Albertus Accolades

May 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 welcomed judges from the U.S. Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals to the Law Center for a hearing in Krost Hall led by Chief Judge Col. Rodger Drew (’87) on April 6. The next day, Dean Baynes presented Don R. Riddle with the Lifetime Achievement in Advocacy Award at the 3rd Annual Advocacy Banquet. The banquet brought together students, faculty, staff, alumni, practicing attorneys, and jurists to celebrate UHLC advocacy during the past year. On April 12, Dean Baynes gave an overview of the Law Center at the law firm of Vinson & Elkins and thanked them for their support of the 100% Challenge and Law Gala and Auction. Dean Baynes attended a reception on April 13 at UH-Downtown to honor Dr. Michael Olivas as Interim President of UHD. Dean Baynes also gave welcoming remarks at the Diversity Reception that evening, which honors admits who contribute to UHLC's diverse student body. The event was held at the Tasting Room in Uptown Park. On April 19 Dean Baynes hosted the annual Dean’s Award Ceremony which awards scholarships to students for their achievements in the classroom and dedication to various areas of law and honors faculty and staff for their excellence and commitment to serving our students and the Law Center. Dean Baynes gave welcoming remarks to the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee and House Policing Subcommittee Strategies Working Group on April 20. Attendees included Chairman Robert Goodlatee, ranking member Rep. John Conyers, and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee. That evening, Dean Baynes attended the Faculty Excellence Awards Dinner where Professor Doug Moll received a Teaching Excellence Award. Dean Baynes gave remarks at the Street Law Mock Trial on April 21, where students from Houston-area high schools showcased their newfound legal skills and knowledge in mock trials. The high schoolers are mentored by Law Center students. On April 27, Dean Baynes gave the welcoming address to the Houston Law Review Alumni Association Annual Spring Banquet with keynote speaker Michelle Gray, Partner, Fogler Brar Ford O’Neil & Gray, Board 48 Editor-in-Chief at the Houston Club.

Janet Beck was interviewed by Telemundo for a segment on immigration. She also provided immigration consultations to community members on various immigration topics at Christ Church Cathedral and volunteered to answer phones at the ACLU office regarding callers’ questions regarding immigration.  She also answered phones at Univision for callers who had questions regarding immigration matters. 

Katherine Brem was invited to speak, with Lauren Simpson, on best writing practices for immigration practitioners at a live training event sponsored by the Children’s Immigration Law Academy, an expert legal resource center created by the American Bar Association to offer trainings, technical assistance, and other resources to attorneys across Texas representing children in immigration matters. The event was held May 19 at South Texas College of Law Houston. The half-day training session offered practical instruction and workshop exercises on effective writing skills for immigration proceedings in Texas state court, before the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, and in immigration court.

David R. Dow's article, How do Jurors Decide to Sentence Someone to Death?, was published at 14 Ohio St. J. Crim. L. 787 (2017).  He addressed the monthly meeting of the Harris County Democratic Lawyers Association on Tuesday, May 2nd and discussed the major cases this Term where Justice Gorsuch's vote might prove decisive.  On May 9th, he delivered a CLE lecture sponsored by ESCAPE on the subject of presidential power and the scope of President Trump's Executive Orders addressing immigration, clean water regulations, and the Dakota and Keystone pipelines. 

Katya Dow co-wrote an article appearing in the May edition of Houston Lawyer magazine featuring the HBA/JCAP Juvenile Records Sealing Program.

Barbara Evans critiqued the existing federal framework for regulating in-human uses of CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology at a Congressional Research Service seminar for members of Congress and congressional staff on April 28. She discussed the ethics of creating synthetic plant, animal, and human genomes at the GP-write annual meeting at the New York Genome Center on May 9-10 and is co-chairing the project’s ethics and legal study group. She discussed FDA regulation of in vivo human gene editing tools before a sea of 2,700 medical geneticists and cellular biologists assembled at the Marriott Wardman on May 11. She attended a meeting of the NIH-funded LawSeqTM project at Vanderbilt University on May 15-16 and is co-chairing the regulatory studies group for that project.    

Tracy Hester presented his paper on Environmental Intervention Legal Principles and Carbon Dioxide Removal at a workshop at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law on May 19. On May 8, he reported on the interim results of his research project for the Texas OneGulf Center of Excellence on the enforcement of environmental criminal laws after industrial disasters.  His presentation took place at its Disaster Response Research workshop in Houston, in which Professor Allison Winnike also participated.

Geoffrey Hoffman authored a post available on the ImmigrationLawProf blog commenting on whether due process requires termination of proceedings where a detained respondent is forcibly separated from his family with identical claims for asylum. Professor Hoffman also discusses an amicus brief filed before the Board of Immigration Appeals. Professor Hoffman was quoted in a Houston Press article regarding Attorney General Ken Paxton’s decision to ask a federal judge to uphold the constitutionality of SB 4 before advocacy groups or others have a chance to file suit. Professor Hoffman wrote an additional post for the ImmigrationProf Blog regarding constitutional problems with Texas SB-4, the anti-sanctuary cities and campuses bill, which was signed into law on May 7. Professor Geoffrey Hoffman joined over 100 law professors from across the United States who signed a letter sent to California Governor Jerry Brown and members of the state legislature. The letter affirmed that California has full legal authority to adopt Senate Bill 54, the California Values Act, which would limit use of state and local resources to assist Trump’s deportation force. Hoffman additionally signed a statement by members of the Houston legal community opposed to SB-4. Professor Hoffman’s blog post regarding the constitutional problems with Texas’ newly passed SB-4, the anti-sanctuary cities and campuses bill, was featured on the American Constitution Society’s blog. Professor Hoffman spoke at the CLE program, “Senate Bill 4, the ‘Sanctuary Cities’ Law: The Legislative Process, SB-4’s Constitutionality, Protecting Immigrant Communities, and Issues Concerning Enforcement,” held May 22. The CLE is sponsored by the Houston Lawyer Chapter of American Constitution Society for Law and Policy (ACS), Mexican American Bar Association of Houston, and South Asian Bar Association (SABA) of Houston. In late May, Hoffman joined fellow law professors and immigration law experts in an amicus brief in Arab American Civil Rights League v. Trump. The case concerns the Trump administration’s immigration law policies. Finally, Professors Hoffman and Rosemary Vega are on the planning committee of a conference entitled “Mobilizing Coherent Community Responses to Changing Immigration Policies.” Professor Hoffman will be speaking at the conference, which will be held at South Texas College of Law Houston from June 7 to June 9. 

Douglas Moll’s article, The Duty of Care of Bank Directors and Officers, was published at 68 Ala. L. Rev. 965 (2017) (with Julie Hill).  It was part of a symposium on Bank Director and Officer Responsibilities.

Sarah Morath accepted an offer to publish her article, Lions, and Tigers, and Bears: Using Animal Law to Teach Legal Research, in The Second Draft.  In May, she was a guest speaker for the webinar The Scholarship Submission Process hosted by the Legal Writing Institute Scholarship Development & Outreach Committee. This summer, Sarah will present Developing Empathy Using Big Talk as part of the Innovative Teaching Workshop at the Association of Legal Writing Directors Biennial Conference at the University of Minnesota School of Law. Sarah’s proposal, The Effectiveness of Private Animal Welfare Governance, was accepted to Vermont Law School’s Colloquium on Environmental Scholarship.  Finally, Sarah completed the required training to become a volunteer deputy voter registrar.

Michael A. Olivas spoke at the American Educational Research Association’s Annual Meeting’s Opening Plenary Session, “The Challenges of Higher Education in a Diverse and Divergent World,” April 27. KUHF/Houston Public Media will begin carrying his NPR show The Law of Rock and Roll this summer, and will have a rollout period, to be announced in June.

Lauren Simpson was invited to speak, with Katherine Brem, on best writing practices for immigration practitioners at a live training event sponsored by the Children’s Immigration Law Academy, an expert legal resource center created by the American Bar Association to offer trainings, technical assistance, and other resources to attorneys across Texas representing children in immigration matters. The event was held May 19 at South Texas College of Law Houston. The half-day training session offered practical instruction and workshop exercises on effective writing skills for immigration proceedings in Texas state court, before the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, and in immigration court. On May 19, Professor Lauren Simpson also spoke on effectively editing appellate briefs for the inaugural Criminal Appellate CLE, co-sponsored by the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association and the Harris County Public Defender’s Office.  Her presentation offered editing strategies to achieve maximum persuasive value for clients on appeal. Professor Lauren Simpson continues her community service of educating about pollinators, their conservation, and the wildscapes supporting them.  On May 5, Professor Simpson spoke at the Texas Pollinator Powwow, an annual pollinator-conservation conference, held this spring in Nacogdoches, Texas. Her presentation, entitled “How I Came to Love the Syrphid Fly—from the Journal of a Citizen Scientist,” introduced the audience to this family of pollinating fly, explain its important role in pollination and garden health, and showcased its species’ beauty through photographs from Professor Simpson’s own home wildlife-habitat gardens, which are a Certified Wildlife Habitat (National Wildlife Federation), a Monarch Waystation (Monarch Watch, Waystation No. 10925), and a Certified Butterfly Garden (North American Butterfly Association).  To date, Professor Simpson’s home wildlife-habitat gardens have welcomed nearly 40 species of butterfly; around 20 species of syrphid fly; and close to 30 species each of bee and wasp—among many other pollinators. On May 11, Professor Simpson shared with the Texas Campaign for the Environment’s Houston office how she conducts community outreach for pollinators through social media, presentations, and events.  She also offered tips on supporting pollinators through home gardens.  On April 30, Professor Simpson hosted Girl Scout Troop 122008 for activities to learn about butterflies and how to support them.  The scouts participated in hands-on educational activities, such as playing butterfly-related games, making butterfly feeders, creating butterfly-themed artwork, and participating in demonstrations on butterfly biology.  The educational activities were in support of the scouts’ earning their “bug badge.”

Allison Winnike was appointed to serve as Vice Chair of the ABA Health Law Section’s Public Health & Policy interest group for 2017-2018.  She was invited to be a Senior Fellow for the Texas A&M University Bush School of Government & Public Service’s Scowcroft Institute of International Affairs.  She delivered a national webinar for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s BioWatch Program on Public Health Legal Perspectives. She spoke twice at the Texas Public Health Association conference in Fort Worth, first on Public Health Law for Local Health Authorities: Cross-Jurisdictional Coordination, and secondly on Vaccine Development: Players and Politics. On May 11 she appeared on Houston Matters to discuss recent abortion rulings in federal courts.