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MARCH

UHLC PROFESSOR KNAKE PAYS Energy, Environment and Natural Resources program for taking
TRIBUTE TO SHORTLISTED FEMALE advantage of Houston’s global role in the oil and gas market.
SUPREME COURT NOMINEES AT “With over 5,000 energy firms in the region, the city of Houston is one
ROSENBERG LECTURE of the world’s biggest oil and gas hubs, and a great place to study for
LL.M. students looking to be close to the action,” the ranking said. “The
Professor Renee Knake praised unsung heroes of school offers an LL.M. in Energy, Environment and Natural Resources
Renee Knake the legal profession in a talk titled, “What Does Law, which helps students navigate the complex policies around energy
it Mean to be the First? Lessons from Women production, transportation and use.”
Shortlisted for the U.S. Supreme Court” at the Yale L. Rosenberg
Memorial Lecture in Krost Hall at the University of Houston Law LLM GUIDE touted the Law Center’s Health Law program for its No.
Center. 3 ranking in U.S. News & World Report and recognized its research
capabilities.
“What does it mean to be the first,” Knake pondered. “Why does this
matter? In a legal profession where women and minorities continue to LLM GUIDE is a website based in Germany that, “aims to provide a
be significantly underrepresented in positions of leadership and power, I comprehensive and up-to-date directory of LL.M. programs, along with
believe it matters a great deal. providing community tools and editorial content of interest to people
interested in pursuing an LL.M. or a similar postgraduate law degree.”
“Although the entering classes of law students now reflect an equal
number of men and women and increasingly improve in minority
representation—especially here at the University of Houston—we do THREE UHLC SPECIALTY PROGRAMS KEEP TOP 10
not see this same diversity among senior leadership in law firms, law RANKINGS IN U.S. NEWS SURVEY
schools, general counsels of major corporations, or our courts.”

Knake, the Law Center’s Doherty Chair in Legal Ethics, said while
the accomplishments of Sandra Day O’Connor are celebrated as the
first woman to become a Supreme Court justice, she was far from
the first woman to be considered or qualified to be on the court. She
pointed to nine women who were shortlisted before O’Connor, and
highlighted the careers of four of them: Florence Allen, Mildred Lillie,
Soia Mentschikoff and Susie Sharp. She cited a forthcoming article she Three University of Houston Law Center specialty programs maintained
co-authored with Hannah Brenner titled, “Shortlisted,” to be published their Top 10 rankings in the annual U.S. News & World Report survey of
in May, that highlights the struggles each woman faced as a trailblazer in the nation’s law schools.
a profession dominated by men. The school’s Health Law program tied for 3rd place while Intellectual
“Firsts don’t happen without those who go before us,” Knake said. “Firsts Property held the 8th position. The Law Center’s part-time program
get all the glory. We cracked the glass ceiling. We broke the color barrier. remained tied for 6th among the nation’s 81 schools that offer such
But here’s the truth: We didn’t. Firsts are beneficiaries of a legacy of programs.
cracks and breaks that let the light in—a light that ‘firsts’ bask in. Overall, the Law Center ranked 54th among the nation’s 197 ABA
“Those who should have been first, but were not, because the timing accredited law schools.
wasn’t right, because society hadn’t yet fully progressed in its “The Law Center is an excellent institution and remained steady in the
understanding of equality and fairness, or because other factors got in rankings,” said Dean Leonard M. Baynes. “Working together, we can
the way, these are really the ones we should remember.” continue to move this great institution forward.”
The overall rankings are based on several factors including peer, judicial
INTERNATIONAL LL.M. and lawyer assessments, undergraduate GPA, LSAT scores, faculty/
GUIDE RANKS TWO UHLC student ratio, bar passage, and employment rate after graduation.
PROGRAMS IN TOP 10 Specialty programs are ranked by faculty teaching in the field. Part-
The University of Houston Law time rankings are based on reputation among deans and faculty at peer
Center’s LL.M. programs in Energy schools, LSAT scores, undergraduate GPAs, and the breadth of each
and Health Law were ranked in Top 10 school’s part-time program.
lists published by LLM GUIDE.
The rankings praised the Law Center’s

10 Briefcase 2018