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a good regulator is industry’s best friend,” she said. “If regulators do not act, the spirit of courtroom debate should remain competitive.
litigation, I assure you, will fill the gap. “Civility is not liking opposing counsel or agreeing with everything that
“Ultimately, the regulator’s goal is to combat industry’s inevitable sense of opposing counsel or the judge says,” Ross said. “I don’t like when attorneys
complacency, and to force continuous improvement on the entire industry say to me, ‘Judge, I really hate to disagree with opposing counsel, but that’s
as increasingly complex technology and procedures advance,” she said. not really the law.’
Weaver taught at the Law Center for 39 years and retired at the conclusion “Don’t hate to disagree. This is an adversarial process. It’s not about
of the 2016 fall semester. agreeing on everything, it’s about showing respect.”
Dow provided a primer on death penalty cases. Dow, the Law Center’s
Cullen Professor of Law and a capital defense attorney, is the founder of ENGRAVINGS IN O’QUINN LIBRARY REDEDICATED
the Texas Innocence Network, which was established in 2000. In 2014, the TO FORMER UHLC DEAN AND PROFESSOR STEPHEN
Texas Innocence Network incorporated the Juvenile & Capital Advocacy ZAMORA
Project, which seeks to reduce juvenile delinquency and improve life
outcomes for economically and socially disadvantaged youth through the
provision of legal, educational and social support services.
He gave an overview of recent developments in death penalty law, with
special attention to Texas. He discussed what differentiates Texas from
other states that practice capital punishment, including how juries are
asked to foresee if a person would be a threat to the public if he or she isn’t
sentenced to death.
“Texas is in a league of its own when it comes to deciding whether
someone’s going to be sentenced to death,” Dow said. “What’s peculiar
about Texas as compared to every other state that has the death penalty,
is that the decision whether to sentence someone to death is not based on
the facts of the crime itself. It’s instead based on the jury’s prediction about
what’s going to happen in the future if the person isn’t executed.”
SONDOCK JURIST-IN-RESIDENCE SPEAKER, ELEANOR Professor Emerita Laura E. Oren, Camille Zamora, Dean Leonard M. Baynes, and Lois Zamora
ROSS ’94, EMPHASIZES NEED FOR CIVILITY IN LEGAL Colleagues, friends and family members celebrated the life of former
PROFESSION University of Houston Law Center Dean and Professor Stephen Zamora
Judge Eleanor Ross of the United States District Court for the Northern at a ceremony in O’Quinn Library.
District of Georgia said attorneys must practice a code of respect when A set of 10 copperplate engravings from the “1742 Atlas Coelestis” by
deliberating in the courtroom during her lecture as part of the Justice Johann Gabriel Doppelmayr were donated to the Law Center in 1998
Ruby Kless Sondock Jurist-In-Residence Program at the University of by Jan and Suzanne Baker, 1973 Law Center alumni. Doppelmayr was a
Houston Law Center. prominent 18th century astronomer, mathematician and cartographer.
Ross, a 1994 graduate of the Law Center, noted that she has seen The plates were rededicated in Zamora’s memory and in recognition of
occasional instances of attorneys displaying a lack of civility. his many contributions to the Law Center.
“In my mind, the courtroom is sacred ground,” Ross said. “Over the years I “These engravings are astronomical maps of the world,” Dean Leonard
have developed a strong opinion that there are certain things you dare not M. Baynes said. “It’s such a fitting tribute that these maps are dedicated
do, say or wear in a courtroom. The decline in civility that I have seen in to Professor Zamora, given his emphasis on globalism, NAFTA and Latin
the cases that have been handled before me have been very disheartening.” America.”
Ross said she has not seen egregious behavior in her courtroom, but Zamora, who retired in 2014 after 36 years in the classroom, died in
an increase in condescension, sarcasm, and other forms of demeaning Mexico City on July 8, 2016 at the age of 72. Zamora joined the Law
behavior by attorneys. Center faculty in 1978, and served as the Law Center’s dean from 1995
“Key elements of civility include dialogue, respectful communication, and to 2000. He founded and continued to direct the Center for U.S. and
Mexican Law at the law school, served as director of the North American
informed public decision-making,” she said. “The short definition that I Consortium on Legal Education, and as an advisor to the Houston Journal
often use is a code of respectful behavior within the legal community. of International Law.
“I like to distinguish civility from the broader category professionalism. He is survived by his widow, Lois Zamora, a University of Houston
Professionalism encompasses so much like competency, remaining English professor; a son, Peter Zamora, his wife Marcela; a daughter,
knowledgeable about the laws and the rules governing the practice of law Camille Zamora, and her husband Thomas; grandsons Landon and Nate,
and the judgment you use. Civility is a component within professionalism and siblings Carol, Mary, Anita, John, Paula, and Tony; and many nephews,
— that component deals specifically with the interaction of the players nieces, cousins, aunts, in-laws, and friends. Lois and Camille Zamora
involved in the legal process.” attended the ceremony.
Ross noted that while lawyers should always maintain proper behavior,
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