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On July 2, Dean Leonard M. Baynes, along with Mike Barry (Dean, South Texas College of Law) and Dean Okezie Chukwumerije (Interim Dean, Texas Southern Thurgood Marshall School of Law), wrote an article for the May/June issue of the Houston Lawyer Magazine entitled The Once and Future Law School: Houston’s Three Law Schools Meet Changing Legal Needs. On July 5, Dean Baynes moderated a virtual lunch & learn panel and facilitated a discussion on legal careers with preLaw Pipeline students and guest panelists Vanessa Sutherland, General Counsel of Phillips 66, Regina Petty, Partner and Chief Diversity Officer at Fisher Phillips, and Jacqueline Del Villar ‘19, Associate at Fisher Phillips. Dean Baynes traveled to St. Louis, MO to attend the ABA Dean’s Workshop July 19-22. On July 21, Dean Baynes participated in a panel (with Dean Laura Rosenbury, University of Florida Levin School of Law, Dean Kathleen Boozang, Seton Hall Law School, and Dean Danielle Holly Walker, Howard University School of Law) and discussed: “Faculty Challenges in the 2020’s: Rebuilding Community and Working with Faculty Through Change.” On July 22, Dean Baynes served on a panel (with Dean Wendy Perdue, University of Richmond School of Law and Dean Jennifer Johnson, Lewis and Clark Law School) and discussed how best to staff development and alumni offices. While in St. Louis, Dean Baynes met with several alumni to network and share updates about events at the Law Center, including the opening of the John M. O’Quinn Law Building. Dean Baynes provided opening remarks at the July 26 Admitted Students Day event held in the lobby of the John M. O’Quinn Law Building. Dean Baynes attended the preLaw Pipeline’s closing ceremony program on July 29 and gave closing remarks to another cohort of graduating students.
On June 1, Dean Baynes traveled to Denver, CO to attend the 2022 LSAC Annual Meeting and Educational Conference June 1-4 and served as a panelist on a panel entitled: “The Business of Law School – Behind the Scenes with Two Other Law School Deans,” with Michele Alexandre (Loyola Chicago) and Alicia Ouellette (Albany). While in Denver, Dean Baynes met with alumni during breakfast and lunch meetings to share news about recent events at the Law Center, including an update on the John M. O’Quinn building. Dean Baynes was invited by the IndoAmerican Chamber of Commerce and attended a VIP luncheon on June 7 at the Anderson Commons at Rice University honoring outgoing Rice President, Dr. David Leebron. Dean Baynes was a guest lecturer for the Pre-Law Pipeline Program on June 14 where he taught a class on Race and the Law. On June 16, the UH Law community gathered in-person and virtually to celebrate the life of esteemed Emeritus Professor Michael A. Olivas, and Dean Baynes served as master of ceremony and provided a eulogy. Dean Baynes moderated a virtual dean’s diversity dialogue panel discussion hosted by The Pre-Law Pipeline Program on June 21. The panel comprised three general counsel: Rene Casares, Academy Sports + Outside, Lola Lin, Howmet Aerospace, and Donovan Oliff, HOK. On June 23, the Law Center received the 2022 Diversity in Business Award at a luncheon sponsored by the Houston Business Journal at the Marriott Marquis Houston hotel. The award was accepted by Dean Baynes and several faculty and staff. On June 28, Dean Baynes attended a virtual CLE hosted by UH Law Alumni Relations titled, “The Medical Legal Landscape for Transgender Texans – Surrounding Doe v. Abbott Confirmation.”
On May 1-4, Dean Baynes traveled to Salt Lake City, UT to attend and participate in the Law School Deans Anti-Racism Conference co-sponsored by LSAC and the S.J. Quinney College of Law, University of Utah. While there, he met with alumni during breakfast and lunch meetings to share news about recent events at the Law Center, including an update on the John M. O’Quinn building. On May 5, Dean Baynes attended the 34th Annual Hispanic Bar Association (HisBa) Gala along with law professors Sandra Guerra Thompson, Ryan Marquez, Rosemary Vega, and Elizabeth Trujillo. HisBa continues to be a long-time supporter of our students through scholarship. Dean Baynes was a guest of Professor Daniel Morales at a dinner to kick off a two-day workshop titled, “The Immigration Theory Workshop” on May 13. The workshop was convened by Professor Morales and Nicholas De Genova. On May 15, the 2022 Law Center Commencement Ceremony was held at the Fertitta Center. Dean Baynes served as a master of ceremony. This year’s commencement speaker was alumna Dianne Ralston ‘94, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary of Schlumberger. Also in attendance on the platform were U.S. Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, Judge Christine Weems, Judge Janet Heppard, Magistrate Judge Andrew Edison, and UH Vice President Jason Smith. Dean Baynes gave an update on the Law Center to the alumni leaders on the 100% Challenge. UH Development Officer Abby Trahan organized the 100% Challenge Virtual Kickoff on May 17 to engage alumni and cultivate scholarship for the Fuel the Future campaign. Leadership and team captains for approximately 25 firms and organizations were invited to attend this year’s challenge. On May 19, Dean Baynes attended the HBA Annual Dinner Meeting and Reception that was held at the River Oaks Country Club. On May 20, Dean Baynes was interviewed for an issue of Insight Into Diversity Magazine focusing on UH Law being the only law school to be recognized as a diversity champion. It was also the Law Center’s seventh consecutive year of being recognized as a Diversity Champion by the magazine and receiving the Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award. In his interview, Dean Baynes shared the Law Center’s commitment to DEI for students starting before they enroll all the way through the time when they are working. The article may be read here. On May 24, Dean Baynes moderated a CLE discussion on abortion law and the unprecedented Supreme Court leak. Professors Seth Chandler and Emily Berman served as panelists providing insight and practical information to help attendees understand the state of the law and the nature of the unprecedented leak.
Emily Berman presented “Abortion Law and an Unprecedented Supreme Court Leak” on May 24 at a CLE held at the University of Houston Law Center. She spoke at the Houston Great Books Council, providing an “Annual Supreme Court Review” on July 4. She also spoke at a Texas Democratic Lawyers Association CLE regarding “Dobbs: What the Supreme Court Said, and Does Justice Thomas Know What’s Next?” on July 7. Professor Berman made several media appearances this summer to discuss the Supreme Court and abortion rights; appearances included KHOU in May, Fox 26 in June, and Houston Public Media’s Town Square in July. She was also quoted in several news articles on this topic from the Washington Post and the Texas Tribune.
Kate Brem spoke about distance learning and the ABA's revised Standard 306 in mid-July in two presentations at the Legal Writing Institute's Biennial Conference in Washington, D.C. She also served as a small-group facilitator at LWI's Biennial Critiquing Workshop. To round out the summer, Professor Brem spoke about teaching writing to first-generation law students at a Writing Connections Workshop in late July at the SEALS 2022 Conference in Sandestin, Florida.
Seth Chandler published Banzhaf Power Index, which computes the strength of a voter by reference to the frequency with which their vote could change the outcome of an election and is being used in blockchain governance matters. He also published Dataset Query, which is used for data analysis in Wolfram Language.
Megan Davis and Laurel Simmons presented at the Association of Academic Success Educators (AASE) Conference on May 25 regarding “Catch Them When You Can: 1L Interventions.”
Alyson Drake was the recipient of the 2022 American Association of Law Libraries Emerging Leader Award, presented at the association’s annual conference on July 17. She was invited to speak on “An Introduction to Evidence-Based Instruction: Using Cognitive Theory to Improve Your Teaching” at the Teaching the Teachers Conference for Law Librarians in Portland, OR on May 14. She presented “Mindset in Formal and Informal Teaching and Training” at the 2022 American Association of Law Libraries Conference in Denver, CO on July 18. She also presented “Reinventing the Research Log” at the Legal Writing Institute Biennial Conference in Washington, D.C. on July 21.
Dave Fagundes presented his work in progress, Based on a True Story: Life Rights, Modularization, and Ownership of the Self, virtually at the Association of Law, Property, and Society (ALPS) annual meeting on May 13, and in person at the Southeast Association of Law Schools (SEALS) annual conference on August 1.
Victor Flatt was a panelist on the Center for Houston’s Future and Houston Area Research Consortium program on climate financial risk to energy companies on May 24. In July, Professor Flatt taught Environmental Governance and the Private Sector in Vermont Law School’s summer environmental law program. Professor Flatt has also agreed to serve as the Burke Environmental Law Center Distinguished Visiting Scholar and Professor at Case Western Reserve University Law School in 2022-23. Professor Flatt was co-author of a Law Professor’s amicus brief to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) regarding discriminatory pricing. He was also quoted and appeared in numerous media, such as Bloomberg News and Houston Channel 2, regarding the Supreme Court’s decision in W. Virginia v. EPA. Professor Flatt will be the incoming “Ethics and the Profession” Advisor to the ABA’s Section on Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources (SEER) Council. He will also assume the position of Vice-Chair of SEER’s Renewable, Alternative, and Distributed Energy Resources Committee for the 2022-2023 Term.
Whitney Heard co-presented "Amplifying Diverse Voices and Ideas in the Legal Writing Classroom " on July 23 at the 2022 Legal Writing Institute Biennial Conference hosted by Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C.
Tracy Hester participated in several conferences during the summer, including the American Law Institute’s annual meeting in Washington, D.C. (May 15-18), the biannual Natural Resource Law Teacher’s Institute in Asilomar, CA (May 31-June 4), and the Foundation for Natural Resource and Energy Law’s annual meeting in Vail, CO (July 19-23) as UHLC's trustee. He also joined the invitational Gordon Research Conference on solar radiation management technologies in Newry, ME (June 26-30), and while there he gave an informal briefing to Congressional staff via Zoom on governing climate engineering technologies on June 28. Hester presented a paper on carbon restructuring and climate bankruptcy law in Amsterdam on July 6 as part of the ComplianceNET 2022 conference. And on June 23, he moderated a presentation by former EPA General Counsel Prof. Don Elliott as part of EENR’s Sklodowska-Curie lecture series on environmental and energy law.
Zachary D. Kaufman was interviewed by Marco Poggio for the Law360 article Call It Genocide? The Debate Over Labeling Ukraine Atrocities published on May 6. On May 11, Professor Kaufman spoke at a webinar, “Universal Jurisdiction: Controversies and Opportunities,” that was co-sponsored by the American Society of International Law (ASIL) and the University of Houston Law Center (which is an Academic Partner of ASIL). On May 27, Professor Kaufman served at the United Nations as the Master of Ceremonies and a speaker at a webinar (focusing on genocide denial) that marked the anniversary and commemoration of the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda. On May 28, Professor Kaufman spoke virtually (about ongoing challenges of transitional justice) at an event in Salt Lake City sponsored by IbukaUSA (organization of Rwandan genocide survivors in the United States) that marked the anniversary and commemoration of the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda. On July 14, Professor Kaufman presented his article, Police Policing Police, at the 2022 Annual Meeting of the Law and Society Association (LSA). On July 28, Professor Kaufman presented his article, Lethal Force as Transitional Justice, at the 2022 Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Association of Law Schools (SEALS). Professor Kaufman was also interviewed by the Crime Report on June 27, Ebony Magazine on July 6, and The Progressive Magazine on July 26 regarding his forthcoming article, Police Policing Police.
Renee Knake Jefferson spoke about her book Gender, Power, Law & Leadership on a panel at the Law & Society Association Annual Meeting in Portugal in July. In May, she appeared on two podcasts to discuss her book Shortlisted - Above the Law's The Jabot and UHLC Law Review's Emphasis Added. Shortlisted won a book award in May - the Indie Book Award for Women's Nonfiction - and Jefferson received the University of Houston Law Alumni Association Faculty Distinction Award in April. The Courthouse Ethics and Transparency Act was signed into law in May, after Professor Jefferson testified before Congress in late 2021 in support of the legislation. Finally, in her capacity as Director of Outcomes and Assessments for the Law Center, she attended two ABA trainings over the summer in Chicago to prepare for the upcoming ABA Site Visit.
Valerie Gutmann Koch presented "Medical Harm Without Negligence" at BioLawLapalooza, Stanford University Law School, on May 13 and at the American Society for Law, Medicine and Ethics, Health Law Professors Conference at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, Arizona State University on June 2. She was named a 2022 Health Law Scholar by the American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics and the Center for Health Law Studies at Saint Louis University, for her work in progress, Reimagining Informed Consent. Her contributions to the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine 2022 Workshop Series were quoted extensively in its report, Evolving Crisis Standards of Care and Ongoing Lessons from COVID-19: Proceedings of a Workshop Series.
David Kwok presented his paper, currently titled The Dominant Firm Threat to Criminal, Civil, and Ethical Equilibria in July at the Southeastern Association of Law Schools Annual Meeting and at CrimFest, held at Cardozo School of Law. He made a similar presentation at the National Business Law Scholars Conference, held at the University of Oklahoma in June.
Ellen Marrus presented “Who Will Tell Your Story: Children's Voices” via Zoom for the Children's Human Rights Conference at Salem University on June 22. She also presented "Bars Between Youth and Their Babies: Justice Involved Children Having Children," on June 16 and "Teaching Street Law to Justice Involved Youth: An Inter Professional Approach," on June 15 at the National Association of Forensic Social Work conference in New Orleans, LA.
Douglas Moll spoke about “Oppressive Conduct as a Ground for Involuntary Dissolution of Business Corporations in the United States,” at the Universidad de Los Andes in Santiago, Chile in July. He was invited by Professor Pablo Manterola to give three lectures on this topic to law professors, law students, and practicing attorneys.
A new edition of J. Thomas Oldham’s treatise entitled, Divorce, Separation and the Distribution of Property, will be published this fall. Cambridge Press is publishing a celebration of the career of family law scholar John Eekelaar, and Bruce Smyth of Australian National University and Professor Oldham were invited to submit a chapter discussing issues relating to child support modification in Australia and America. The chapter is submitted and is now being edited. The Houston Journal of International Law will publish this fall a symposium organized by Professor Oldham relating to the regulation of unmarried cohabitation in various countries.
Laurel Simmons presented "Building an International Community in Your Legal Writing Class: Benefits and Strategies" with Diane Edelman, Jo Ellen Lewis, and Christopher Soper at the Legal Writing Institute (LWI) 2022 Conference in Washington, D.C. She also presented regarding “1L Interventions: Catch Them When You Can" with Megan Davis at the Association of Academic Support Educators (AASE) 2022 Conference in San Antonio.
In May 2022, the Garden Club of America awarded Lauren Simpson a Club Civic Improvement Commendation for her educational efforts promoting insect conservation and the urban wildlife-habitat gardens that support them. This accolade is awarded "for outstanding efforts within the community which enhance, protect or restore the local environment or improve the community through sharing the knowledge of plants and/or gardening."
Sandra Guerra Thompson’s profile was featured in the Hispanic Bar Association Newsletter.
Professor Trujillo was an Invited Speaker at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy Center for United States and Mexico on "Recent Trends in USMCA and the Environment,” on May 3rd. Professor Trujillo was invited to teach in the 9th edition of the Methodology of Comparative Law Studies summer session hosted by the University of Bologna Department of Political and Social Sciences. In June, Professor Trujillo taught in Spanish the session on Sustainability and International Economic Law where students from all over the world attended, in particular from Latin America. As a result of this collaboration and recent webinars co-sponsored by the UH Global Law and Policy Initiative (GLPA). Professor Trujillo, as GLPA Director, and in coordination with Director Karen Jones from the UH Law Global and Graduate Programs and the UH Institute for Global Engagement, spearheaded the completion of a Memorandum of Agreement with the University of Bologna Department of Political and Social Sciences to foster broader research collaboration between the universities. Professor Trujillo will be the Faculty representative for academic collaboration between the two universities. Also as GLPA Director, Professor Trujillo facilitated co-sponsorship of GLPA for the UH Criminal Justice Institute's May webinar hosted and presented by Professor Zachary D. Kaufman on "Universal Jurisdiction: Controversies and Opportunities” on May 11. In June, Professor Trujillo was invited to participate and be a discussant for the 2022 Inaugural Graciela Olivarez Latinas in the Legal Academy (GOLILA) Workshop sponsored by Stanford Law School. Professor Trujillo was a discussant for a paper by Catherine J.K. Sandoval, Fighting Wildfire with Data; Centering Knowledge Management and Digital Adoption in Electric Utility Safety Culture. Among the esteemed invited participants was Justice Patricia Guerrero from the Supreme Court of California, Professor Dolores Atencio, past President of the Hispanic National Bar Association, and Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor of the U.S. Supreme Court. Professor Trujillo’s remarks honoring the contributions of UH Professor Emeritus Michael Olivas and his impact on Latinas in the academy were selected to become part of the GOLILA Michael Olivas Memory Book that was formally presented to Professor Olivas’ widow, Professor Tina Reyes, during the Workshop. Professor Trujillo was appointed to the selection and organizing committee for the 2022 American Society of International Law (ASIL) Mid-Year Research Forum to be hosted by the University of Miami School of Law. She has also been reappointed to the Membership Committee of ASIL. She was also appointed to the UH Faculty Governance Committee and reappointed to the UH Faculty Senate and UH Budget and Facilities Committee. In June, Professor Trujillo was inducted, by invitation only, to be a full member of the WE Rotary Club of International Peace.
Gina Warren served as the moderator for “Can a Right to a Healthy Environment Deliver Climate Justice?” by Smita Narula as part of the UHLC Marie Sklodowska-Curie speaker series on May 5. She was also interviewed by Texas Monthly regarding Samsung Spills Toxic Water, Wins Texas Environmental Prize on May 20.
Amanda Watson presented twice at the 2022 American Association of Law Libraries Conference in Denver, CO on July 18 and 19: "Scholarship and Law Libraries: 2022" and "Increasing Library Impact by Promoting Faculty Scholarly Impact."
Bret Wells submitted substantial revisions to 56 treatise chapters for the 2023 edition of Joseph Isenbergh and Bret Wells, International Taxation: U.S. Taxation of Foreign Persons and Foreign Income (Wolters Kluwer 6th ed. 2021). He presented on the "Foreign Investment in Real Property Act" at the State Bar of Texas Tax Section’s Annual Meeting on June 17.
Kellen Zale presented her article, Inholdings (Harvard Environmental Law Review, forthcoming 2022), at the Sustainability Conference of American Legal Educators at the Sandra Day O'Connor School of Law at Arizona State University in May. She also presented her co-authored work-in-progress, Liminal Property and Anti-Tenancy (with Sarah Schindler, University of Denver) at the Association of Law, Property, and Society Virtual Conference in May.
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