Marcilynn A. Burke was invited to participate on a panel at the University of Florida Levin College of Law for the National Association of Environmental Law Societies' annual meeting in March 2006 in conjunction with the College of Law’s annual public interest environmental conference.  The theme for the conference is “Rhetoric and the Environment” and Professor Burke will participate based upon her earlier work, Klamath Valley and Cappuccino Cowboys: The Rhetoric of the Endangered Species Act and Why it (Still) Matters, 14 Duke Envtl. L. & Pol. F. 441 (2004).

Darren Bush’s report for the Antitrust Modernization Commission, coauthored with Dr. Gregory K. Leonard of NERA Economic Consulting and Professor Stephen Ross of the University of Illinois College of Law, titled A Framework for Policymakers to Analyze Proposed and Existing Antitrust Immunities and Exemptions (Report) is now available at http://www.amc.gov/commission_hearings/statutory_immunities_exemptions.htm. On the same site, one can also find Professor Bush’s supplemental written statement submitted before the AMC, as well as the comments of academics and others in response to the Report.  In addition, Professor Bush testified before the AMC on December 1st.   He also presented his article, The Incentive and Ability of the Federal Trade Commission to Investigate Real Estate Markets: An Exercise in Political Economy, at the American Antitrust Institute’s Real Estate Symposium on November 8th.  He is currently working on an article concerning the application of antitrust to regulated industries for a symposium in February.

David R. Dow spoke to the Texas Association of Civil Trial and Appellate Specialists (TACTAS), on November 2nd.  His topic was “Post-Conviction Death Penalty Litigation.” On November 4th, he was a guest on PBS's "Word on Words, with John Siegenthaler," to discuss his book, Executed on a Technicality.  He also discussed the book at the Jewish Book Fair, on November 9th.  Professor Dow attended Hofstra University's 11th Presidential Conference, and gave a talk entitled "Bill Clinton, the Death Penalty, and the Assault on Habeas Corpus." 

Meredith J. Duncan has been selected by the University of Houston as its Piper Teaching Award nominee.  The Piper Teaching Award is a statewide award honoring outstanding professors and educators across Texas.  This year’s winners will be announced in the spring.

Victor Flatt presented a paper at the Yale Law School symposium, “The Properties of Carol Rose” on November 11th.

Sandy Gaines presented an invited paper in Montreal on December1st at the Third Symposium on the Environmental Effects of NAFTA organized by the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation. His paper, an empirical study of the actual environmental effects of 4 major claims for compensation under NAFTA by foreign investors for unfair treatment or expropriation through government measures arguably taken for environmental purposes, will be posted on the CEC’s website after revisions based on comments received at the symposium.  Professor Gaines took the occasion of the trip to Canada to visit with colleagues at NACLE partner schools, McGill and the University of Ottawa.

Leslie Griffin’s casebook, Law and Religion:  Cases and Materials, will be published by Foundation Press.  Also she spoke in Mexico City on November 28th, about appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court at the Congreso Internacional Sobre Justicia Constitucional sponsored by the Instituto de Investigaciones Juridicas at UNAM (Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico).

Craig Joyce chaired a panel on "The History of Intellectual Property Rights" at the American Society for Legal History's Annual Meeting in Cincinnati where he was also reappointed chair of the Committee on Programs and the Annual Meeting for 2006.

Joan Krause agreed to serve on the Advisory Committee for a 2007 Medical Ethics Conference sponsored by Holocaust Museum Houston. Also on November 14th, Professor Krause was interviewed by the Houston Chronicle concerning litigation against Louisiana nursing homes for failure to evacuate during Hurricane Katrina. On November 10th, she served as a guest lecturer in the new UH “Medicine & Society” minor core course, speaking on the topic of informed consent.

Douglas Moll's article, Minority Oppression & The Limited Liability Company:  Learning (or Not) from Close Corporation History, was published at 40 Wake Forest L. Rev. 883-976 (2005).  The article was solicited as part of a symposium on "The Future of Closely Held Business Entities."  The article was also solicited for republication by the Corporate Practice Commentator -- "a periodical, now in its forty-fifth year, designed to bring to corporate lawyers and business executives' reliable information on recent developments and new thinking in the field of corporation law and practice."  Most of the subscribers to the Corporate Practice Commentator are large law firms and corporate law departments.

Tom Oldham is editing articles to be published in the Family Law Quarterly, Iowa Journal of Transnational Law and the Journal of Legal Education.

Michael A. Olivas moderated the November, 2005 Frankel Lecture, and his piece from the Lecture (“Reflections on Academic Merit Badges and Becoming an Eagle Scout”) will appear in 43 Houston Law Review (2006). In addition, the Harvard Civil Rights Project will publish his chapter on the DREAM Act and college residency in a forthcoming book. He and Ian Haney Lopez of UC-Berkeley Law School (Boalt Hall) have completed a chapter on the Hernandez v. Texas case for the forthcoming Foundation Press book, Race Stories, edited by Devon Carbado and Rachel Moran.

Jordan Paust gave the Mike and Teresa Baker Chair lecture on November 1st hosted by Fulbright & Jaworski, Houston, Texas.  He also gave a speech on “Responding Lawfully to al Qaeda” as one of four main speakers during a Conference on International Humanitarian Law in the Age of Terrorism at the United States Military Academy, West Point, New York, on November 7th (and the paper will be printed later in a book); and he gave a speech on “Detainees, Illegal Interrogation Tactics, and Constitutionally-Based Duties” before the Dallas Lawyers’ Chapter of the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy on November 14th.  He has also been invited to join a panel during a meeting of the Eighth Annual Federalist Society Faculty Conference at the Association of American Law Schools in January 6th in Washington, D.C. and will present a short paper on “Customary International Law: A Rich and Intricate Part of the Law of the United States.”

Irene Rosenberg spoke on the judicial nomination process to the Council of Reform Judaism: Women’s Division and debated with Professor Bob Ragazzo about Judge Samuel Alito's nomination to the Supreme Court. She also gave a talk on November 8th sponsored by BLSA and Lex Judaica on being the first tenured female professor at the Law Center.

Robert Schuwerk’s book, Handbook of Texas Lawyer and Judicial Ethics will hit the streets this month, barely in time to be counted as having been published in 2005. He urges each and everyone of you to buy at least 100 copies, and to have 100 of your closest friends do the same. Professor Schuwerk was also quoted in the Houston Chronicle on December 1st regarding the role of the judge in the Ruben Cantu case. Cantu was executed in 1993 but he may have been innocent.

Sandra Guerra Thompson participated in a symposium entitled, “The Booker Project: The Future of Federal Sentencing” held at the UH Law Center on November 18th.  The symposium was sponsored by the Criminal Justice Institute in cooperation with the Houston Law Review.  A distinguished group of participants included nationally-recognized scholars, federal district and appellate judges, the Chairman of the United States Sentencing Commission, Federal Public Defenders, United States Attorneys, and leading federal defense practitioners. Attendees included a justice of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, law professors from around the country, and judges and practitioners from across Texas. Professor Thompson was also quoted in an article appearing in The Rio Grande Valley Monitor on accomplice liability law.

Don Tomlinson spoke to the Association of Corporate Counsel – America at its annual convention in Washington, D.C., in October on the subject of media relations and media law. In November, he presented a paper at the 43rd Intellectual Property Law Conference of the Center for American and International Law in Plano. His paper was titled: “Ownership of Computer-Generated Musical Compositions: Copyright at the Cutting Edge.” In December, he will present a day-long seminar on media relations and media law (with Texas District Judge Steve Smith) to the Judicial College of The Supreme Court of Ohio in Columbus.

Jacqueline Weaver was the luncheon speaker at the National Oil and Gas Royalty Conference, on the subject of “Energy Markets after Enron” in Houston on December 5th. She also completed the chapters for the second edition of Energy, Economics, and the Environment, a Foundation casebook.