Page 6 - Briefcase Volume 37 Number 1

The girl’s mother and father filed a lawsuit that contended her daughter’s
aunt was wrongfully detaining her in the U.S.
For the Immigration Clinic, the case hinged on the judge’s decision
to invoke or dismiss the authority of Hague Convention on the Civil
Aspects of International Child Abduction in the Southern District of
Texas.
Judge David Hittner ultimately granted the Clinic’s motion to dismiss
the Hague Convention based on lack of subject matter jurisdiction. The
decision cited her parents’ original intention to create a domicile in the
U.S. prior to the father’s deportation.

Associate Professor of Clinical Practice Janet Heppard and Diane
McManus, a clinical supervising attorney, served as subject matter
experts on family law.
Clinical Associate Professor and director of the Immigration Clinic
Geoffrey A. Hoffman served as lead counsel in federal court. The
ELITE U.S. NEWS RANKINGS work on the case was a collaboration between the Civil Practice and
Immigration clinics.
The University of Houston Law Center maintained its strong showing “I would like to congratulate our clinic students, Saif Ali and Dalya
in this year’s U.S. News & World Report law school rankings with two of Alabbassi, as well as Clinical Supervising Attorneys Josephine Sorgwe
three specialty programs improving their long-standing positions among and Rosemary Vega for their great work in federal court,” Hoffman said.
the nation’s top 10.
The Law Center’s Health Law program moved up to No. 2 from last
year’s No. 3 ranking, while Intellectual Property and Information Law UHLC AMONG NATION’S BEST
moved to 5th from the 8th spot. The school’s part-time program tied
for 7th. Overall, the Law Center ranks 56 among the nation’s 197 law FOR HISPANICS
schools accredited by the American Bar Association.
Dean Leonard M. Baynes said, “We are a terrific law school. I am very The University of Houston Law Center is ranked 19th among the best
proud of the Law Center’s recognition in these areas of expertise.” law schools for Hispanics, according to a diversity survey conducted by
The U.S. News rankings are based on a weighted average of 12 measures preLaw magazine.
of quality including assessments by academic peers, judges and lawyers, The survey considered three factors: 1) percentage of Hispanic students
LSAT scores, undergraduate GPA, acceptance rate, student/faculty ratio, 2) percentage of Hispanic faculty and 3) services available for minority
bar passage, graduate employment rate, and other data was collected in students. At the Law Center, 20.6 percent of the student population and
fall 2016 and early 2017. 15.3 percent of the faculty is Hispanic.
Specialty rankings are based on surveys of legal educators specializing in “We have several initiatives to enable our Hispanic students to enhance
those disciplines at peer institutions. the benefits of their diversity,” said Dean Leonard M. Baynes. “They can
participate in moot court competitions in Latin America that take place
in Spanish and they can take courses to improve their ability to speak
professional Spanish in the legal context.”
IMMIGRATION CLINIC WIN IN “The University of Houston Law Center actively seeks underrepresented

FEDERAL COURT minority students and encourages them to apply,” said Assistant Dean for
Admissions Pilar Mensah. “Once attending the University of Houston
After becoming involved with a federal court dispute, two student Law Center, a student will discover a culture that not only celebrates
attorneys with the University of Houston Law Center’s Immigration diversity, but provides a support system to enable success,” she added.
Clinic helped a 10-year-old girl remain in the U.S. Law Center programs and services include faculty, student and
Dalya Alabbassi, an LL.M. student and Saif Ali, at the time in his 2L year, alumni mentoring, tutoring, diversity-focused recruitment events,
worked on researching and preparing for trial. individualized academic and employment counseling, and support for
In March 2016, the girl and her father were detained in the U.S. at the diverse student organizations such as the UHLC chapter of the Hispanic
Law Student Association.
border after arriving from El Salvador. Her father was deported, and
according to the child’s wishes, she was released to her aunt, who resides
in the U.S.

6 Briefcase 2018