide: How Appellate Procedure Distributes the Costs of Legal Change” was published this month in the Cornell Law Review (96 Cornell L. Rev. 203). It is also available online at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1552629.

Meredith J. Duncan has been selected for inclusion in a study entitled, “What the Best Law Teachers Do”. In informing Prof. Duncan of her selection for inclusion in the upcoming book What the Best Law Teachers Do (forthcoming 2012, Harvard University Press), Professor Michael H. Schwartz, Co-Director of the Institute for Law Teaching and Learning at Washburn University School of Law, explained that Professor Duncan’s selection is “a big deal because we only have selected less than 30 law teachers from among the 350-400 that were nominated.”

Adam Gershowitz's article, “The iPhone Meets the Fourth Amendment” (56 UCLA L. Rev. 27), was recently cited by the California Supreme Court (in a dissenting opinion) as well as a federal district court in Indiana. Prof. Gershowitz presented a draft of his follow-up article, “Password Protected: Can a Password Save Your Cell Phone from the Search Incident to Arrest Doctrine?”, at Florida State University College of Law and will present a revised draft at Stetson University College of Law in early February. BarBri has selected Prof. Gershowitz as its new lecturer for the Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure sections of the Texas Bar Exam.

Jim Hawkins presented on two panels at the annual AALS meeting, one on regulatory responses to the financial crisis and one on the CARD Act. His research relating to the CARD Act was featured in January in the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and on CBSMoneyWatch.com. Prof. Hawkins also will participate at the end of the month in a symposium on the Dodd-Frank Act at the Chapman Law Review, which is publishing his symposium contribution, “The Federal Government in the Fringe Economy”.

Julie Hill commented on Mehra Baradaran’s (BYU) article, “Reconsidering the Separation of Banking and Commerce”, at the J. Reuben Clark Law Society Faculty Section Conference in San Francisco. Prof. Hill also helped organize the conference which featured ten papers and two roundtable discussions.

Geoffrey Hoffman participated in a meeting of immigration judges and the local bar at Catholic Charities in December 2010. In attendance was a new immigration judge, as well as other judges who addressed issues concerning local practice before EOIR. On January 7, Prof. Hoffman had a conference call with ACLU regarding UH students’ progress on the Borderstar project regarding racial profiling in Texas. On January 10, Prof. Hoffman discussed with attorneys from Akin Gump possible federal litigation involving immigration and mental health issues. In February, Professor Hoffman will be lecturing on the fundamentals of immigration law at an upcoming seminar on immigration and crime victims.

Craig Joyce published the new teacher’s manual to Copyright Law (8th ed.) from LexisNexis.

Peter Linzer's 11-year revision of Volume 6 of the Revised Edition of Corbin on Contracts was published over Christmas. It is 550 pages long and covers the Parol Evidence Rule, Implied Terms, Default Rules, and the Concept of Good Faith. It is a total rewriting of Corbin. [It is available in the Library at Call Number KF801.C66 1993 v.6 Rev. Ed. 2010. – Ed.] Prof. Linzer was also on a panel on the role of intent at the AALS Meeting.

Douglas Moll and Rich Freer (Emory) have received a contract from West Publishing for a concise hornbook on the law of Business Organizations. The manuscript is due in early 2012. Prof. Moll was also elected as the Chair-Elect for the AALS Section on Agency and Unincorporated Business Associations. Prof. Moll’s article, “Of Donahue and Fiduciary Duty:  Much Ado About . . . ?”, was recently listed on SSRN's Top Ten download list for CGN: Closely Held Companies.

Michael A. Olivas delivered his Presidential Lecture, “Academic Freedom and Academic Duty”, at the AALS Annual Meeting on January 7, 2011; it will be published in the next issue of the AALS Newsletter and will be online at the www.aals.org website. Prof. Olivas was selected as the 2010 Immigration Professor of the Year by the Immigration Law Prof Blog and IMMPROF, the group of teachers across disciplines who teach immigration law.

Jordan Paust was on two panels during the Annual Meeting of the AALS on January 6 and 8: panel on International Criminal Law (where he addressed the crime of aggression before the International Criminal Court) and panel on Was Medellin Wrongly Decided (where he participated In a round table discussion).

Bret Wells presented a paper and chaired a panel discussion that discussed the recent Codification of the Economic Substance Doctrine with Bill Alexander (IRS Associate Chief Counsel--Corporate) and Jack Cummings (Partner, Alston & Bird, LLP) as part of the 58th Annual Texas Taxation Conference held on December 9th on the campus of the University of Texas.