Page 29 - Briefcase Volume 38 Number 1

COVID RESPONSE

UHLC RECOGNIZES STANDOUT • 2020 Student Bar Association Professor of the Year -
STUDENTS AND FACULTY DURING Part-Time: Victor B. Flatt, the Dwight Olds Chair in Law
& Faculty Co-Director of the Environment, Energy and
STREAMING EDITION OF 2020 Natural Resources Center
DEAN’S AWARDS “It was very important for us to honor you,” Tennessee
said. “For our graduating students, you endured Hurricane
Harvey and now a pandemic. But we have to work together,
and we are a community that continues to support each
other. I’m excited to be on the Alumni Relations team so I
can continue to work with you after you graduate.”

UHLC WEBINAR DETAILS COVID-19
UHLC Dean Leonard M. Baynes, left, and Associate Dean of BURDENS AND SOLUTIONS FOR
Law Alumni and Community Relations Sondra Tennessee, right,
commended students and faculty who excelled in the past academic SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS
year in a Zoom video conference.

University of Houston Law Center students and faculty
were recognized for their outstanding achievements in
April at the Dean’s Awards Ceremony, which took
place virtually.
The event was co-hosted by Dean Leonard M. Baynes and
Associate Dean of Law Alumni and Community Relations
Sondra Tennessee.

“I want to thank everyone who attended our first virtual
Dean’s Award ceremony,” Baynes said. “The events of the UHLC’s Entrepreneurship & Community Development Clinic held
a virtual continuing legal education session providing guidance
past few weeks have precluded us from having this event and expertise to local small business owners in response to the
live in person like we normally do, but we wanted to coronavirus pandemic.
make sure we honored our students and faculty who have Attorneys, business and employment professionals
excelled over the course of the past year.” discussed some of the difficulties faced by local

“It’s really important for us at this time to not let go of our entrepreneurs during the University of Houston Law
traditions and the things that we have done before.” Center’s “COVID-19: Legal Implications for Small

Approximately 150 students received recognition for Businesses” virtual webinar in April.
scholarships and awards. LEX Awards recognized students “Whether you’re an aspiring entrepreneur, an owner of an
who ranked highest in courses that included Constitutional established business, or an attorney or other professional
Law, Contracts, Criminal Law, Procedure, Property, Torts, who serves the small business community, we hope the
Lawyering Skills and Strategies, Intro to American Law, program provided helpful information when addressing
Statutory Interpretation & Reasoning. the challenges small businesses face during this public

Four faculty members received the following health crisis,” said Christopher Heard, Clinical Assistant
Professor and Director of Entrepreneurship & Community
distinguished accolades: Development Clinic.
• 2020 Ethel M. Baker Faculty Award: Leah R. Fowler, Anthony R. Chase, an Associate Professor of Law &
Research Director and Research Assistant Professor, Business at the University of Houston Law Center, was
Health Law & Policy Institute one of four panelists. He indicated that the economic
• 2020 Order of the Barons Professor of the Year: Dave impact of COVID-19 will be more devastating to small
Fagundes, Baker Botts LLP Professor of Law and businesses than Hurricane Harvey.
Assistant Dean for Faculty Development “I co-chaired a relief fund during Hurricane Harvey as well,

• 2020 Student Bar Association Full-Time Professor of the and there are major differences,” he said. “Harvey had a
Year: Meredith J. Duncan, the George Butler Research beginning and an end, which was quite a bit shorter than
Professor of Law and Assistant Dean of Diversity, this. As a result of dramatic flooding shots during Hurricane
Inclusion and Metropolitan Programs Harvey being broadcast around the world, the Hurricane
Harvey relief fund attracted donations internationally.”

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