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South Texas Law Review

Published four times a year, each issue contains articles on topics at the fore front of developing legal theory and practice.  Law Review has conducted an annual Ethics Symposium for almost years as of 2023. In recent years, Law Review has included articles by, among others, former United States Supreme Court Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, Associate Justices of the Supreme Court William J. Brennan, John Paul Stevens and Clarence Thomas, former Attorney General of the United States Edwin Meese III, former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, and Judge Edith Jones of the Fifth Circuit. In the spring of 2007, the Texas Bar Foundation awarded Law Review an Outstanding Law Review Article award for the article Summary Judgments in Texas, written by Judge David Hittner and Lynne Liberato, 47 S. Tex. L. Rev 409 (2006).

The legal profession holds law review membership in high esteem and recognize sit as an indication of skill and commitment. Besides allowing Members to work and socialize with their peers, membership also provides an opportunity for students to publish in Law Review.

The Faculty Advisors for Law Review are Professors Charles (Rocky) Rhodes and Amanda Peters.  Professor Rhodes can be contacted at crhodes@stcl.edu and Professor Peters can be reached at apeters@stcl.edu.

Students join Law Review by being accepted after the successful completion of a write-ons process.  Law Review holds joint write-ons with CURRENTS: Journal of International Economic Law (CURRENTS: JIEL).  To write ons to both South Texas Law Review and CURRENTS:JIEL, students must complete the Write-Ons Competition assignment. Students participating in the Write-Ons can specify a desire to be considered for one or both journals. Currently Write-Ons are held at least three times a year:

  1. after the completion of the1st year full time spring academic semester;
  2. right be for the following fall academic semester
  3. after the fall academic semester (the December break)before the start of the spring academic semester.

For those planning to take part in the upcoming Write-Ons, please look for and attend the information sessions put on by the Editors-in Chief (ECIs) of South Texas Law Review and CURRENTS:JIEL. Meanwhile, feel free to email either of the EICs.

The Write-Ons assignment is comprised of three components, a case note, an editing exercise, and a grammar exercise. The case note is a detailed analysis of a recent case through support or criticism of the respective court’s rationale and holding, which show cases necessary legal research and writing skills. Where the case note upholds substance over form, the editing exercise values the exact opposite. The editing exercise tests the student’s ability to adhere to the strict guidelines set forth in the Bluebook, the Green book, and the Manual on Usage and Style. Finally, the grammar exercise tests the student’s ability to think through the mechanics of syntax and focuses on proper use of vocabulary, punctuation, and, of course, grammar.

Students must submit all components of the assignment to the Coordinator of Scholarly Publications by the set deadline to qualify for consideration for either journal. Write-On submissions are reviewed anonymously, and offers are extended by South Texas Law Review and CURRENTS:JIEL to successful candidates.

Answers to questions about Law Review can be found in the following section of Frequently Asked Questions

Submission Process & Article Requirements

The South Texas Law Review invites academics, practicing lawyers, and judges to submit articles for publication. The STLR does not accept submissions from current students, with the exception of STLR students (please refer to the PPM).

The STLR publishes four times per academic year. Certain issues may be reserved for symposium content. Articles need to be either in Microsoft Word or Word Perfect format when submitted. The STLR uses footnotes for citations. Please format citations using The Bluebook’s guidelines.

Submitting an Article

To submit an article, please submit via Scholastica HQ. You may also submit a hard copy to the STLR at:
South Texas Law Review
1303 San Jacinto
Houston, TX 77002

You can also e-mail submissions to LawReview@stcl.edu For any questions, please call 713-646-1749.

Submission Status

Once an article is received by the STLR, it will be filtered by the Editor in Chief (EIC) to make sure it meets the STLR’s requirements for submission. It will then be voted on by the board for acceptance. The EIC may contact the submitter to extend an offer for publication.

We are unable to provide status checks online at this time.

ALAMO HEIGHTS v. CLARK: LET’S TALK ABOUT SEXUAL ORIENTATION AND IT’S ROLE IN ESTABLISHING SAME-SEX HARASSMENT
— Rachael Thomson

LIGHTNING STRIKES THE TEXAS SUPREME COURT
— Hannah Fred 

B.C. v. STEAK N SHAKE OPERATIONS, INC.: SHAKING UP TEXAS’S INTERPRETATION OF THE TCHRA
— Sydney Huber

UNION PACIFIC R.R. CO. V. NAMI: HOW FELA’S RELAXED CAUSATION STANDARD MAY BITE TEXAS RAILROAD EMPLOYERS— Lani Durio

PICKING UP THE TAB: TEXAS’ OIL & GAS POSTPRODUCTION BATTLE— Gabriel Gonzalez

MINIMUM CONTACTS ANALYSIS AND BROADCAST SIGNALS IN TEXAS— Christy Gilbert

BACK TO BASICS: How Whistleblower Protection is Limited to Whistleblowers in Asadi v. G.E. Energy
—Drew Erickson

IN RE DEEPWATER HORIZON: Texas to Revisit Atofina to Decide Scope of Additional-Insured Liability Coverage
—Laura J. Thetford

IT’S NONE OF YOUR (PRIMARY) BUSINESS: Determining When An Internet Speaker Is A Member Of The “Electronic Media” UnderSection 51.014(A)(6)—Drew del Junco

PLANNED PARENTHOOD V. ABBOTT: The Constitutionality Of Admitting Privileges Requirements—Blake Freeny

TEXAS RICE LAND PARTNERS, LTD. V. DENBURY GREEN PIPELINE-TEXAS, LLC: TEXAS EMINENT DOMAIN LAW AND THE NOT-SO-COMMON COMMON CARRIER STATUS— Emily Quiros

NONSUBSCRIBERS’ CLAIMS OF “NO DUTY” AGAINST EMPLOYEE’S WORKPLACE INJURIES—Stephen L. Pasta

DISCRIMINATE ARBITRATION: How the Federal District Court’s Decision in Fernandes V. Dillard’s, Inc. Shows that Title VII Must be Unarbitratable—Salma Charania

FPL FARMING, LTD. V. ENVIRONMENTAL PROCESSING SYSTEMS, L.C.: Subsurface Trespass in Texas—David Mann

South Texas Law Review, Vol. 62.4 – Full PDF

Symposium Edition

Transcripts

Ethical considerations in pre-dispute clause construction, selecting an administrative organization or self-administered arbitration, and the use of administrative rules

Roger Greenberg, M. Imad Khan, Judge Daryl Moore, Denise Peterson

Foundations of effective arbitration and practice implementation

Patrick Aana, Rafael Boza, Stacey Barnes, Meredith Craven, Robert C. Rice

Rulemaking in arbitration

Geoffrey H. Bracken

Employment arbitration

Robert C. Rice

Oil & gas arbitration

Geoffrey H. Bracken

Commercial/consumer arbitration

Roger Greenberg

Construction arbitration

Ben Aderholt

International arbitration

Rafael Boza, Meredith Craven

Mergers & acquisitions arbitration

Stacey Barnes

South Texas Law Review, Vol. 62.2 – Full PDF

Articles

Summary Judgments in Texas: State and Federal  Practice

Judge David Hittner, Lynne Liberato, Kent Rutter, and Jeremy Dunbar 

A Proposed Constitutional Amendment to Impose Twenty-Four-Year Term Limits on Supreme Court Justices 

R. Randall Kelso

South Texas Law Review, Vol. 62.1 – Full PDF

Articles

Right of First Refusal Option Contracts: What They Are, Reoccurring Issues, and Simple Solutions 

Emilio R. Longoria 

The Future of the Freedom of Religion on State No-Aid Provisions: The Effect of Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue 

Ethan Szumanski 

Proposals for Incentivizing the Rescue of Life at Sea

Martin Cohick

The Udderly Problematic Beef Between States: Whether Employees Are Covered Under Equine and Farm Animal Liability Acts

Faryn Fort

South Texas Law Review, Vol. 61.4 – Full PDF

27th Annual Ethics Symposium Diversity in the Criminal Justice System

Foreward

Diversity in Decision-Making in the Criminal Justice System

Guha Krishnamurthi

Transcriptions

Thoughts on Diversity Within the Criminal Justice System 

Njeri Mathis Rutledge

Ethical Issues Related to Mass Arrests

Amanda J. Peters 

Race and Voir Dire

Eric J. Davis 

Inside the Prosecution of a Hate Crime

Sharad S. Khandelwal 

Essay

Racial Inequities in Military Justice: Deja Vu, All Over, and Over, Again

Dru Brenner-Beck & John H. Haymond 

Comment

Prosecuting Prosecutors: How the Criminal Justice System Fosters Injustice Through the Neglect of Prosecutorial Accountability

Shruti Modi 

South Texas Law Review, Vol. 61.3 – Full PDF

Articles

Offices and officers of the constitution part i: an introduction

Seth Barrett Tillman & Josh Blackman

Offices and officers of the constitution part ii: the four approaches

Seth Barrett Tillman & Josh Blackman

An act of resistance: reconceptualizing andrea yates’s killing of her children

Shelby A.D. Moore

South Texas Law Review, Vol. 61.2 – Full PDF

Articles

Substantive toleration and viewpoint Discrimination

R. Randall Kelso

Essays

Somebody’s got to go first: an acknowledgement of kenesha starling, the first african-american editor in chief of the south texas law review

Michael F. Barry

Comments

Ethical obligations of self-regulating professions: a comparison of aba model rules and ama code of medical ethics opinions governing professional discretion and confidentiality of information, and the impositions of heightened professional responsibility

Kenesha Starling

Sticks and stones may break your bones, but mean tweets will last forever: the clash of title ix and the first amendment on college campuses

Miranda Granchi

Defamation, social media, and the limited purpose public figure doctrine

Timothy Boman

Should we accept harsher punishments so long as they aren’t vindictive? A review of north carolina v. Pearce and its progeny

Russell L. Morris

South Texas Law Review, Vol. 61.1 – Full PDF

26th annual ethics symposium: legal ethics and m&m’s – malpractice & mediation

Articles

Ethics in contract drafting: should we fix what’s broken or start over and create something better?

Lisa L. Dahm

Mediation in texas from the plaintiff’s perspective

Randall O. Sorrels

From advocate to party – defenses for lawyers who find themselves in litigation

Richard Wilson

Transcription

Is whistleblowing an ethical practice?

Cedric Campbell

Thoughts on ethics of an estate planner

Helen Jenkins

The duties and obligations of lawyers

Ross Sears II

South Texas Law Review, Vol. 60.4 – Full PDF

South Texas Law Review Member Issue

Articles

The applicability of the crime-fraud exception in fraudulent transfer cases: does a “fraud” by any other name smell as sweet?

Clayton A. Morton & Tyler G. Doyle

The overlooked benefits of “hate speech” not just the lesser of two evils

Michael Conklin

Comment

The “dead hand” in oil and gas transactions: how the rule against perpetuities is rearing its ugly head in texas oil and gas law

Zachary Horne

South Texas Law Review, Vol. 60.3 – Full PDF

South Texas Law Review Member Issue

Comments

Copyrights in Music in U.S. Interpretation: The Case for Moving Away From Easy and Nonsensical Findings of Copyright Infringement

Grant Beiner

Against Public Policy: Enforceability of Exculpatory Clauses

Maggie Lu

Betting it All on the Flip of a Coin: Regulating Cryptocurrency Initial Coin Offerings and Protecting Investors 

Nathan Vrazel 

Overdosed: Analyzing the Causes and Potential Solutions for High Prescription Drug Prices in the United States

Matthew Fiorello 

Is the Sky Really Falling? A Closer Look at the Current Pension “Crisis” and the Constitutionality of Retroactive Pension Reform

Aaron Wallace 

Notes

Neighborhood Centers, Inc. v. Walker: The Curious Outcomes of New Charter School Legislation in Texas

Brittny Mandarino 

Gunn v. McCoy: Should a Dead Person Receive Over Seven Million Dollars in Future Medical Expenses?

Jolene Robin-McCaskill 

South Texas Law Review, Vol. 60.2 – Full PDF

25th Annual Ethics Symposium in Criminal Law

Foreward 

Jolene Robin-McCaskill 

Articles 

Expungment in Texas

Hannah Brewer 

The Pros and Cons of Texas’s Michael Morton Act

Kenneth Williams 

Choosing Choice: Empowering Indigent Criminal Defendants to Select Their Counsel 

Catherine Burnett 

Prosecutorial Misconduct: Shouldn’t the Punishment Fit the Crime? 

Mildred Scott 

Comment

Real Transparency: Increased Public Access to Police Body-Camera Footage in Texas 

David Trausch

Transcription

Providing Legal Services to Inmates 

Bradford Colbert 

Standard of Certainty in Justifying a Criminal Charge

Geoffrey Corn 

Prosecutors and Ethics in the Age of Restorative Justice

Kim Ogg

Incarcerating Migrants 

Cesar Garcia Hernandez 

Ethical Responsibilities of the Conviction Integrity Unit

Gerald Doyle 

Innocence Project of Texas 

Mike Ware 

South Texas Law Review, Vol. 60.1 – Full PDF

Summary Judgments in Texas: State and Federal Practice (2019)

Judge David Hittner and Lynne Liberato 

South Texas Law Review, Vol. 57.4 – Full PDF

Symposium: Ethical Issues in Family Law, Practice, and Policy 

Foreward

Pamela E. George 

Articles

Sharia and Anti-Sharia: Ethical Challenges for the Cross-Cultural Lawyer Representing Muslim Women 

Andrew L. Milne 

The Buck Stops Here…Or Maybe Not 

Honorable David D. Farr and Calvin McLean 

In Re Lee: How the Parental Right to Self-Determination Came to Trump Judicial Authority 

Honorable Leta S. Parks 

Dirty Deeds Done Not Dirt Cheap 

Honorable Diane M. Guariglia 

When Evidentiary Matters Cross Ethical Boundaries 

Heather L. King, Jessica H. Janicek, and Paul M. Leopold 

“Why Can’t We Be ‘Friends’?”: Ethical Concerns in the Use of Social Media 

Vanessa S. Browne-Barbour 

Privacy Rights in a Public Society: Protecting Your Client and Yourself From Invasions of Privacy 

Reginald A. Hirsch 

Transcripts 

Panel Discussion: The Real Zeal 

Marshall Davis Brown, Bobby Newman, J.D. “Bucky” Allshouse, Honorable Roy Moore, and Pamela E. George 

The subscription price to the South Texas Law Review is $32.50 per year (plus applicable sales tax). The price for a single symposium issue is $25.00.

If you are interested in subscribing to the South Texas Law Review, please contact Jake Hubble, Senior Coordinator, Scholarly Publications, at 713-646-1749 or jhubble@stcl.edu.

All past issues are available for purchase from the South Texas Law Review publisher, which may be contacted as follows:

William S. Hein Co., Inc.
1285 Main Street, Buffalo
New York, 14209
1-800-828-7571

30th Annual Ethics Symposium: Lawyer as an Advocate

This Symposium will provide attendees with insights on the ethical considerations in developing areas of  Advocacy. The event will provide both CLE and Ethics hours: 7.5 CLE and Ethics hours confirmed!

Date of event: Friday, March 1, 2024
Location: South Texas College of Law Houston campus, Garrett-Townes Hall
Time: 9 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.
Lunch: Provided by Treebeards
Cocktail Hour: 5:30 p.m.

Registration for the event is now closed.

Tentative Schedule and Learning Objectives

Read More about the event here

Guest Speakers

*Speakers and topics may be subject to change.

Downtown Houston Location and Parking Information

Metered street parking and paid garage parking is available in the area surrounding the campus.

Guests can find nearby street parking and garage locations and rates at downtownhouston.org/parking.

Please send all questions about Law Review to Jake Hubble, Manager of Scholarly Publications at jhubble@stcl.edu or 713.646.1749.

No. The South Texas Law Review will not make any exceptions to the minimum GPA requirement.

During your Candidacy semester on Law Review, you will be assigned to an Articles Editor. This editor will give you assignments that involve finding and checking sources, making sure footnotes are properly cited, and checking text for errors in grammar, punctuation, etc. You will also be required to work on a student casenote and comment. The casenote will be written during your Candidacy semester. The comment will be written over your B- and C-semester commitment to Law Review. Please ask a Note & Comment Editor for a detailed breakdown of the comment. Finally, each candidate will be assigned two weekly office hours.

There is a four-semester requirement for Law Review. You will not receive credit if you don’t complete all four semesters.

No.

No, there is no “set” number of spots on Law Review. The incoming number of candidates is based solely on the quality of work received and the needs of the journal at the time.

Law Review Write-On Competition FAQs

The 20th Edition of the Bluebook and the current edition of the Greenbook are good places to start. There are several scholarly writing books as well. For example, the Manual on Usage and Style is a helpful tool. Also, the Comments published in the South Texas Law Review issues will help show the type of work we publish and look for.

Yes, the Table of Contents is included in the Write-On Competition’s page limit. It should not, however, be on a separate page from the rest of the paper.

Assume that nothing is correct on the editing exercise. Fix anything that you believe needs to be fixed. Do not add or delete any footnotes in the editing exercise. We recommend that you work on this part of the Write-On Packet first, as it might help you when working on the casenote.

No. The casenote has a closed source list. You can choose to use as many (or as few) of the sources as you would like on the note; however, you cannot add any additional sources. The Law Review does not ensure that all of the sources are cited accurately or are relevant. Hopeful candidates need to use their own judgment.

No. You cannot have any outside help when working on any part of the Write-On Packet. You will be disqualified from the competition if you receive outside help.

No substantive questions will be answered by the Law Review board.

The casenote and editing exercise are the focal parts of the competition. Each grader is given the same set of criteria with which to review every submission. GPA will also be a factor; however, it can only help a participant and can’t hurt one. No student shall have access to another student’s GPA.

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