April 22, 2019 — Mexican law school deans and professors will visit the University of Houston Law Center Thursday and Friday to gain insights into the school’s operations, curriculum and programs and discuss the possibility of future academic collaborations.
“Mutual understanding between institutions of higher education in law is key in North America,” said Professor Alfonso Lopez de la Osa Escribano, director of the Center for U.S. and Mexican Law which is hosting the visit. “We need to promote a dialog to further create bridges between Mexico and the U.S. law schools. Student exchanges and visiting professors’ programs, are among the aspects that reciprocally benefit these two great nations, in order to move towards a greater integration in this field. Both have much to bring to the discussion.”
The visiting scholars will tour the Law Center and meet with faculty, staff and alumni, including Dean Leonard M. Baynes, Professor Karen Jones, executive director of Global and Executive Programs, Professor Amanda Watson, director of the O'Quinn Law Library, Professor Sandra Guerra Thompson, director of the Criminal Justice Institute, and Janet Heppard, director of the Clinical Legal Education Program.
The visiting scholars will attend a lunch talk on “Learning Techniques for University Teaching” by Lopez de la Osa Escribano. He will discuss different types of classes and teaching methods to use in class and online, and what to expect from students and professors.
The group also will meet with James E. Lawrence, UHLC Class of ’07, executive director of the Blakely Advocacy Institute, Willy Wood, ’84, of the law firm of McKool Smith, and Anne Chandler, ’98, executive director of Tahirih Justice Center’s Houston office.
The visiting academics also will participate Thursday evening in a conference hosted by the Baker Institute Mexico Center at Rice University titled, “The USMCA: A View from Mexico.” H.E. Jesús Seade, undersecretary for North America in Mexico's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and one of the lead negotiators of the agreement, will address the likelihood of passage.
