Faculty Focus is a monthly publication
documenting the activities, accomplishments, and honors of the University
of Houston Law Center Faculty.
January 2013
Editor, Katy Stein kastein@central.uh.edu
Previous editions of Faculty Focus can be accessed here.
Aaron
Bruhl presented a paper on judicial deference to administrative agencies at a
program organized by the Administrative Law Section of the Association of
American Law Schools at the organization’s 2013 annual meeting in New Orleans.
Meredith
J. Duncan's article Lafler and Frye:
Strickland Revitalized? was
published at 25 Federal Sentencing Reporter 144 (2012). In
January, Professor Duncan attended the AALS annual meeting in New Orleans and
was elected to the executive boards of both the Professional Responsibility
section (where she will serve as a member of the nominating committee) as well
as the Balance in Legal Education section. In addition, she has been
re-elected to the Texas State Bar's Houston area disciplinary grievance
committee.
Tracy
Hester’s proposed article on The Emerging Science of
Climate Attribution and Its Effects on Environmental Law was accepted by the
European Society on International Law for presentation at its annual conference
in Amsterdam on May 23-24, 2013. He also participated in an
invitation-only symposium at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to
discuss his research (in concert with Professor Glenn Sanford) on the potential
legal uses of advanced remote sensing technology in environmental
enforcement. Professor Hester was also named to the Board of the Texas
Environmental Research Consortium, which directs scientific and policy research
projects that benefit air quality in the Houston-Galveston area.
Geoffrey
Hoffman collaborated with the law firm McDermott Will & Emery LLP and the St.
Mary’s law school’s Immigration and Human Rights Clinic to represent children
in a case before the Fifth Circuit. Professor Hoffman was interviewed by the Houston
Chronicle La Voz on the issue of deportations of
parents of U.S. citizen children in Texas in late December. Professor Hoffman’s guest post, Using
the Deportation Power to Threaten Free Speech, appeared on the
Immigration Professor’s blog, available at: http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/immigration/2013/01/geoffrey-a-hoffman-.html.
Additionally, Professor Hoffman’s op-ed regarding the petition to deport CNN
commentator Piers Morgan was published in the Houston Chronicle on
Monday, January 14, 2013.
Craig
Joyce was
reappointed to the Editorial Board of the Journal of Supreme Court History,
sponsored by the Supreme Court of the United States. Professor Joyce has
served continuously for 25 years.
Sapna Kumar participated in a roundtable on
genetic diagnostic testing at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. At the
roundtable, she discussed why gene patents might violate the Fifth Amendment's
Due Process Clause. Professor Kumar also presented her article Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Genetic
Information at the AALS New Voices in Administrative Law panel.
Douglas Moll concluded his year as the Chair of the
AALS Section on Agency and Unincorporated Business Associations. He
moderated the program on the scholarship of Professor Larry Ribstein.
Professor Moll also completed the revisions of his chapters for the 12th
edition of his casebook -- Corporations, including Partnerships and Limited
Liability Companies (with Jon Macey).
Professor Moll will speak in February on a panel with Chief Justice Steele of
the Delaware Supreme Court. They will be discussing minority owner rights
in closely held businesses.
Tom Oldham announces that the world is now
blessed with the seventh edition of Krause, Elrod and Oldham, Cases and
Materials on Family Law.
Michael A. Olivas completed his term as AALS Immediate
Past-President at the recent 2013 AALS Annual Meeting, and has been retired to
pasture. He also introduced the Law and Film Series feature films, and was on a
panel to discuss the new Association Recommendations for Good Practice in
Faculty Hiring. He was interviewed by a number of newspaper reporters in
English and Spanish on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)
policy.
Jordan Paust submitted a chapter on Basic Forms of International Law and Monist,
Dualist, and Realist Perspectives to the editor of a book, Basic
Principles of International Law – Monism and Dualism, to be published later
this year in Serbia. His essay Iran’s
Nuclear Weapons Program and Lawful Israeli Self-Defense has been published
at JURIST, http://www.jurist.org/forum/2013/01/jordan-paust-iran-israel.php.
Sandra Guerra Thompson was interviewed about the Gideon v.
Wainwright case for a film produced by the State Bar of Texas for use in high
school classrooms. A speech Professor Thompson gave in Turkey last May was
recently published in a Turkish Criminal Law Journal: http://www.terazi.com.tr/makalegoster.aspx?id=1961.
Jacqueline Weaver served as Course Director and
lecturer for a 5-day Advanced Legal Studies Program on specialized topics in
oil and gas law presented to lawyers from Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. (Petrobras) at
the University of Houston Law Center; Houston, Texas;
December 10 – 14, 2012. She also
moderated two panels (“Women in Science” and “How to Benefit from Experience
Abroad”) at the Schlumberger Foundation, Faculty for the Future Fellows
Regional Forum, presented in collaboration with Rice University; Houston,
Texas; December 19, 2012.
Bret Wells, on December 14th, taught a
one-day tax course covering US inbound international tax issues as part of the
Advanced Legal Training Program hosted by the Law Center for Petrobras attorneys.