Administrators, faculty, staff and students joined Dean Leonard M. Baynes to discuss recent happenings at the University of Houston Law Center.
March 2, 2021 - University of Houston Law Center Dean Leonard M. Baynes said The John M. O'Quinn Law Building is expected to be halfway completed by this summer while addressing students, faculty and staff during two spring semester "Discussion with the Dean" virtual sessions held last week.
"The building construction is moving quickly," Baynes said. "It is expected to be finished to move in by Fall 2022. Some of our current students will get a chance to take classes and experience the new building. It's great that this is happening and it has been needed for a long time."
Other topics discussed included the Bar exam success by recent graduates, acknowledgments the Law Center has received from preLaw magazine and U.S. News & World Report and other accomplishments by alumni, faculty and students.
"The Class of 2020 Bar passage rate was 88 percent, which was higher than the year before," Baynes said. "We congratulate them for their perseverance and resilience under the circumstances."
Among the faculty highlights were the election of Clinical Professor Janet Heppard to the 387th District Court in Fort Bend County, Professor Sandra Guerra Thompson being recognized by the City of Houston, Professor Gina Warren being named co-director of the Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources Center and Professor Bret Wells being selected to the American Law Institute.
Baynes also recognized Assistant Professor Emily Berman as the first annual winner of the Excellence in Oversight Research Award from the Wayne State University school of Law and the recognition received by Professor Jessica Roberts' Yale Law Journal article, “GINA, Big Data, and the Future of Employee Privacy,” and the launch of the Initiative on the Global Law and Policy led by Professor Elizabeth Trujillo.
Third-year Law Center student Chelsea Klumpp, who recently argued before the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, 2L Charisma Nguepdo’s, historic selection as Houston Law Review editor-in-chief- and Cody West, a 2020 alumnus who is participating in a fellowship with the Congressional Black Caucus, were also commended for their respective achievements.
