May 2013
Cynthia Alkon, associate professor of law, made two presentations at the Law and Society Association Annual Meeting on May 31, 2013, in Boston, Mass. The first presentation was “Does Your Lawyer Make a Difference? Plea Bargaining Felony Drug Cases” with co-author Jonathan Marshall. The second presentation was during the round table on ADR and Compromise.
Sahar Aziz, associate professor of law, was interviewed twice about the legal implications of the FBI’s shooting of a Chechen immigrant being questioned about his connection with the alleged Boston Marathon bombers (on RT America on May 23, 2013 and on Russia Today International on May 30, 2013).
- Aziz published an op-ed “Muslims to Tea Party: Welcome to Our World,” on CNN.com, May 15, 2013.
- Professor Aziz's article, “The Muslim ‘Veil’ Post-9/11: Rethinking Women’s Rights and Leadership,” was quoted on Professor Juan Cole’s blog Informed Comment, May 9, 2013.
- Professor Aziz was featured in a live discussion on Pacifica Arab Voices Radio Talk Show in Houston on May8, 2013, focusing on the current political situation in Egypt and how the historic revolution that toppled the Mubarak regime has changed Egypt.
- Aziz’s paper, “Policing Terrorists in the Community,” was recently listed on SSRN’s Top Ten download list for: SRPN: Human Rights Issues (Topic).
Megan Carpenter, professor of law, moderated and organized the All Professor Panel at the International Trademark Association’s (INTA’s) Annual Meeting on May 6,2013, in Dallas, Texas. The All Professor Panel’s theme was “Trademark Boundaries: Conflict and Cooperation in Legal Doctrine” and included Mark McKenna, Emily Hudson, and Dennis Crouch.
Gabriel Eckstein, professor of law, served as an external examiner and chair of the SJD Committee reviewing the dissertation of an SJD student at McGeorge School of Law, May 14,2013, in Sacramento, Calif.
Professor Eckstein served as project coordinator and chair of UNESCO legal working group organized to draft statutes for the new African Ground Water Commission organized under the auspices of the African Ministers’ Council on Water, May 2013.
Professor Eckstein’s article, “Rethinking Transboundary Ground Water Resources Management: A Local Approach along the Mexico-U.S. Border,” Georgetown Int’l Envt’l L.R., Vol. 25, No. 1 (2013) made the top SSRN’s Top Ten downloads:
-
For the week ending 6/1/2013 for: Human Rights & the Corporation eJournal and SRPN: International Affairs Issues (Topic); Environmental & Natural Resources Law eJournals
-
For the week ending 5/25/2013 for: SRPN: Legal & Enforcement Issues, Human Rights & the Corporation eJournal
-
For the week ending 5/18/2013 for: International Environmental Law eJournal; Natural Resources Law & Policy eJournal; PSN: Environment (Topic);Political Economy - Development: Public Service Delivery eJournal; Political Economy - Development: Public Service Delivery eJournal; Pollution eJournal, SRPN: Legal & Enforcement Issues (Topic); Sustainability Law & Policy eJournal and Water Sustainability eJournal
Michael Green, professor of law, presented “Negotiation of Collective Bargaining Agreements” at the Center for International and American Law’s 51st Annual Course on Labor and Labor Arbitration held in Plano, Texas, May 9, 2013. Professor Green has also been invited to speak at a law review symposium to be held at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law on February 27, 2014, to discuss the arbitration of employment disputes.
Timothy Mulvaney, associate professor of law, has been invited to contribute a chapter on takings law to a forthcoming book, “Climate Change Impacts on Ocean and Coastal Law: U.S. and International Perspectives.” The book will be published by Oxford University Press in 2014.
Mary Penrose, professor of law, has been invited to participate in the University of Connecticut Law Review’s Fall 2013 Symposium on the Second Amendment. She will be presenting a paper entitled, “Disarming: A Modest Proposal to Repeal the Second Amendment.”
-
Professor Penrose has been invited to submit a short essay to Villanova’s online Law Review companion, Tolle Lege, on the Supreme Court’s resolution of the Defense of Marriage case once the case is decided this summer.
- Professor Penrose continues to be involved in the First Amendment case, Heller v. City of Dallas, that challenges the constitutionality of a Dallas anti-picketing city ordinance. She represents the “Dallas Six” (six plaintiffs who wanted to picket outside of the George W. Bush Presidential Center on the SMU campus) in both their civil and criminal challenges. The civil case is pending in U.S. District Court before the Honorable Jorge Solis. The criminal charges are pending in Dallas city court.
Peter Reilly, associate professor of law, presented a CLE course entitled “Lawyers Must Be Good Negotiators” at the law firm of Cowles & Thompson, in Dallas, Texas, on May 28, 2013.
Joe Spurlock, professor of law, consulted with Mongolian Bar Association President Batsukh D. (who traveled to Fort Worth to visit Spurlock) on plans to do future work through Texas Wesleyan Law School’s AJI to help develop By-Laws for the operation of the newly created “Integrated Bar Association for Mongolia,” May 10-11, 2013. The Parliament of Mongolia recently authorized the creation of the new bar upon recommendations made by Professor Spurlock to the Mongolian Supreme Court initially in 1996, and on work by the AJI and other international NGOs since. The critical feature is that the bar will be the policing authority for the creation and licensing of law schools; of standardizing their curricula; overseeing the national bar exam; and implementing CLE and ethics enforcement for all attorneys (judges, prosecutors, advocates, and others) in the nation, removing responsibility for and authority over all of these functions from the Minister of Justice. These changes have been long deemed necessary for Mongolia to continue its development into a democratic nation with a modern judicial system protecting human rights.