Education
B.A., The University of Texas
J.D., Harvard Law School

Areas of Expertise
Environmental Law
International Environmental Law
Natural Resources and Water Law
Property

Fran Ortiz is a Professor of Law and the Presidential Research Professor for 2006-2010.  She has been with South Texas College of Law Houston since 1996.  She received her B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin in 1986 and her J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1989.

Among her courses, Professor Ortiz teaches Animal Law, Environmental Law, Natural Resources Law, Water Law, and Property.  She is the faculty sponsor for both the Animal Law Society and the Environmental Law Society at South Texas and is a co-sponsor for the Hispanic Law Students’ Association.  Prior to teaching full-time, Professor Ortiz practiced environmental law with the Austin offices of both Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue and Baker & Botts, and she worked as an adjunct professor at the University of Texas at Austin teaching Environmental Liabilities.

Professor Ortiz currently serves as a Council Member of both the Animal Law Section and the Environmental Law Section of the Houston Bar Association.  She has previously served as a Director on the Board of the Texas Humane Legislation Network, an organization with which she continues to volunteer at the local level.  She is an active docent at the Houston Museum of Natural Science and previously served five years as a docent at the Houston Zoo.

Professor Ortiz’s research interests lie largely in the area of animal law, land use, conservation and endangered species, and she has written several articles exploring this interaction.  She is also the author of an electronic property study guide called Interactive Property.