UH Law Center celebrates new faculty, promotions and service

Oct. 9, 2025 - The University of Houston Law Center has added three new faculty members to its ranks and has promoted three professors for the 2025-26 academic year.

“At the Law Center, we know that a large part of our strength as a law school lies in the caliber of our instruction. Our faculty’s scholarship shapes important legal conversations, their teaching prepares future leaders of the legal profession, and their service strengthens our communities. As we continue our commitment to building a world-class law school, it is essential that we attract and retain world-class faculty,” said UH Law Center Dean Leonard M. Baynes.

New Faculty Hires

After joining the Law Center more than three years ago as an Assistant Law Librarian, Professor Alyson Drake is taking on an expanded role this semester as Assistant Professor of Law, Assistant Dean for Legal Research Services, Director of the UH Law Library, and Director of the Initiative for Evidence-Based Legal Education. She specializes in evidence-based legal education, cognitive science and experimental education. Before joining the Law Center, Drake was the Instructional Services Librarian at Fordham University School of Law, the Assistant Director of Operations & Educational Programs at Texas Tech University School of Law, and Reference Librarian at the University of South Carolina School of Law.   She has a Master of Library Information Science from the University of Maryland, College Park, and a J.D. from William and Mary Law School.

With the addition of Assistant Professor Rita Julien, the Law Center has strengthened its expertise in international taxation, tax policy, and energy/environmental law. She is a Presidential Frontier Faculty, a strategic initiative led by UH President Renu Khator, to recruit high-impact scholars across many disciplines whose interdisciplinary research addresses pressing societal challenges. Her scholarship explores global tax reform, tax treaties, and European Union tax law, with a particular focus on efforts to counter base erosion, profit shifting and illicit financial flows. Julien received an LL.M. in European and international tax law from the University of Luxembourg; a Ph.D. in business law from the Vienna University of Economics and Business; and an LLM in taxation from Georgetown University Law Center. Before joining UH Law’s faculty, Professor Julien was a visiting professor at NYU Law, which has one of the strongest tax law programs in the nation.

UHLC has also hired a full-time director for its Criminal Justice Clinic funded through support from the BeyGOOD Foundation, founded by Houston native and businesswoman, multi-grammy-award winning recording artist, and actor Beyoncé Knowles-Carter. CJC Director and Professor of Practice Joshua Lake brings more than a decade of local, state and federal criminal defense experience to our students and the community. He worked at the Colorado State Public Defender’s Office from 2013 to 2015 and then at the Federal Public Defenders Office from 2015 to 2022. Lake earned a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center. His leadership strengthens the clinic’s mission to expand access to justice, serve low-income Houstonians, while providing our students with valuable real-world criminal defense experience and advancing our commitment to social responsibility and engagement.

Promotions

Megan L. Davis was promoted from Clinical Associate Professor to Clinical Professor. Davis is part of the Law Center’s Academic Initiatives and Bar Preparation programs. She joined the faculty in 2018 after a career that included serving as a deputy city attorney, school law attorney, and nonprofit legal counsel. A UH Law alumna (J.D. ’14), Davis also holds an M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction from Texas A&M University. She has successfully led the Law Center’s bar efforts for the past few years.

Alissa R. Gomez was promoted from Clinical Associate Professor to Clinical Professor. Gomez teaches Lawyering Skills & Strategies and Evidence and serves as UHLC’s pro bono activities facilitator. She previously led Houston Volunteer Lawyers, expanding its staff, launching the Texas Children’s Medical-Legal Partnership, and earning the State Bar’s Pro Bono Award. A former partner at King & Spalding LLP and a five-time Texas “Rising Star,” her scholarship now focuses on legal writing, pro bono, and civil justice reform, with recent articles published in leading law reviews. Gomez earned her J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law.

Laurel Simmons was promoted from Clinical Assistant Professor to Clinical Associate Professor. Simmons teaches J.D. and foreign-trained LL.M. students in UHLC’s Academic Initiatives and Bar Preparation programs. A graduate of Stanford Law School, she brings wide-ranging experience from federal service, private practice, and academia. Before joining UH, Simmons taught at University of California, Berkeley School of Law and UC College of the Law, San Francisco. She served as a law clerk for the Honorable Julie E. Carnes, then the U.S. District Chief Judge for the Northern District of Georgia, and as a Special Assistant United States Attorney in the Eastern District of Texas in both the criminal and civil divisions at both the trial and appellate level.

Emeritus Professor

Professor Thomas Oldham, who retired after 44 years of service at UHLC, joins the ranks of emeritus faculty. He arrived at the Law Center in 1980, and taught Agency and Unincorporated Associations, Business Associations, Family Law, Marital Property and Mediation. He was a member of the American Law Institute, a Fulbright Senior Scholar to the University of Sydney in 2015, and taught at Colorado, Cambridge and George Washington law schools as a visiting professor. In 2000, he was the recipient of the University of Houston's Excellence in Research and Scholarship Award. He received his J.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles.

“As we begin the new school year and reflect on these changes to the Law Center faculty, I note how impactful faculty are to the success of our Law Center. The faculty are the lifeblood to our mission of excellent scholarship and teaching. Through the faculty’s efforts, they produce groundbreaking scholarship alongside empathetic and soul stirring teaching. In deciding who to hire and who to promote, the Law Center aims for excellence and reaffirms our commitment to preparing students for a dynamic legal landscape with broad impact.

I’m happy to welcome our newest colleagues, to congratulate our faculty who were recently promoted, and congratulate Professor Thomas Oldham on his distinguished career,” Baynes said.

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