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

February 2012

Editor, Dan Baker djbaker2@central.uh.edu

Previous editions of Faculty Focus can be accessed here.

Dan Baker’s article “A Jester’s Promenade: Citations to Wikipedia in Law Reviews, 2002- 2008” was finally published at 7 I/S: A Journal of Law and Policy for the Information Society (ISJLP) 361 (2012).

David R. Dow spoke on "Lessons for Trial Lawyers in Capital Cases" at the 10th annual "Loosening the Death Belt" seminar in Birmingham, AL. He also gave a presentation entitled "A Noncontroversial Speech About Capital Punishment" at "Beyond Measure," a TEDx event held in Austin, TX. An interview with Prof. Dow and his fellow panelists at last year's Texas Book Festival (Tom Cahill and Robert Elder, moderated by Jill Patterson) was published in Creative Nonfiction.

Mona D. Elchahal‘s article “The Small Firm Market: Considerations and Job Search Strategies” was posted on Bloomberg Law on Jan. 23, 2012 and was also included in the Feb. 6 online issue of their Student Edition.

Jim Hawkins' article “Credit on Wheels: The Law and Business of Auto Title Lending” was selected as the winner of the American College of Consumer Financial Services Lawyers' 2011 Writing Competition for the "Best Professional Article."

Geoffrey Hoffman attended the Department of Homeland Security’s Community Engagement meeting, at Interfaith Ministries here in Houston in January 2012. At the meeting information was presented about notario fraud, security procedures, as well as discussion about the latest implementation of the prosecutorial memoranda. Prof. Hoffman met with DHS officials following the meeting to discuss issues related to the immigrant community in Houston. Prof. Hoffman and UHLC clinic students will be working on an amicus brief to the Supreme Court, in conjunction with Cooley, LLP, a national law firm in Palo Alto, CA. The amicus brief is being submitted in support of the cert. petition filed earlier in January in Bright v. Holder, Case. No. 11-890. The issue is the fugitive disentitlement doctrine as applied in immigration-related appeals.

Paul Janicke will be speaking at the University of Texas Law School symposium on intellectual property law on Feb. 17. His subject will be the new America Invents Act.

Craig Joyce was appointed to the American Society for Legal History’s Committee on Projects and Proposals and, with Prof. Greg Vetter, hosted 80 intellectual property scholars from across the nation, with international participants as well, at the Ninth Annual Works in Progress—Intellectual Property Conference on-campus.

Sapna Kumar presented her article "The Accidental Agency?" at the Works-in-Progress in Intellectual Property Colloquium, which was hosted by UHLC. She was also awarded a New Faculty Research Award by UH and has been invited to speak at GW Law School's Intellectual Property Workshop Series this Fall.

Douglas Moll has become the chair of the AALS Section on Agency, Partnerships, LLCs, and Unincorporated Associations. Prof. Moll spoke on “Closely Held Companies: Emerging Litigation Issues” on Jan. 26 at the Texas Center for the Judiciary’s 2012 Winter Regional Conference in San Antonio. Prof. Moll also accepted an invitation to give a faculty enrichment talk at Georgia State Law School in April.

Gerry Moohr joined a four-judge panel to adjudicate the semifinal round of the Andrews Kurth Moot Court National Championship. The Seventh Edition of Criminal Law by Marcus, Malone & Moohr, was sent to Lexis for publication, along with the Teacher’s Manual. The 2011 Supplement to her casebook, Criminal Law of Intellectual Property and Information, has been published and  is available on-line.

Michael A. Olivas published “The Political Efficacy of Plyler v Doe: The Danger and the Discourse,” 45 UC Davis Law Review 1 (2011); “Plyler’s Legacy: Immigration and Higher Education in the 21st Century,” 2011 Michigan State Law Review 261 (with Kristi L. Bowman); and “Case C- 34/09 Ruiz Zambrano: A Respectful Rejoinder,” SSRN: Jan. 22, 2012 (with Dimitry Kochenov).

Jordan Paust’s speech at Michigan State University on “Relative Sovereignty and Permissible Use of Armed Force” has been published at 20 MSU International Law Review 1 (2011). In January, Prof. Paust became a member of the new Honorary Council of the International Law Students Association (ILSA), which serves also as an umbrella organization for member chapters throughout much of the world. He also served as one of four judges in the Francis Lieber Society on the Law of Armed Conflict, an American Society of International Law interest group, which selected the two best papers submitted on the laws of war in 2011.

Ben Sheppard has been elected to membership in the American Law Institute.

Greg Vetter co-presided over the Works-in-Progress Intellectual Property (WIPIP) Colloquium held at the Law Center on Feb. 10 and 11, 2012. Nearly 80 law professors from other schools across the nation were in attendance for sixty-two presentations of articles relating to intellectual property and information law. At WIPIP, he commenced a year of service as the chair of the WIPIP Organizing Board. Prof. Vetter’s article, “Patent Law’s Unpredictability Doctrine and the Software Arts,” was published in the Missouri Law Review. He also attended the AALS Annual Meeting in Washington D.C. in early January 2012. Finally, Prof. Vetter accepted an invitation to present at the AALS mid-year meeting in June 2012 by the IP Section and Internet and Computer Law Section.

Bret Wells spoke on a webinar for Thomson Reuters ONESOURCE entitled “The Obama Administration and Transfer Pricing Evolutions: Part Two” on Jan. 22 and 23. This webinar was the second in a three-part series of webinars and specifically addressed the major international tax reform proposal released by the House Ways & Means Committee on Oct. 26, 2011.

Stephen Zamora’s latest article, “Rethinking North America: Why NAFTA’s Laissez Faire Approach to Integration Is Flawed,” was published at 56 Villanova Law Review 621 (2011).