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in 1977. She also served as associate director of the Energy Studies held days before Super Bowl LI was played at NRG Stadium between the
Program at that time. In 1979, Weaver became an assistant professor Atlanta Falcons and New England Patriots.
before becoming an associate professor in 1982. She received tenure “The kinds of legal protections we have in place for workers apply with
in 1984 and became a full professor in 1986. Weaver was the Law equal force to professional athletes,” said Professor Jessica Roberts,
Foundation Professor from 1986-1987. She was also the interim director director of the Health Law & Policy Institute. “We were delighted to give
of the Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Center from 2013- the Law Center community the opportunity to hear about these issues
2015. She held the A.A. White Professorship until her retirement. firsthand on the eve of the Super Bowl.”

She is a co-author of “The Texas Law of Oil and Gas;” a national Smith provided a broad overview of the NFLPA’s activities and also
casebook titled “Energy, Economics and the Environment;” another spoke about player safety, including the NFL’s issues with concussions
casebook titled “International Petroleum Transactions;” and the treatise, and violence committed off the field by players.
“International Petroleum Exploration & Exploitation Agreements.”
Weaver wrote articles on offshore safety after the Macondo disaster, Smith noted that while NFL players don’t have typical days at an office
or factory, the gridiron is just as much of a workplace.
Enron’s effect on the energy markets, sustainable development in
the international petroleum industry, comparative unitization laws, “We have confronted the league over the issue of workplace safety for
and traditional oil and gas law. Her excellence in legal education has our players,” Smith said. “While I use the word ‘workplace,’ some would
been recognized with awards from the Association of International refer to that as a field or a locker room. But if we are concerned about
Petroleum Negotiators, the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation, the condition of a field and it impacting the career of a player, that’s not
the University of Houston’s Teaching Excellence Award, and the Law a football field for me.
Center’s Ethel Baker Award. “When those men step onto the field they’re stepping into the world
In 2010, Suzanne and Jan Baker, 1973 Law Center alumni and longtime of a workplace. While football is a great game, my hope is that people
friends of Weaver and her family, established the Weaver-Lang understand the NFLPA looks at it as big business.”
Presidential Endowed Fellowship in Law to honor her, her husband, Smith said the perception of football players being labeled as well-paid,
Kirk, and their parents, Cecile Weaver and Harold Weaver and Ruth superhuman specimens can make some fans lose sight of their human
Lang and Hans Lang. rights.
“This fellowship is meant to recognize the decades of support given to “At the end of the day, 99 percent of the fights we have with the NFL are
graduate and professional education by the Weaver and Lang families,” about whether our players are going to be treated as people,” he said. “It
Weaver said. “It’s not just me — there are many Weavers and many Langs becomes very easy to say these aren’t football players, they’re gladiators.
who were involved in higher education and have been over the years, Well, they’re not. I get a little cross when our own players refer to
especially in public institutions.” themselves as gladiators. They’re husbands, they’re sons, they’re fathers,
The Weaver-Lang Fellowship is intended to provide scholarships to help they’re brothers — they’re human.”
recruit the best-qualified students to the Law Center, especially those
interested in the LL.M. program in Energy, Environment and Natural
Resources.
“The Weaver-Lang scholarship is an opportunity for all of us to give
and ensure there is scholarship funding for our LL.M. students,” Baynes
said. “It really is important for us to have as many students from as
many places across the world to study with us and then bring back what
they’ve learned to their home countries.”

NFLPA’S SMITH DEFENDS RIGHTS OF PRO PLAYERS
AT UHLC HEALTH LAW PRESENTATION
DeMaurice Smith, executive director of the NFL Player’s Association,
called for fans to recognize the humanity of professional athletes in
regards to safety and legal rights during a discussion presented by the
Health Law & Policy Institute at the University of Houston Law Center.
The event titled, “Medical and Legal Ethics in the NFL and Sports,” was DeMaurice Smith

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