South Texas Law Review
South Texas Law Review (Law Review) is a student edited scholarly publication. Law Review is a scholarly periodical edited and published by second- and third-year students of STCL Houston selected for membership based on outstanding scholarship and writing abilities. An Advisory Council comprised of respected judges, practitioners, and law professors assist the Members, while faculty advisors guide the direction of the organization.
- About
- Faculty Advisor
- Editorial Board
- Membership
- Submissions
- Online Case Notes
- Past Issues
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- Symposium
- Contact Us
- FAQ
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:
- after the completion of the1st year full time spring academic semester;
- right be for the following fall academic semester
- 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. 62.3 – Full PDF
Articles
Offices and Officers of the Constitution Part 3: The Appointments, Impeachment, Commissions, and Oath or Affirmation Clauses
Seth Barrett Tillman and Josh Blackman
Offices and Officers of the Constitution Part 4: The “Office … Under the United States” Drafting Convention
Seth Barrett Tillman and Josh Blackman
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. 59.4 – Full PDF
Articles
Nuisance Cases Against Energy Companies in Texas, Pennsylvania, and Other Areas with Significant or Developing Oil and Gas Exploration
Stephen C. Dillard, Lauren Hunt, Michael J. Mazzone, and Mike D. Stewart
Decisional Traps in Fourth Amendment Privacy Cases
Tanweer Kaleemullah
Comments
Reversing the Odds: Creating Uniformity with Rule 404(b)
Sean Koch
Duress and the Material Support Bar in Asylum Law: Finding Equity in the Face of Harsh Results
John Flud
Texas’s Law of Parties: Exhausting All Precautions to Ensure the Fairness of an Accomplice’s Conviction and Punishment
Dylan W. Morgan
South Texas Law Review, Vol. 59.3 – Full PDF
Articles
2017 Oil & Gas Case Law Update
Christopher Kulander
The Preparedness Piñata: Knocking out the Problems in Texas’s Emergency Management Legal Framework to Enhance Performance at the Local Level
William S. Gribble
Current Issues Under the Louisiana Law of Oil and Gas
Patrick S. Ottinger
Forum Shopping: Defensive Abuse of the Intrastate Forum Non Conveniens Doctrine
Eliot T. Tracz
South Texas Law Review, Vol. 59.2 – Full PDF
Articles
Defiance and Surrender
Josh Blackman
The Purposes of the Foreign Emoluments Clause
Amandeep S. Grewal
The Meaning of the Three Emoluments Clauses in the U.S. Constitution: A Corpus Linguistic Analysis of American English From 1760-1799
James Cleith Phillips and Sara White
The Foreign Emoluments Clause – Where the Bodies Are Buried: “Idiosyncratic” Legal Positions
Seth Barret Tillman
South Texas Law Review, Vol. 59.1 – Full PDF
Articles
Rethinking the Tax Treatment of Higher Education Expenditures: An Argument for Cost Recovery Through Amortization
Michael Hacker
A Reconsideration of Financial Privacy and United States v. Miller
Dean Galaro
Trial Lawyers, Plumbers, and Electricians: Should They All Be Certified?
Thomas P. Sartwelle
A Conceivable Constitution: How the Rational Basis Test Throws Darts and Misses the Mark
Tara A. Smith
Experiential Learning: Moving Forward in Teaching Oral Advocacy Skills by Looking at the Origins of Rhetoric
Stephanie A. Vaughan
South Texas Law Review, Vol. 58.4 – Full PDF
Articles
Ethical Considerations in Drilling Services Contracts Following the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
Lisa Bagley Brown
Taking the Clean Air Act Into the 21st Century and Beyond: A Proposal to Streamline Regulation to Improve U.S. Economic Competitiveness
C. William Smalling
Ethics in Oil and Gas Litigation
Michael C. Sanders
Ethics in Environmental Regulatory Compliance – Conflicts Arising in a Transitional World
Robert S. Ballentine
Ethical Issues in Oil and Gas Toxic Tort Litigation
J. Mike DiGiglia
South Texas Law Review, Vol. 58.3 – Full PDF
Articles
2016 Oil & Gas Case Law Update
Christopher Kulander
Constitutional Landscaping: An Analysis of Occupational Regulations of Landscape Contractors in the United States
Caleb R. Trotter
Teaching Law Effectively With the Socratic Method: The Case for a Psychodynamic Metacognition
Otis Grant
Comments
Qui Bono? Unemployed Attorneys, Unrepresented Plaintiffs, and the Ban on Barratry in Texas
Brad Eric Franklin
South Texas Law Review, Vol. 58.2 – Full PDF
Articles
Murder for Life Insurance Money: Protecting the Children
Johnny C. Chriscoe
Examining the Empirical Case for Discovery Reform in Texas
Lonny Hoffman
Comments
Title VII and Transgender Employees: The Transition Away From the Traditional Concepts of Sex Discrimination in the Workplace
Lani Durio
The Status of the Alien Tort Statute’s Corporate Liability Question in a Post-Kiobel World
Andrew Culliver
South Texas Law Review, Vol. 58.1- Full PDF
Articles
Volumetric Production Payments in Bankruptcy
Jeff Nichols, Karl Burrer, and Ellen Conley
An Analytical Approach to Discovering and Curing Ineffective UCC Filings
Matt Crockett
A Guide to Researching Texas Primary Law
Jane O’Connell
The Legacy of the 1/8th Landowner’s Royalty and the Texas Supreme Court: Has Hysaw v. Dawkins Resolved the “Double Fraction” Dilemma?
Laura Burney
Comments
Cloaked in Attorney Immunity: The Lone Star State’s License to Lie?
Aaron K. Bender and Andrew B. Bender
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
South Texas Law Review, Vol. 57.3 – Full PDF
Articles
Gay Rights Strengthen Gun Rights
Alice Marie Beard
Equitable Estoppel in the Context of Claims for Tortious Interference with Contractual Relations: Has the Texas Supreme Court Gone Too Far?
Clayton A. Morton and Tyler G. Doyle
Comments
Captive Insurance Business Deductions: The Evolution From the Parent-Subsidiary Captive Structure to the Brother-Sister Captive Structure
Tyler J. Cummings
Big Cities in a Bigger State: A Review of Home Rule in Texas and the Cities That Push the Boundaries of Local Control
Garrett Mize
Will This Dog Hunt?: An Attorney’s Guide to Predictive Coding
Benjamin L. S. Ritz
Revisiting Garner with Garner: A Look at Deadly Force and the Use of Chokeholds & Neck Restraints by Law Enforcement
Anna Swanson
South Texas Law Review, Vol. 57.2 – Full PDF
Articles
Contingent Fee Contract Remedies Under Texas Law: How and When Suing a Former Client May Protect Her Best Interest
Daniel Ray Correa
What Would a Libertarian Tax Look Like?
John R. Dorocak
Clarity and Reasonable Doubt in Early State-Constitutional Judicial Review
Christopher R. Green
Book Reviews
Book Review: Restitution Revisited
Craig Estlinbaum
South Texas Law Review, Vol. 57.1 – Full PDF
Articles
Excessive Criminal Punishment Amount to Punishing the Innocent: An Argument for Taking the Parsimony Principle Seriously
Mirko Bagaric, Victoria Lambropolous, Lidia Xynas
Two Years of Motions to Dismiss in Texas: What Have We Learned?
Daniel E. Bolia
Balancing Testamentary Incapacity and Undue Influence: How to Handle Will Contests of Testators With Diminishing Capacity
Richard B. Keeton
Touring Deposition Conflicts by Rail
Douglas R. Richmond
Johnson v. United States: How the Unsung Opinion of June 26, 2015 Demonstrates That Inconsistent Judicial Application Evidences Unconstitutional Vagueness
Jesse D.H. Snyder
South Texas Law Review, Vol. 56.4 – Full PDF
Articles
Crying Wolf: The Use of False Accusations of Abuse to Influence Child Custodianship and a Proposal to Protect the Innocent
Robert W. Kerns Jr.
Statutory Reimbursement in Texas: A New Set of Rules or A Reversion to the Old Regime?
James L. Musselman
Comments
The Texas Open Meetings Act: An Old-Fashioned, Wild West, First Amendment Shootout
Carlos Doroteo
The Pro-Snax Problem: How the Fifth Circuit Took “Reasonableness” to a Whole New Level
Drew Erickson
South Texas Law Review, Vol. 56.3 – Full PDF
Articles
The Limits of Consent: Voluntary Dismissals, Appeals of Class Certification Denials, and Some Article III Problems
William P. Barnette
Just Visiting: Health Care Liability Claims and Nonpatient Injuries in a Health Care Setting
Brandon Beck
Licensed to Steal: Texas Private Property Towing Regulation and Consumer Remedies
Brian E. Walters, David M. Walters, Jennifer Shamas
Everything is Presumed in Texas: Analyzing the Application of the Presumption Against Preemption
Benjamin Walther
South Texas Law Review, Vol. 56.2 – Full PDF
Articles
Challenging Class Certification at the Pleading Stage: What Rule Should Govern and What Standard Should Apply?
Timothy A. Daniels
To Quote or Not to Quote: Making the Case for Teaching Law Students the Art of Effective Quotation in Legal Memoranda
Maureen Johnson
Law Firm Copying and Fair Use: An Examination of Different Purpose and Fair Use Markets
D.R. Jones
Comments
When Products Self-Destruct: Making the Case for the Product-Less Plaintiff Using Res Ipsa Loquitor, The Malfunction Doctrine, and § 3
Ashley Menage
FCPA Enforcement and the Need for Judicial Intervention
Sonila Themeli
The Luck of the Draw: Inconsistencies of Blood Draws in DWI Investigations, and the Small Odds Missouri v. McNeely Resolved the Conflict
Kendall Valenti
South Texas Law Review, Vol. 56.1 – Full PDF
Articles
Borrowing Balance, How to Keep the Special-Need Exception Truly Special: Why a Comprehensive Approach to Evidence Admissibility is Needed in Response to the Expansion of Suspicionless Intrusions
Dru Benner-Beck
MDL Practice: Avoiding the Black Hole
George M. Fleming and Jessica Kasischke
A False Sense of Security: Due Process Failures in Removal Proceedings
Darlene C. Goring
Rife with Latent Power: Exploring the Reach of the IRS to Determine Tax-Exempt Status According to Public Policy Rationale in an Era of Judicial Deference
Amy Moore
Limited Scope Not Limited Competence: Skills Needed to Provide Increased Access to Justice Through Unbundled Legal Services in Domestic-Relations Matters
Michele N. Struffolino
Comments
Depository Trust Company and the Omnibus Proxy: Shareholder Voting in the Era of Share Immobilization
David Brooks
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.
Partner, The Akers Firm, PLLC
Cordt C. Akers ’12
Cordt Akers began his career as a prosecutor and was then hired to work under and be mentored by famed attorney Dan Cogdell at one of the most prestigious criminal firms in the state. In 2019, he joined The Akers Firm to open the criminal defense and investigations section.
He is a graduate of Gerry Spence’ Trial Lawyers’ College, has been listed as a Super Lawyer “Rising Star” in White Collar Criminal Defense every year since 2017, and has received admittance to “Best Lawyers in America – Ones to Watch” every year since 2020. Recently he was listed as one of the top 100 Lawyers Under 40 in any practice area in Texas by Thompson Reuters.
Cordt has represented lawyers, politicians, judges, professional athletes, and Grammy-winning musicians for a variety of allegations in criminal matters and investigations. His primary focus is defense in federal and state court in white collar criminal matters, but also handles select quasi-criminal matters in civil court such as embezzlement allegations and asset forfeiture matters. He is frequently involved in cases reported across the country and has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and other national publications.
Baird Law Firm, Former Judge, Court of Criminal Appeals (Ret.)
The Hon. Charles F. Baird ’80
Charlie Baird is founder of Baird Law Firm, PLLC, which is dedicated to providing excellent representation to individuals charged with a criminal offense in Texas state courts.
Charlie retired as Judge of the 299th District Court of Travis County on December 31, 2010. Prior to his tenure on the district court, Judge Baird served on the Court of Criminal Appeals, Texas’ highest criminal court, from 1990 through 1998. From 1999 through 2006, Charlie served as a visiting justice on the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Courts of Appeals and as a judge on the criminal trial benches in Travis County.
In recognition of his judicial service, Judge Baird has received the following awards:
Outstanding Judicial Service, Austin NAACP, 2011
Civil Libertarian of the Year, American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, 2010
Defender of the Constitution – Courage and Compassion in the Face of Adversity, Texas Hispanic Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, 2010
Courage Award, 2010, Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty
Additionally, Charlie was a visiting professor at Texas Tech University School of Law, Loyola University New Orleans School of Law, and his “alma mater”, South Texas College of Law where he received the Student Bar Association’s Professor Excellence Award for 2004-2005 and 1999-2000. Professor Baird taught criminal law and procedure, criminal trial advocacy, capital punishment, and appellate and post-conviction remedies. And, while at Texas Tech, he supervised the students in the West Texas Innocence Project.
Charlie earned his Master of Laws in Judicial Process from The University of Virginia School of Law in 1995. In 1993, he was named the distinguished alumnus of South Texas College of Law where he received his Doctor of Jurisprudence in 1980. Charlie earned a Bachelor of Business Administration from The University of Texas at Austin in 1976.
Chief Public Defender, Harris County, Texas
Alex Bunin ’85
Alex Bunin is the Chief Public Defender for Harris County, Texas. He is board certified in criminal law and criminal appellate law. Previously, he was the Federal Public Defender for the districts of Northern New York, Vermont and Southern Alabama. He received the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers’ Champion of Public Defense Award. Mr. Bunin earned his J.D. in 1985 from South Texas College of Law.
Criminal Defense Attorney, Former Harris County Judge and Prosecutor
Inger Hampton Chandler ’03
Board Certified in Criminal Law – Texas Board of Legal Specialization
Inger Chandler is a Houston-area criminal defense attorney. She obtained her undergraduate degree from Mississippi University for Women (BA in English – 1995) and her law degree from South Texas College of Law (JD – 2003). Inger was employed as a prosecutor with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office from 2003 through 2016. During her time with the Harris County District Attorney’s office, she was assigned to the Misdemeanor Division, the Felony Trial Bureau, the Family Criminal Law Division, the Juvenile Division, and the Post-Conviction Writs Division. Inger spent her last three and a half years with the Harris County District Attorney’s office as the Chief of the Conviction Integrity Unit, where she litigated post-conviction requests for DNA testing, investigated claims of actual innocence, and handled mass-notification case reviews.
Following her career at the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, Inger opened a solo criminal defense practice focused predominantly on felony indigent defense at both the trial and appellate level. She was first-degree and appellate certified for felony appointments in Harris and Montgomery County, as well as second-chair certified for death penalty capital murder cases in the 2nd and 11th Administrative Judicial Regions.
In 2022, Inger was appointed as an associate judge for the Harris County Criminal District Courts where she presided over bond hearings, adjudication hearings, and selected over sixty (60) juries. She returned to private practice in December 2023.
Inger has spoken at numerous conferences about wrongful convictions/actual innocence, Brady evidence, and flawed forensics. In 2018, she obtained her Board Certification in Criminal Law from the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.
Partner, Wright Close & Barger, LLP, Former Justice, Supreme Court of Texas (Ret.)
The Hon. Eva M. Guzman ’89
Eva Guzman is a groundbreaking figure, with an impressive history both as a litigator and as a judge. She began her legal career in Houston, managing a successful civil law practice for a decade before accepting gubernatorial appointments, first to the Harris County District Court bench in 1999 and then, in 2001, to the Texas 14th Court of Appeals, where she served for eight years, hearing both civil and criminal cases. In 2009, she accepted a third gubernatorial appointment, becoming the first Latina to serve on the Supreme Court of Texas and the first Latina to be elected to a statewide office in Texas. In more than 20 years on the bench, she ruled on thousands of trial and appellate cases and authored more than 900 opinions.
Today Justice Guzman focuses her practice on litigating cases in state and federal trial and appellate courts. Having served at three levels of the judiciary, she brings extensive experience and unique insights to conflicts pending in courts as well as those in the arbitration and mediation arenas. An elected member of the prestigious American Law Institute for many years, Justice Guzman has contributed to scholarly work aimed at clarifying, modernizing, and otherwise improving the law. She has collaborated on numerous projects, studies, and articles with lawyers, judges, and academicians and also has served as an adjunct professor at the University of Houston Law Center, teaching trial advocacy. While working on her LL.M at Duke University School of Law, she studied under United States Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Samuel Alito. She is a frequent speaker for legal conferences and symposiums as well as special events in Texas and throughout the country. Frequently dubbed a trailblazer, she has received dozens of honors and awards at local, state, and national levels for her leadership, service, and achievements.
First Assistant, Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office
Mike Holley
Mike Holley is the First Assistant District Attorney at the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office in Conroe, Texas. Mike a graduate of Abilene Christian University where he graduated summa cum laude. Mike received his J.D. from Texas Tech University School of Law where he also graduated summa cum laude, and he received his L.L.M. from the Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School in Charlottesville, Virginia.
As First Assistant, Mike is responsible for the day-to-day management of the office, supervision, and training of employees, trying cases, and the preparation of the annual office budget.
Before joining the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office, Mike served in the United States Army. Mike’s Army career began as a Military Police Officer before The Army sent him to law school. Mike would go on to serve as both a prosecutor and a defense attorney in the Army and, in 2004, would serve as the Chief Prosecutor in the Abu Ghraib Detainee Abuse cases in Baghdad, Iraq.
Mike left the Army as a Major after 13 years of service and spent the next six years in private practice with the Lanier Law Firm. After joining the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office in 2012, Mike served as a felony prosecutor and Chief of the Misdemeanor Division. Mike assisted in creating the Montgomery County Veterans Court and has prosecuted a wide variety of cases. Mike spends a substantial amount of his time training attorneys in his offices as well as speaking to prospective attorneys about the profession of prosecution. He has also made professional presentations at various conferences across the state and the country.
Mike was promoted to his current position as First Assistant in 2016. Mike is Board Certified in Criminal Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. He has been married for 33 years and has four children.
Jamail & Kolius
Dahr Jamail ’82
Founding Partner, Johnson Garcia LLP
Daniel Johnson ’04
Daniel is a founding partner of Johnson Garcia LLP—a plaintiff, personal injury firm located in Houston, Texas. Daniel is a 2004 graduate of South Texas College of Law where he graduated as Valedictorian, won multiple national and state moot court championships, including the American College of Trial Lawyers National Moot Court tournament in New York, and was a member of and an Articles Editor for the South Texas Law Review. Following his graduation from STCL, Daniel served in federal clerkship positions in the Southern District of Texas for Federal District Court Judges John D. Rainey and Gray H. Miller. At the conclusion of his clerkships, he joined the litigation section of Fulbright & Jaworski LLP (now Norton Rose Fulbright) where he practiced until transitioning to Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP (now Eversheds Sutherland LLP). Daniel eventually became a senior partner at Sutherland and was named Managing Partner of the Houston office before ultimately leaving to open Johnson Garcia LLP in January 2016. Over the last 7 years, Johnson Garcia LLP has recovered more than $250 million for its clients by handling a variety of personal injury cases, including wrongful death actions, brain injury cases, catastrophic burn cases, 18-wheeler crashes, offshore and maritime injury cases, and other serious injury claims. Daniel is a Fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation, has been consistently recognized as a Super Lawyer by the Texas Lawyer publication, and is a member of various bar associations in Texas.
Partner, Baker Botts LLP
Bill Kroger
Trial & Global Disputes Partner, King & Spalding
Mary-Olga (“Mo”) Lovett ’93
Whitehouse, Texas may be on the map as the hometown of Super Bowl Champion Patrick Mahomes but it’s also the roots of another champion, proven first-chair trial lawyer Mary-Olga (“Mo”) Lovett. (She has known Patrick since he was five and loves him very much!) Mo is a fierce advocate for a wide range of national and global clients in bet-the-company litigation. She is respected by peers, opponents, and judges alike. As a revered Plaintiff’s lawyer and opponent once said about her, “She fights like hell, but she fights fair.”
A first-generation American on her mother’s side and a sixth-generation Texan on her father’s, Mo is proud to be the first lawyer in her family. She received her B.A. from Stephen F. Austin State University (’90, Political Science) and her J.D. from South Texas College of Law, as it was then called. The 2021 recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award, Mo recognizes her alma mater as the place where her dreams as a young law student were nurtured and developed and credits the skills she developed there with making her dominant in courtrooms across the country. She also was recently at a global law firm for 18 years; when she departed there in July, 2023, she was the Senior Vice President and ranking woman in a Firm of 2650 lawyers with 5,000 employees in 47 offices around the world. But what she’d like you to know is that while she had a lot of “Double Ivies” reporting to her at her prior firm, she learned EVERYTHING she needed to know at South Texas College of Law, as it was then called, from T. Gerald Treece, and his then assistant, Robert L. Galloway. Mo now works for the 2023 American Lawyer “Law Firm of the Year,” King & Spalding. On February 21, 2024, the American Lawyer described Mo’s move from her prior firm to King & Spalding as “one of the top 25 lateral moves of the year.” She is in awe of her Firm.
From small town to big city, Mo has nearly 30 years of experience, having tried more than 50 cases with more than $100 billion at stake. Licensed in Texas and New York, Mo’s cases involve a wide variety of complex legal issues, including patent infringement, trademark infringement, theft of trades secrets, commercial disputes, class actions, employment litigation, and product liability matters all over the country in both state and federal courts. She represented Lady A (formerly known as Lady Antebellum) in the fight for their name. She represented JP Morgan Chase when it was accused, nationwide, of discriminating against Black customers. She successfully defended Microsoft, Inc. in a $43 billion trademark infringement matter. She successfully defended a $454 million hedge fund in New York State Court (called the “Supreme Court” there, y’all.) She also was hired by bp to be their lead trial counsel in a case in Cameron Parrish, Louisiana with $50 billion in exposure – bp (formerly British Petroleum, like Mo was formerly Mary-Olga) was being sued by the State of Louisiana and 42 of its parishes for “shrinking the State of Louisiana.” She also successfully represented R.J. Reynolds against the State of Texas in a 2019-2021 war in the Eastern District of Texas which was a blatant attempt by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to retrade the landmark 1998 Texas Tobacco Settlement. She has been lead counsel in more than 75 patent cases in the Eastern District of Texas and has successfully tried many patent cases there on both sides of the docket, beginning in 2010. From 2019 to 2023, she represented Mattel, Inc. and Fisher-Price Inc. as co-lead counsel in cases related to alleged infant deaths in the Rock ‘n’ Play Sleeper.
Named a “Top Mentor” by the Texas Lawyer in 2020, Mo is passionate about placing women and diverse lawyers in first-chair roles, particularly in high-profile cases, and builds diverse teams to litigate every case she handles. She continues to support “Putting the ‘I’ in Imposter Syndrome” (a phrase which she is trademarking), and in 2020, The Houston Chronicle called her “the Houston attorney pushing to put more women in the courtroom.” Chambers USAranks Mo as a Band 1 Trial Lawyer. Mo is currently listed as one of the Top 100 Attorneys in Houston and one of the Top 50 Women Lawyers in Texas by Super Lawyers Magazine/Texas Monthly for multiple years. She has also been recognized as one of the Top 100 Lawyers in Texas and received the “Best in Patent” award from Euromoney’s Guide to Women in Business Law in 2017. She is a 17-year member and Senior Life Fellow of the American Board of Trial Advocates, the qualifications for which require a minimum of 20 first-chair jury trials to verdict and peer election. She has been listed in the Legal 500 in multiple years and is listed this year in the LawDragon 500 in four separate categories: IP (Patent and Trademark), Commercial Litigation, Product Liability, and Class Actions.
While at South Texas College of Law, Mo became the first person in history to hold the titles of Champion at both the National Moot Court Competition (New York City Bar Association), (’93-’94) and the ABA’s National Appellate Advocacy Competition (’93). To the best of her knowledge, no one from any law school has done that since.
As a practicing Greek Orthodox Christian, Mo does her best to live her life by the first four Gospels of the New Testament, although she loves and respects her friends of ALL religions and those who are atheist or agnostic. As a trial lawyer, she lives her life according to the Rules of Ethics and the Seventh Amendment of the United States Constitution. She also broke her ankle in spinning class (total klutz) and is still looking for her “sport.” Best of all, she met her amazing, wonderful husband at South Texas College of Law (as it was then called) in 1990. They have three sons, two of whom are very fancy Ivy Leaguers and one of whom went to A&M. Neither her mother nor her children are remotely impressed by her. She can’t believe she gets to speak at a CLE with her heroes Eva Guzman, David Medina, and Dan Cogdell – but she and Dan don’t see eye to eye on General Paxton.
Founding Partner, Lyons & Simmons
Michael P. Lyons ’99
Michael Lyons is one of the founding partners of Lyons & Simmons and concentrates his practice on representing plaintiffs in catastrophic personal injury and wrongful death cases as well as “bet the company” complex business disputes. Lyons has a national reputation for achieving outstanding results for his clients by displaying a mastery of the facts and law while utilizing creativity, tenacity, and cutting-edge technology.
Over the past 20+ years of practice, Lyons has tried cases to juries, judges, and arbitrators throughout the state of Texas and all over the country. In the process, Lyons has obtained verdicts, awards, and settlements totaling over a billion dollars on behalf of his clients—many involving high profile, high exposure matters.
Lyons has extensive trial experience in cases involving catastrophic personal injuries, wrongful death, and product liability. Lyons’ cases are as diverse and extensive as his approach to his cases. He has handled cases involving: brain and spinal cord injuries, electrocutions, aviation disasters involving helicopters and airplanes, trucking accidents, construction site accidents, industrial accidents, motor vehicle products liability, pharmaceutical, and medical device products liability, large business disputes involving breach of contract, fraud, and breach of fiduciary duties, medical malpractice, high profile contract disputes involving college football coaches and celebrities, and fire and explosion cases.
In 2023, Lyons was part of a trial team that secured an $860 Million jury verdict for the family of a victim killed when a tower crane collapsed and fell onto an apartment building in Dallas, Texas. The incident and the trial was a national news story. In 2022, Lyons was named to the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee in In Re: Astroworld Festival Litigation related to the tragic events involving the deaths of 10 people at the Astroworld Festival Concert in 2021. Lyons is among a handful of attorneys selected for the Plaintiffs’ leadership of this mass casualty litigation. In December of 2022, Lyons obtained a $10.1 million verdict in an emergency room delay case that was streamed live by Courthouse View Network. It was tabbed by CVN as one of the “Top 10 Most Impressive Plaintiff Verdicts of 2022.
Lyons has earned the respect of his peers through the relentless pursuit of justice for his clients. In 2021, Lyons was honored by the Dallas Trial Lawyers’ Association with the John Howie Award, which is given annually for the “courageous pursuit of justice in the face of adversity”. Lyons was given the award, in part, for taking a very difficult liability case to trial in one of the most conservative venues in Texas that involved the deaths of three African American children. The verdict is believed to be the largest in history for a wrongful death personal injury case in Midland County, Texas. Lyons has been recognized by The National Law Journal as one of the top lawyers in the country as a “Trailblazer” award recipient. He has regularly appeared on Thomson Reuters Texas Super Lawyers listing (2005, 2008-2023), including being selected among the Top 100 attorneys in Dallas/Fort Worth (2018-2023) and the Top 100 attorneys in the state of Texas (2021-2022). He was recognized on the 2024 Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America listing, an honor reserved for the top 500 attorneys in the country. He also has earned Lawdragon 500 Leading Plaintiff Consumer Lawyers (2020-2023) and Best Lawyers in America (2019-2023) recognition. He was honored as a “Best Lawyer in Dallas” by D Magazine in 2005, 2011, 2013, 2015-2017, and 2019-2023 and is one of only a select few attorneys to earn recognition for both personal injury and commercial litigation. Lyons has been recognized as a member of the Million Dollar and Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forums, was named a Lifetime Achievement member of America’s Top 100 Attorneys for Texas, and was named among America’s Top 100 High Stakes Litigators in North Texas for 2017-2022. He has attained an AV® Preeminent™ peer-review rating from Martindale-Hubbell consecutively for 15 years, signifying the highest level of professional excellence based upon peer-review evaluation from lawyers and judges who have observed his legal skill and ethical standards.
In addition to pursuing outstanding results on behalf of clients, Lyons has invested significant time in the service of his community as a leader within the Dallas Bar Association and as a leader in his community. In 2008 Lyons was recognized by Dallas CBS affiliate KTVT Channel 11 as a “Texan with Character” for his philanthropic work in the Dallas – Fort Worth Metroplex with children who were victims of abuse or neglect. In 2010, he was elected as a Fellow of the Dallas Bar Foundation, and in 2015, Lyons became a Fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation.
Shareholder, Chamberlain, Hrdlicka, White, Williams, & Autry, P.C., Former Justice, Supreme Court of Texas (Ret.)
The Hon. David M. Medina ’89
Justice David Medina serves as a shareholder in Chamberlain Hrdlicka’s commercial litigation and appellate practices in both our Houston and San Antonio offices. Justice Medina also serves as Co-Chair of the Firm’s Appellate Practice.
Justice Medina received his Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from South Texas College of Law Houston in 1989 while working full time for Cooper Industries, Inc. He was a member of the ABA National Moot Court Team and earned academic recognition on the Dean’s List.
After graduating from South Texas College of Law, David became the first Cooper attorney hired directly after law school. In his capacity as Litigation Counsel, David managed a docket that included environmental, product liability, toxic tort, real estate, insurance coverage and commercial litigation. Justice Medina also taught Advanced Civil Trial Advocacy as an Adjunct Professor at South Texas College of Law and Appellate Advocacy at the University of Houston Law Center.
In 1996, Governor George W. Bush appointed David to the 157th State District Court. Justice Medina was elected that November. He was subsequently re-elected.
Justice Medina rejoined Cooper in 2000 as the Associate General Counsel responsible for all aspects of complex litigation and product-safety matters domestically and internationally. During his tenure, Cooper prevailed in every litigation taken to trial or appeal, including a case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
In January 2004, Justice Medina returned to public service when he was appointed by Governor Rick Perry to serve as General Counsel to the Governor. Justice Medina had the privilege of serving the Governor until November of that year, when he was appointed to the Texas Supreme Court. In November 2006, Justice Medina was elected to a full term and served Texas until December 31, 2012. He authored over 90 Supreme Court opinions. In addition to his Judicial duties, David served as deputy-liaison to the Texas Supreme Court Rules Advisory Committee and the Preservation of Historical Court Records.
Since returning to private practice in January 2013, Justice Medina has successfully represented clients throughout Texas in various trials and appeals. His clients have prevailed in state district courts, courts of appeals, the Texas Supreme Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Professor of Law, Godwin Lewis PC Research Professor
Amanda J. Peters
Education
B.A., Texas Tech University
J.D., Texas Tech University
Areas of Expertise
Criminal Law
Criminal Procedure
Legal Research & Writing
Amanda Peters joined the South Texas College of Law Houston faculty in 2007. She teaches Legal Research and Writing, Texas Criminal Procedure, and Criminal Litigation Drafting. Prior to joining the faculty, Professor Peters worked at the Harris County District Attorney’s Office in Houston where roughly half of her career centered on litigation and the other half centered on appellate practice. Over the course of her career, she tried 40 jury trials and authored 182 appellate briefs. Professor Peters also worked as a criminal defense attorney, representing clients at the trial court level and on appeal before beginning her work at South Texas College of Law Houston. She has spoken and written on legal research and writing, criminal law and procedure, mental health law, therapeutic jurisprudence, and human trafficking.
Partner, Vinson & Elkins (Ret.)
Harry Reasoner
Charles Weigel II Research Professor of Conflict of Laws, Executive Vice President for Strategic Planning, and Professor of Law
Jeffrey L. Rensberger
Education
B.A., Wabash College
J.D., Indiana University at Bloomington
Areas of Expertise
Civil Procedure
Conflict of Laws
Federal Courts and Jurisdiction
Jeff Rensberger is a Professor of Law and Charles Weigel II Research Professor of Conflict of Laws. He teaches Civil Procedure, Conflict of Laws, Complex Litigation, and Property. He has written scholarly works on civil procedure and conflict of laws issues. His work on the conflict of laws issues raised by same-sex marriages in particular is widely known. He has previously served as the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs (1999-2005). In his role as Executive Vice President for Strategic Planning, he has oversight over the implementation of South Texas College of Law Houston College of Law’s Strategic Plan and also is responsible for a variety of internal research projects. He has served on several committees of the Law School Admissions Council and on three ABA law school accreditation Site Inspection teams. He earned his undergraduate degree in English from Wabash College, graduating cum laude and with Distinction on his Senior Comprehensive Final Examination. He obtained his J.D., magna cum laude, from Indiana University (Bloomington) where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Indiana Law Journal. After law school, he served as a clerk for two years to Judge Leroy Contie on United States Court of Appeals the Sixth Circuit and then worked at Kirkland and Ellis in commercial litigation.
Galveston County District Attorney’s Office
Jack Roady
Jack Roady was first elected Galveston County Criminal District Attorney in 2010, and was re-elected to a fourth four-year term in 2022. Before that, Jack served as a trial and appellate prosecutor with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office in Houston for ten years. As Criminal District Attorney, Jack serves alongside a team of 42 assistant district attorneys, 6 peace officers, and 25 support staff, who together prosecute more than 10,000 misdemeanor and felony cases each year in Galveston County.
Jack is the former Chairman of the Texas District & County Attorneys Association and is an appointed member of the Texas Criminal Justice Integrity Unit. In 2016, he was named Prosecutor of the Year by the State Bar of Texas Criminal Justice Section for his work to ensure the reliability of forensic DNA evidence in criminal cases. Jack has presented at a number of trainings by the State Bar of Texas and the Texas District & County Attorneys Association, and is an adjunct professor at Houston Christian University.
Jack attended Texas A&M University at Galveston, earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of North Texas in Denton, and earned his law degree from the University of Houston Law Center.
Jack is an active board member of the Adria’s Women’s Health Pregnancy Center, Lighthouse Christian Ministries, and the Advocacy Center for Children of Galveston County. Jack previously served on the boards of West Galveston County Interfaith Caring Ministries, the Resource & Crisis Center of Galveston County and the Gulf Coast Coalition Against Human Trafficking.
Jack and his wife Nisha have four adult children and reside in Santa Fe, Texas. They are proud grandparents of three granddaughters!
Partner, Hoover Slovacek LLP
Dylan B. Russell ’03
Dylan Russell is a partner in Hoover Slovacek LLP’s appellate and litigation sections. He has been Board Certified in Civil Appellate Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization since 2017 and was recertified in 2022. Only about 400 attorneys licensed in Texas currently hold this certification, out of over 100,000 licensed attorneys. Now in his 21st year of practice after joining the firm as a law clerk in 2002, his focus is on complex appeals and trial litigation.
In his appellate practice, he has presented over 25 oral arguments in state and federal appellate courts. He has argued 5 times to the Fifth Circuit, including twice in 2022, once to the Second Circuit in New York, and 4 times to the Supreme Court of Texas, as recently as 2023. During the 2022-2023 term, Mr. Russell had 5 petitions for review granted by the Supreme Court of Texas, 3 of which were consolidated for oral argument in September 2022 and another was set for oral argument in March of 2023. Since 2015, Mr. Russell has had 12 petitions, including 2 petitions for writ of mandamus, granted by the Supreme Court of Texas, including a petition for review set for oral argument in March of 2024. When he has been respondent in the Supreme Court of Texas, no petitioner has had their petition granted. In 2021 and 2023, Mr. Russell briefed two petitions for a writ of certiorari to the United States Supreme Court. One asked whether state-court judgments confirming arbitration awards, including state-court orders clarifying such judgments, are “judicial proceedings” entitled to “full faith and credit in every court within the United States,” pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1738. The other asked whether a defendant, in an FHAA discrimination case, must know of the disability “at the time” a reasonable accommodation is requested and denied or whether the knowledge can be acquired later, before any judgment is entered. As to Texas’s mid-level appellate courts, Mr. Russell has argued many times to the First and Fourteenth Courts of Appeals in Houston and the courts of appeals in Waco, Corpus Christi, Dallas, Beaumont, and Tyler. In addition to the courts mentioned above, he has briefed cases in the courts of appeals in El Paso and San Antonio. Mr. Russell has also briefed two bankruptcy appeals, presenting oral arguments in one of them to the Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division. Mr. Russell has also attended trials as appellate counsel in federal district courts in Fort Worth and Houston and in a bankruptcy adversary proceeding in Fort Worth.
In his most recent argument before the Supreme Court of Texas, Mr. Russell argued on behalf of a mortgage lending company that sued its prior law firm for legal malpractice in an appeal under the Texas Citizens Participation Act (Texas’s anti-SLAPP statute), resulting in the unanimous Court reversal of the Tyler Court of Appeals, which reinstated the trial court’s order denying the law firm’s motion to dismiss.
In his trial practice, Mr. Russell has tried cases as first chair in Harris and Montgomery Counties, including several jury trials in Harris County. He appeared in numerous federal and state district courts in counties throughout Texas, including in Harris, Montgomery, Fort Bend, Galveston, Dallas, Fort Worth, Liberty, Bexar, Travis, Brazoria, Williamson, Burnet, Hardin, Lubbock, Brazos, Denton, and El Paso counties, among others. Mr. Russell also has appeared in federal courts and in state courts, pro hac vice, in states such as Florida, Missouri, New York, Connecticut, and Oklahoma.
Frank Staggs ’82 and Janet Hansen ’76
Frank Staggs ’82
Serves as an attorney in Houston and in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He graduated from South Texas College of Law Houston in 1982, where he was on the South Texas Law Review and the Order of Lytea. After graduation, Frank clerked at the Texas Supreme Court. He returned to Houston and worked firstly at O’Quinn & Hagans and subsequently at Jamail & Kolius. In addition to teaching Legal Research and Writing as an adjunct professor at the University of Houston, he has served in numerous leadership and volunteer capacities, including for Bering Memorial United Methodist Church as administrative board chair and lay leader. In the mid-’80s and ’90s, he was a founding board member of Bering Community Service Foundation and served on its successor organization, Bering-Omega Community Services. During that time, he served with the Emergency Aid Coalition and was a founding board member of Houston’s SEARCH Homeless Project, serving as its first chair of its Council of Congregations. He also served on the boards of several Houston charitable and community organizations.
Janet Hansen ’76
After graduating from South Texas College of Law Houston in 1976, Ms. Hansen first worked as a briefing attorney with the First Court of Appeals and as a Law Clerk to the Hon. George E. Cire, United States District Judge. She spent the next 35 years investigating, preparing, settling, and trying personal injury lawsuits with Joe Jamail at Jamail & Kolius. She now has her own firm and continues to handle all types of personal injury cases. She has served as a Director of the Houston Bar Association, the Houston Lawyer Referral Service, Inc., and Camp for All Foundation. She is a fellow of the Houston and Texas Bar Associations. Currently, she is a member of the Houston Trial Lawyers Association and the American Board of Trial Advocates. Throughout her legal career, Ms. Hansen has also been active in Houston theater and currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Main Street Theater.
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.