Leonard M. Baynes, Op-ed, Reflect on Black History, Seek Justice for All, San Antonio Express News (Feb. 10, 2021).
Leonard M. Baynes, Six Steps Law Students of Color Can Take to be Successful in Law School, Nat’l Jurist (Feb. 24, 2021).
David R. Dow, Letter, The Filibuster Really Isn’t Much Help for Democracy, Wall St. J. (Feb. 8, 2021).
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Our colleagues shared the following offers for publication:
David Crump, Qualified Immunity: Where Do We Go from Here, Albany L. Rev. (forthcoming 2021).
Sapna Kumar, Promoting Public Health Through State Sovereign Immunity, J. L. & Innovation (forthcoming 2021).
James Nelson, The Religious Conversion of Corporate Social Responsibility, Emory L.J. (forthcoming).
J. Thomas Oldham & Bruce Smyth, Chapter in book commemorating the career of celebrated English family law scholar John Eekelaar (Oxford Press, forthcoming).
J. Thomas Oldham, J. Am. Acad. Matrim. Law. (forthcoming 2022).
Gina Warren & Shreya Patel, City Climate Action Plans and Restorative Environmental Justice, Nat. Res. & Env’t (forthcoming 2021).
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Leonard M. Baynes gave welcoming remarks and served as moderator at a virtual CLE event titled “Presidential Transfer of Power” which examined historical perspectives of previous presidential transfers of power, including more recently the racial implications, unilateral exercise of power by the executive branch to form policy, election security, and impeachment. The event, which took place on February 3, featured expert faculty from the Law Center and from the Hobby School of Public Affairs. On February 9, Dean Baynes gave welcoming remarks at a virtual memorial to celebrate the life and legacy of Professor Peter Linzer. The memorial was attended by Law Center faculty, staff, students, alumni, and friends who recalled Peter’s love of life, ideas, and zeal of training future scholars in legal education. On February 23, Dean Baynes met with students during two spring semester "Discussion with the Dean" virtual sessions where he shared updates about the new building progress, bar exam success, Law Center awards and recognitions, and other student and faculty accomplishments. On February 24, Dean Baynes was a presenter at the LSAC virtual Minority Network Meeting where he gave a presentation titled, "An Accidental Pipeline Leader" that talked about the success of the Law Center’s Pre-Law Pipeline Program and his role and development as a Pipeline leader. On February 25, Dean Baynes introduced, welcomed, and served as a commentator at the Law Center’s 2021 virtual celebration of Black History Month. The event featured keynote speaker, Professor Emerita Sherri Burr, of the University of New Mexico School of Law. Professor Burr met with law students for a lunchtime discussion and during the evening gave a presentation to alumni and other members of the public entitled, "Genealogical Research into America's Antebellum Past: The Challenges of Finding the Enslaved, the Free, and Enslavers.”
Emily Berman was a panelist on a Happy Dog Takes on the World podcast episode entitled “Coups and the Fragility of Democracy” on February 2. Berman also presented a paper, "Why Digital Contact Tracing Failed," co-authored with Jessica Roberts and Leah Fowler, at the Seton Hall Health Law Works in Progress Retreat on February 5.
Victor Flatt appeared on Houston Matters, on February 22, to discuss ERCOT, tort liability, and sovereign immunity. Professors Flatt, Gina Warren, and Tracy Hester’s panel proposal on energy and sustainability was accepted for presentation at Arizona State University’s 2021 Sustainability Conference.
Whitney Heard was appointed to the AALS Legal Writing, Reasoning, and Research Section's Awards Committee. Heard also accepted an invitation to participate in the Association of Legal Writing Directors' 2021 Biennial Leadership Academy, which will be held in June.
Geoffrey A. Hoffman met with attorneys at Disability Rights Texas, as well as a Baker Botts attorney, regarding a possible amicus brief for a case pending in the Fifth Circuit. On February 2, Hoffman, along with Professor Emeritus Michael A. Olivas, joined 120 law professors and legal experts in signing a letter to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas urging the agency to use all tools of prosecutorial discretion to comply with the Biden administration’s interior enforcement immigration policies and stop ongoing deportations of asylum seekers and families.
Zachary D. Kaufman was recruited to join the American Bar Association's Working Group on Crimes Against Humanity. The Working Group is drafting and advocating for two pieces of legislation, one domestic and the other international. The first is a Congressional bill that would codify Crimes Against Humanity into the U.S. Code. The second piece of legislation is an international Crimes Against Humanity treaty that would mirror the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
Valerie Gutmann Koch presented "Previvors" at South Texas College of Law on February 26.
Sapna Kumar presented "Promoting Public Health Through State Sovereign Immunity" on February 18 as part of the University of Pennsylvania's Journal of Law & Innovation's symposium "Innovation in a Time of Crisis.”
Jessica Mantel presented “Medical-Legal Partnerships: A Legal Prescription for Improving Health” at the Greater Houston Society for Healthcare Risk Management’s GHSHRM Education Day 2021, which took place on March 5.
Andrew Michaels presented his work in progress, “Benefits of the Invention in Patent Law,” on February 20, as part of the 2021 Works-in-Progress Intellectual Property Colloquium hosted virtually by Texas A&M University. Michaels also presented on the Supreme Court amicus brief filed in the case United States v. Arthrex at the New York Intellectual Property Law Association (NYIPLA) CLE Webinar Presentation on February 25.
Doug Moll's scholarship was cited recently by state courts in Connecticut and Louisiana and by federal courts in Rhode Island and Texas.
Thomas Oldham was elected to the Board of Editors of the Family Law Quarterly and served as the issue editor for the most recent issue of the publication. Additionally, Oldham has been participating in biweekly Zoom calls since November 2020 regarding a working draft of new uniform law being drafted by the Uniform Law Institute.
Michael A. Olivas was among the constitutional scholars who signed a letter criticizing President Trump’s First Amendment defense in the upcoming impeachment trial in the Senate. Olivas was also one of 119 law professors who signed a letter opposing Florida anti-protest bill HB1 on February 10. On February 12, he signed a letter arguing that GOP senators now have a duty to evaluate the actual evidence in deciding whether to convict former President Donald Trump in his impeachment trial. Olivas, along with other UHLC professors Seth Chandler, Katya Dow, Meredith J. Duncan, Laura Oren, and Jordan Paust have signed on to an amicus curie brief for the plaintiffs in the case Chrissie Carnell Bixler; Cedric Bixler-Zavala; Jane Doe #1; Marie Bobette Riales; and Jane Doe #2 v. Church of Scientology International; Religious Technology Center; Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre International; David Miscavige; Daniel Masterson; and Does 1 - 25 currently on appeal from the Los Angeles County Superior Court. This brief questions a California court's decision to send plaintiffs’ tort case against the Church of Scientology to religious arbitration. Former UHLC professor, Leslie C. Griffin, is the amicus counsel for the case.
Sandra Guerra Thompson was a panelist at the ABF Fellows CLE hosted by the American Bar Foundation in conjunction with the 2021 Virtual ABA Midyear Meeting. The event entitled “De-Biasing Criminal Justice” was held on February 19, and discussed the relationship between gruesome photographs, conviction rates, and race in the courtroom.
Elizabeth Trujillo launched a new UH Law Initiative on Global Law and Policy for the Americas (GLPA) with a webinar series entitled, “Constitutionalism, Trade, Social Justice, and Sustainability in the Americas: Lessons from the 2020 Global Pandemic.” The webinar series has been organized in collaboration with the University of Bologna Center for Latin America. It is co-sponsored by the American Society of International Law-Latin America Interest Group. The first webinar, which took place on February 11, was on “The COVID-19 Pandemic and Its Impact on Social Justice” with speakers Professors Alberto Abad Suárez Ávila from the Institute of Legal Studies National University of Mexico (IIJ-UNAM) and Anuschet Farahat from the University of Erlangen-Nüremberg, and César Coronel Ortega, co-chair of ASIL-LAIG as moderator. On February 25, the second webinar entitled “The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on International and Global Law” was held with guest speakers Professors René Urueña from the University of the Andes in Bogotá, Colombia and Lorenzo Casini from IMT School for Advanced Studies in Lucca, Italy, who also serves as Chief of Staff for in the Italian Ministry for Culture and Tourism. Professor Sabrina Ragone from the University of Bologna moderated, and Trujillo introduced and chaired both webinars.
Gina Warren served as the moderator for “Eminent Domain Law as Climate Policy” (by Alexandra Klass) on February 16, as part of the UHLC Marie Sklodowska-Curie speaker series. On February 26, Warren was invited to present “The Energy and Climate Impacts of Marijuana” at the University of Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law.
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