April 2020

Geoffrey Hoffman, “A Stunning Fifth Circuit Asylum Decision: An Analysis of Inestroza-Antonelli v. Barr,” LexisNexis Immigration News (April 13, 2020) https://www.lexisnexis.com/legalnewsroom/immigration/b/insidenews/posts/a-stunning-fifth-circuit-asylum-decision-an-analysis-of-inestroza-antonelli-v-barr-by-prof-geoffrey-hoffman (also appeared on the Immigration Prof Blog).

Sara Morath, “A Short and Happy Guide to Legal Writing by Deborah L. Borman,” Legal Writing: The Journal of the Legal Writing Institute (2020) (book review) http://www.legalwritingjournal.org/2020/03/15/a-short-and-happy-guide-to-legal-writing-deborah-l-borman-west-academic-2019-138-pages/. 

Leonard Baynes, along with Associate Dean Sondra Tennessee, Assistant Dean Monica Mensah, Professor Meredith Duncan, and Professor Tony Chase, held a Zoom get-together with members of the Black Law Students Association on April 7. On April 8, Dean Baynes and members of the Law Center senior administration addressed student questions regarding academic affairs, grading, exams, student advisement, jobs, and the bar exam during a virtual town hall meeting about COVID-19. On April 9, Dean Baynes delivered welcoming remarks during a streaming edition of the Houston Law Review Annual Banquet. On April 10, he joined Law Center faculty, staff, and other guests at a virtual book launch featuring Professor Olivas’s newest book, Perchance to Dream: A Legal and Political History of The Dream Act and DACA. Dean Baynes was a guest lecturer for the LAW class of Professor Megan Davis and Professor Kathryn Shotwell on April 13. On April 21, Dean Baynes and Associate Dean Sondra Tennessee recognized outstanding students and faculty during the first-ever virtual Dean’s Award Ceremony. Dean Baynes was appointed as one of three Texas law deans to the Texas Board of Law Examiners COVID-19 Response Team. He was also appointed as a member of the Houston Bar Association Legal Task Force.
 
Katherine Brem was appointed co-chair of the Association of Legal Writing Directors' Online/Distance Learning Committee.
 
Dave Fagundes was a panelist at the Duke Center for Firearms Law Workshop on Guns and Localism at Duke Law School on April 24. 
 
Victor Flatt and Tracy Hester delivered an online webinar entitled “Climate Speech Liability.” Professor Flatt, along with Visiting Fellow Aubin Nzaou and Center for U.S. and Mexican Law Director Alfonso López de la Osa Escribano, organized and presented the first Marie Sklodowska-Curie Conference on Energy Transition by webinar.
 
Tracy Hester gave a guest lecture on April 27 to the Colorado State University’s graduate class on climate engineering, where he discussed governance and liability challenges. On April 21, he discussed the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on energy and manufacturing at the “Implications of COVID-19 on Climate Change Infrastructure Development” webinar for the American Bar Association's Section on Environment, Energy & Resources. He co-moderated the American College of Environmental Lawyers’ webinar on “Juliana v. United States: If Not Now, When?” on April 16. Professor Hester joined the EPA’s National Advisory Committee web meeting on April 10 to discuss implementation issues arising from the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement. This meeting was the last session in his six-year appointment to the Committee. Professor Hester spoke with Professor Victor Flatt at the “Climate Speech Liability” webinar for the University of Houston Center for Carbon Management in Energy on April 30.
 
Geoffrey Hoffman moderated a virtual book talk with Professor Shoba Wadhia of Penn State to discuss her new book, Banned: Immigration Enforcement in the Time of Trump. The talk was presented by the University of Houston Law Center’s Diversity & Inclusion Committee. Professor Hoffman was interviewed by KCBS radio regarding President Trump’s decision to place a 60-day “pause” on immigration. Audio is available here. He also appeared on KTRK-TV to discuss the dire consequences of the executive order. Video is available here. Professor Hoffman was among a group of legal scholars who sent a letter to Acting Chief Immigration Judge Christopher A. Santoro urging him to develop a plan for the prevention and management of COVID-19 in U.S. immigration courts.
 
Zachary Kaufman presented “Digital Age Samaritans” at the Washington University in St. Louis School of Law’s Junior Faculty Forum on April 24.
 
Renee Knake, Professor Knake's book Shortlisted was reviewed in the Texas Bar Journal.

Sapna Kumar presented "Pharma, Patents, and the Pandemic" at the University of Oklahoma College of Law's Third Mini-Conference on Coronavirus and Law.
 
Alfonso López de la Osa Escribano participated in two panel discussions at the 1st Annual Conference on Global Energy Transition Law and Policy, held online on April 17, and co-organized by the Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Center and the Center for U.S. and Mexican Law. He acted as moderator in “The Energy Transition in European and Comparative Law: Towards a New Shift and a Democratic Perspective,” and as a discussant in “COVID-19 Provides Warning about the Transition from Fossil Fuels.”
 
Teddy Rave was among a group of civil procedure professors who submitted an amici curiae brief in support of the respondents in the U.S. Supreme Court case of Ford Motor Company v. Montana Eighth Judicial District Court. Professor Rave was a principal coauthor of the brief, along with Pamela Bookman, Andrew Bradt, Zachary Clopton, and Maggie Gardner.
 
Kellen Zale was nominated to serve as a member of the Advisory Board for the Houston Land Bank.