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AI-Generated Legal Scholarship

In his his “AI for Legal Education” newsletter, Seth Chandler (Houston) reports on using AI to help him and his seminar students produce not only seminar papers but also a published book that contains the students’ final products. The book is titled “Issues in Contemporary Constitutional Law,” edited by Professor Chandler, and it is now available at Amazon.com.

New details about Camp Mystic flood response could play role in wrongful death lawsuits

"It was an extraordinary weather event," Sanders said. "The question is whether you should expect serious weather events along this river, and at least there’s some evidence you should." When it comes to the action or inaction of local officials — which Camp Mystic's defense has pointed to as relevant to the tragedy — Kerr County is well-shielded from these types of lawsuits, Sanders said. "I think that they’re pretty responsible," he said. "Unfortunately, (state law) makes it very difficult for any individual to sue the county for their negligence under that circumstance, which leaves of course all of these different entities along the river, including Camp Mystic."

Behind the front lines of the legal battle against Trump's National Guard deployments

Since this law has been used so rarely in our history, we had very little sense of what any of these terms meant, because none of them are defined by the statute," says Chris Mirasola, a national security law professor at the University of Houston Law Center.

Can Trump shut Houston-based Exxon out of Venezuela? What legal experts say about his takeover plans.

Venezuela must maintain direct control over its oil assets, especially since it is not a U.S.-occupied territory, said Ted Borrego, a longtime attorney who teaches oil and gas contracts law at the University of Houston.

85 Predictions for AI and the Law in 2026

Seth J. Chandler | Foundation Professor of Law, University of Houston Law Center 2026 Prediction: Google enters the legal research market in a big way, harnessing its immense dataset. Midpage AI permits API access to its research capabilities; a model beats established human authors in a brief writing competition (a Deep Blue moment). Biggest Surprise 2026: There will be the equivalent of AIStudio or Claude Code, but for legal research and writing.

‘Fumed’ Found Problems With Houston’s Industrial Permitting Process. The City Changed Its Policies.

Kellen Zale, a University of Houston professor who teaches property law, land use and real estate, told Public Health Watch the new affidavit could be especially helpful for communities on Harris County’s industrialized east side. Areas with lower incomes and large populations of color are typically the places most burdened by industrial development, Zale said.

Trump Will Try to Defend Aggression Toward Venezuela. It’s Still Illegal.

“The OLC opinion completely failed to address numerous recognitions of the founders, framers, and Supreme Court justices that the president and members of the executive branch are bound by international law,” Jordan Paust, professor emeritus at the University of Houston Law Center and former captain in the U.S. Army JAG Corps, told Truthout. “Further, the express constitutional duty is to faithfully execute the law — not to disobey law.”

The President's Protective Power

Jack spoke with Chris Mirasola of the University of Houston Law Center about the President’s “protective power” to use the regular armed forces or the National Guard (if properly federalized) in the domestic sphere for the protection of federal property and functions. They discussed the origins and scope of the protective power, its relationship to the Posse Comitatus Act, why it was relevant in Trump v. Illinois, and the president’s prominent options for domestic deployment of the military (including using regular armed forces for a protective function) after Trump v. Illinois.

Greenpeace's Fight With a Pipeline Giant Exposes a Legal Loophole (Subscription Required)

UH Law Professor Renee Knake Jefferson was recently quoted in the New York Times, explaining how amicus briefs are increasingly being used as a strategic litigation tool for a story about Greenpeace's legal battle with the pipeline company Energy Transfer. 

First trial to begin on the Uvalde school shooting police response | AP News

UH Law Professor Sandra Guerra Thompson provided expert commentary and legal context to the AP, ABC News, and other news outlets for stories about the first criminal trial focusing on the delayed law-enforcement response in the 2022 school shooting in Uvalde.

View 2025 UHLC in the News Archive