Albertus Accolades

February 2017

Editor, Katy Stein Badeaux • Access previous editions of Albertus Accolades here.

Albertus Accolades is a monthly publication documenting the activities, accomplishments, and honors of
the University of Houston Law Center faculty and staff.

Leonard Baynes was a panelist at the 2017 AALS Annual Meeting session titled, “Arc of Career Programs: So, You Want to be a Dean? Why Considering a Deanship Matters” on January 5. That evening, Dean Baynes hosted the UHLC San Francisco Alumni and Friends Reception in conjunction with AALS at the City Club of San Francisco. On January 6, Dean Baynes was a facilitator at the 2017 AALS Dean’s Forum Workshop: Small Group Discussion on Employment and Career Services. On January 11, Dean Baynes presented UHLC’s Implementation of Strategic Vision 2016-2021 to faculty and professional staff and gave a presentation at the Law Foundation Board Meeting. Dean Baynes gave a State of the Law Center presentation at the Young Alumni Breakfast Meeting held at Mayer Brown LLC on January 12 and served as a judge for the final round of the 21st Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Oratory Competition and Celebration, sponsored by Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP on January 13. Dean Baynes hosted a welcome back luncheon for faculty and professional staff on January 17, and on the 18th, Dean Baynes participated in the public launch of the University of Houston’s $1 Billion Here We Go Campaign. The Law Center’s goal is $50 million. On January 23, Dean Baynes gave remarks on the state of diversity within the legal profession at the New York State Bar Association’s 2017 Constance Baker Motley Symposium where he was recognized as a past Diversity Trailblazer Awardee (2010). Dean Baynes gave welcoming remarks UHLC’s 2017 Arrival Awards dinner to recognize immigrant achievement on January 25, and on January 26, Dean Baynes gave a presentation at the Law Alumni Board meeting held at Bracewell LLP. Dean Baynes gave welcoming remarks at the Andrews Kurth Moot Court National Championship closing banquet on January 28. On January 30, Dean Baynes gave opening remarks at the JIR reception for Federal District Court Judge Gray Miller. Lastly, on January 31, Dean Baynes gave welcoming remarks and served as host at the EENR retirement reception in honor of Professor Jacqueline Lang Weaver.

Janet Beck, along with Brandon Roche of the ABA Children’s Immigration Law Academy, gave a presentation to 30 Returned Peace Corps Volunteers on President Trump’s Executive Orders and Texas SB 4. Professor Beck answered phones on the Immigrant and Refugee Hotline to help immigrants understand and adapt to changing laws and regulations, report abuses and to provide them with telephone numbers for lawyers at non-profit organizations in the community. The Hotline is a joint project of Houston Volunteer Lawyers, Vinson & Elkins, the ACLU of Texas, the Houston Immigration Legal Services Collaborative and Tahirih Justice Center.

At the AALS conference in San Francisco, Emily Berman presented her paper, “When Queries Are Searches,” at the AALS National Security Section’s Panel recognizing new voices in National Security Law.  That paper was also selected to be part of the Michigan Law School’s Junior Scholars Conference in March. Berman also participated in the Law Center’s day-long CLE program, “Touchdown!,” discussing the relationship between anti-discrimination law and sports. 

Richard Dole’s article, Identifying the Trade Secrets at Issue in Litigation under the Uniform Trade Secrets Act and the Federal Defend Trade Secrets Act has been accepted for publication in the April 2017 issue of the Santa Clara High Tech Law Journal. The entire issue will be devoted to articles on trade secrets. 

Barbara Evans has been asked to serve on the data privacy and return-of-results working group for the University of Mississippi Medical Center’s NIH-funded Jackson Heart Study, the largest single-site, prospective, epidemiologic investigation of cardiovascular disease among African Americans ever undertaken. The study aims to uncover new approaches to reduce racial disparities in heart health outcomes. Professor Evans will speak on solidarity as a bioethics principle at a Nuffield Council of Bioethics public event at London’s Covent Garden on the night of March 1. The following morning, she delivers the keynote at a citizen science conference hosted by the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at King’s College London. Professor Evans has been invited to brief Congress on options for regulating human somatic gene editing and whether existing statutes are sufficient. She is scheduled to discuss those same questions at a special regulatory session at the annual convention of the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy in Washington. She spoke about health data sharing under the January 18 revisions to 45 C.F.R. pt. 46, subpt. A (the Common Rule) at the NIH/NHGRI CSER/eMERGE joint meeting in Bethesda earlier this February. With Dr. Bruce Conklin of the UCSF/Gladstone Institute Genome Surgery Center, she is conducting a study of regulatory alternatives for microscopic genome surgeries that are expected, in the next several years, to offer cures for previously intractable diseases like Huntington’s, ALS, and certain forms of hereditary blindness. Their study was chosen last week for presentation at Stanford University’s BioLawLaPalooza event in April. Her essay on data citizenship is available this week in Vanderbilt’s JETLaw symposium on big data and data ownership.  Professor Evans was invited last year to join the GP-Write Consortium, a multidisciplinary group of about 200 leading scientists and scholars in 14 nations that recently published a white paper on synthesizing large genomes in the laboratory and testing them in cell lines. The White Paper lists Evans as co-lead for the project’s research component on governance and public attitudes. Nature magazine recently cited GP-Write as a “Project to Watch” in 2017. Evans is scheduled to attend a GP-Write meeting at the New York Genome Center and to address a GenomeCanada Precision Medicine Workshop at Banff in the Canadian Rockies.  

Tracy Hester completed his portions of The Law of Climate Engineering with Professor Michael Gerrard, and they will submit the final book manuscript to Oxford University Press shortly for publication. He spoke on the environmental law governance issues posed by emerging technologies (including nanomaterials) at Berkeley Law School on February 9, and he was invited to speak on February 16 to the Carnegie Center on International Ethics in New York City about the legal and policy challenges of climate engineering research proposals. Hester joined a presentation on January 30 regarding clean coal technology with Charles McConnell (former assistant secretary of U.S. Department of Energy and current executive director of Rice’s Energy & Environment Initiative), and he participated in the ALI members reception in Houston on January 31. He also spoke on February 3 at the Law Center’s Super Bowl CLE Symposium about the environmental and energy legal consequences of the Super Bowl in a panel with Professor Gina Warren, and he joined the American College of Environmental Lawyers’ executive committee session on February 6 to discuss future initiatives with the Trump Administration and plans for the College’s international pro bono outreach efforts. Last, on February 15 he brought his Environmental Practicum class at the invitation of the Houston Bar Association for meetings with the chief environmental attorney of the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department and the senior environmental counsel of Waste Management, Inc.

Geoffrey Hoffman’s blog post describing his experience as a volunteer attorney at the IAH airport in Houston, Texas after the issue of an executive order limiting travel to the U.S. by non-citizens was published by the Immigration Prof Blog. Professor Hoffman was also interviewed about his experience that day in an article published in The Cougar. Professor Hoffman was quoted in a Houston Chronicle article regarding the U.S. travel ban and its impact on American energy companies. Professor Hoffman was additionally quoted in articles from the Houston Business Journal and Law.com regarding the travel ban. Professor Hoffman was quoted in a Bloomberg article regarding the temporary order halting enforcement of the ban by a U.S. District Court judge, as well as an additional Bloomberg article on the hearing held by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on the issue. A Houston Chronicle article celebrating attorneys aiding those affected by the ban quoted Professor Hoffman regarding the 120 participants that attended a recent UHLC Immigration Clinic seminar. The next week, Professor Hoffman wrote a post for the Immigration Prof Blog regarding the arrest of hundreds of immigrants over a weekend and the Trump administration’s new “priorities” under the executive order on interior enforcement signed last month. The article was also featured on the LexisNexis Legal Newsroom site. Professor Hoffman appeared as a guest on the February 19 episode of KPRC’s Newsmakers with Khambrel Marshall, discussing issues related to immigration. The video clip is available here. A satirical essay, A Modest Memo, by Yxta Maya Murray (forthcoming, Michigan Journal of Race and Law) cited Professor Hoffman’s Slate article regarding President Trump’s proposed border wall. Lastly, Professor Hoffman was interviewed by the Texas Standard regarding the whether the U.S. will order that new deportation camps be set up along the Mexico border. The audio clip is available here.

Craig Joyce published two pieces in Hous. L. Rev. 54:2 as part of the proceedings of the Summer 2016 IPIL National Conference, which he organized, in Santa Fe, NM: “Reflections on the Conference,” with Joyce’s co-moderator, the Honorable Jon O. Newman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit; and “Reach Out and Touch Someone: Reflections on the 25th Anniversary of Feist Publications, Inc. v. Rural Telephone Co.”, with Tyler T. Ochoa of the University of Santa Clara School of Law.

Renee Knake was an invited speaker for a plenary panel at the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers Annual Meeting in Miami February 3, where she spoke about her recently published article, The Commercialization of Legal Ethics, Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics. She was asked to be a contributor to the PrawfsBlawg Symposim on Law’s New Frontiers, reviewing recent books by Gillian Hadfield (Rules Law for a Flat World) and Richard & Daniel Susskind (The Future of the Professions), ongoing from February 6-25. Her contribution appears here. 

Sapna Kumar served as a moderator at the University of Texas School of Law's PatDam2 conference on patent damages.

Rick McElvaney spoke at the UHLC CLE program: Touchdown! A Sports CLE Program on February 3, 2017, along with Adjunct Professor Justen Barks on a panel regarding IP (Athlete's likeness rights and merchandising) & Fantasy Sports.

Douglas Moll taped a Briefcase segment with Dean Baynes on the popularity of LLCs in Texas.

Nathan Neely came in third place (in his age group, this time), 13th overall in the Surfside Beach Marathon (Saturday, February 4th, 2017).  It’s a unique run insofar as it’s 100% run on the sand. 

Michael A. Olivas gave an entertainment law CLE workshop in New Mexico, which also served as a fundraiser for his NPR radio show, on January 20, 2017.On January 21, he presented a Lecture at the National Hispanic Cultural Center, Latinos in the Public Media and the Popular Imagination. On February 3, he participated in the Sports & The Law –Real World Legal Issues and the Impact on Sport panel at the UHLC Super Bowl of CLE program, treating the issue of immigration and worldwide athletics. (On the day of his talk, the US wrestling team was refused entry into the international wrestling competition in Iran, in retaliation for the US travel ban.)

Jessica L. Roberts accepted an offer to publish her article, Progressive Genetic Ownership, with the Notre Dame Law Review. Jessica also attended her first meeting as a new member of the Texas Medical Center Health Policy Institute’s Executive Advisory Committee.

Lauren Simpson spoke on February 14 at the Houston Young Lawyers Association’s CLE Lunch Series. Her presentation, entitled “Tips & Tricks for Briefs & Motions,” offered practical instruction on writing effectively and persuasively for trial and appellate courts.

Gina Warren presented her upcoming article, “1-Click Energy,” at the University of Houston Law Center’s 1st Annual Conference on North American Energy, Environment and Natural Resources, A Symposium to Address International Issues: The Impact of Global Climate Change Initiatives, on February 23, 2017. Warren also presented on the energy and climate impacts of major sporting events at the University of Houston Law Center’s CLE entitled, “Touchdown! A Sports CLE Program,” February 3, 2017. She is the new representative law school board member for the University of Houston Law Center with the Institute for Energy Law and the new student faculty advisor with the Association of International Petroleum Negotiators. 

Bret Wells, on January 27, and Clifton Squibb debated the legality of allocation wells under Texas law at the Oil and Gas Disputes course hosted by the Oil, Gas & Energy Resources Law Section of the State Bar of Texas.  Both Professor Wells’ article on allocation wells and Clifton Squibb’s contrary article were included in the course materials. On February 10, Professor Wells gave a presentation entitled “Current Update on Texas Oil and Gas Law" as part of the Houston Business and Tax Law Journal’s Annual Symposium. On February 16, Professor Wells gave a presentation entitled “Section 385 Traps and Pitfalls” to the Tax Section of the Houston Bar Association. 

Allison Winnike was invited by the Department of Homeland Security to deliver a webinar presentation on legal issues in the BioWatch Program and new federal quarantine regulations on March 1 entitled, “Public Health Legal Perspectives: A conversation with Allison N. Winnike, J.D. of the University of Houston Law Center.”  She was invited to 2017 International Meeting on Law and Society in Mexico City in June to speak on three topics: “No Borders: Public Health Law Issues Impacting the Control of Infectious Diseases within and across Jurisdictions,“ “Calling the Shots: Why Parents Reject Vaccines,” and “Vaccine Court: The Law and Politics of Injury.”  She was invited to speak at the Texas Public Health Association 93rd Annual Education Conference in Fort Worth for the “Local Health Authority Workshop Training” and  “Vaccine Development Pathway: Navigating the Valley of Death.” She recently spoke to the Surfrider Foundation regarding environmental legislative developments and effective advocacy strategies in Galveston on February 9. She delivered a guest lecture to the UH Graduate School of Social Work’s Behavioral Health for Social Work Practice in Integrated Healthcare course on mental health and telemedicine policy development in the Texas Legislature on February 15.  Her article Rewiring Mental Health: Legal and Regulatory Solutions for the Effective Implementation of Telepsychiarty and Telemental Health Care co-authored with Bobby Joe Dale III was accepted for publication by the Houston Journal of Health Law & Policy. 

Kellen Zale presented her work in progress, Tenants and the Right to Share, at the Texas A&M University School of Law Real Property Law Schmooze in Fort Worth on February 4.  She was interviewed by the University of Southern California Annenberg Media for its coverage of the environmental review process for the new NFL stadium in Inglewood, California.