Page 7 - Briefcase Volume 37 Number 1

UH LAW CENTER ALUM TONY BUZBEE ‘97 MOTIVATES STUDENTS TO

BE BOLD, COURAGEOUS IN THEIR CAREERS

with a team of UH in-house and
local attorneys, to protect the
school’s name and brand in a federal
trademark infringement suit.
After serving in the military, he said
attending the Law Center altered
the trajectory of his life.
“Something really great happened
to me when I was accepted into the
University of Houston Law Center,”
he said. “It dramatically changed my
circumstance.”
“What can you learn from my
story? Don’t even think about the
odds,” Buzbee said. “Work hard.
Be honest and make yourself
indispensable. Focus on your goals
and write them down. I don’t care
how outrageous or silly you think it
University of Houston Law Center graduate Tony Buzbee ’7 shared his success story with students might be -- write it down. You have
recently on the UH campus. (Photo by Michael Ramos) to outwork your competition and
prepare. The people that are willing
UHLC alum Tony Buzbee ’97 told students that part of overcoming to delay their gratification by working hard will be the most successful
the odds means ignoring them in a speech during the Powerful Voices in whatever endeavor they choose. I’m a living example of this.”
speaker series, hosted by The Honors College at the University of When asked by a Law Center student if he had any advice for young
Houston in Cemo Hall in October. attorneys who are considering starting their own firm, Buzbee
Buzbee, a Marine veteran, is a leading personal injury litigator and one referenced his experience clerking for a judge which gave him the
of the most successful trial lawyers in the nation. In the past decade, practical legal knowledge he needed to start his career.
he and his firm, The Buzbee Law Firm, have won hundreds of millions “You will learn so much in a clerkship with a federal or state judge, and I
of dollars in verdicts and settlements in dozens of cases involving can say that really put me on my way. If you’re an entrepreneurial person, I
pipeline and plant explosions, toxic torts, offshore litigation, commercial don’t think there’s any reason why you shouldn’t dive in and be your own
litigation, products liability and trade infringement. boss, as long as you have a good network of people and friends who are
He also worked pro bono as lead counsel for the Law Center in 2016, practicing that you can run ideas by and bounce ideas off of,” he said.

ARBITRATION WRITING Commercial Arbitration Moot Competition.
“The ‘Write the Award’ competition gives students valuable insights into
COMPETITION the reasoning and decision-making required to render an enforceable
The Blakely Advocacy Institute at the University of Houston Law award,” said Jim Lawrence, Executive Director of the Blakely Advocacy
Institute. “It is the capstone experience of the international arbitration
Center extended its global reach by launching an international process.”
commercial arbitration award writing competition in partnership with
two nonprofit alternative dispute resolution organizations: the North The Blakely Advocacy Institute provides Law Center students the
American Branch of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and the opportunity to integrate substantive knowledge with practical skill. In
Alliance for Equality in Dispute Resolution. addition to sending student teams to competitions across the country
and abroad, the Institute hosts the annual Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP
It was announced in October that a law school team from India won Moot Court National Championship, which draws the nation’s 16 top
the inaugural competition, which is open to students from around the teams based on a point system to determine the best of the best.
world who have competed in the annual Willem C. Vis International

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