Faculty Highlights
December 2015
Professor Susan Ayres was invited to present a paper, “What did he just say? Did she really just say that?: Vignettes of Racism in Claudia Rankine’s Citizen: An American Lyric,” at the 19th Annual Conference for the Association of Law, Culture and Humanities at the University of Connecticut on April 1-2, 2016.
- Ayres had the following poems accepted in peer-edited journals:
- "Port Aransas Vigil,” Concho River Review (2016, forthcoming).
- “Alternative Medicine,” Fire Tetrahedron (2016, forthcoming).
- "Dinner” & “The Fig,” Re: AL (2016, forthcoming).
Associate Professor Sahar Aziz participated in a public meeting as a member of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's Task Force to Combat Harassment in the Workplace, held in Washington, D.C. (Dec. 7, 2015).
- Published the following op-eds:
- "Scholars: Trump’s Call to Ban Muslims is UnAmerican,” The Conversation (Dec. 11, 2015).
- "Don’t Collectively Punish Muslims,” CNN.com (Dec. 4, 2015).
- Interviewed and quoted in the following print and television news reports:
- "Muslim women say headscarves have made them targets for harassment,” Los Angeles Times (Dec. 10, 2015).
- "San Bernardino Shooting Prompts Soul Searching Among U.S. Muslims,” The Wall Street Journal (Dec. 9, 2015).
- "Shooting Sparks Fears of Muslim American Backlash,” MSNBC, (Dec. 4, 2015).
Associate Professor Mark Edwin Burge's forthcoming article, “Apple Pay, Bitcoin, and Consumers: The ABCs of Future Public Payments Law,” was listed in the Social Science Research Network (SSRN) December 2015 Top Ten download lists for the following topics in the Legal Scholarship Network: Consumer Credit & Payment Issues, Electronic Transfers, Other Issues Involving the Sale of Goods or Services to Consumers, Payment Systems, UCC Rules, and Warranties.
Professor Irene Calboli was elected as a member of the executive committee of the Intellectual Property Section of the AALS.
- Attended Global Congress IP & The Public Interest at National Law University, Delhi, where she delivered a presentation "Copyright Flexibilities" and discussed, with Professor Srividhya Ragavan, their book Diversity in Intellectual Property (Cambridge University Press, 2015) in New Delhi, India (Dec. 15-17, 2015).
- Delivered the opening address with Professor Kamperman Sanders of Maastricht University at the International Trademark Association's Geographical Names Conference in Rome, Italy (Dec. 10-11, 2015).
- Presented "Chocolate, Fashion, and Teddy Bears: Non-Traditional Trademarks Unplugged," at the School of Law, Singapore Management University, Singapore (Dec. 7, 2015).
- Delivered a seminar, "IP Developments in the United States," at the Advanced Professional IP Update Conference of the Hong Kong Intellectual Property Department, Hong Kong SAR, China (Dec. 2, 2015).
- Presented "Protecting Personality Rights in the United States: Are Courts Finding A Balance?" at the 15th annual seminar, How Quantum Innovations in Society and Technology Drive IP Law at the Institute of European Studies of Macau, Macau SAR, China (Dec. 1, 2015).
Professor Gabriel Eckstein was awarded a PESCA grant through a competitive process administered by the Texas A&M Division of Research. The grant will support Eckstein’s study, “Assessment of State Groundwater Laws and Regulations Across the U.S.”
Professor Susan Fortney was awarded a PESCA grant through a competitive process administered by the Texas A&M Division of Research. The grant will support Fortney’s empirical study, “Ethical Conduct and Organizational Structures, Systems, and Culture in Law Firms” (Dec. 16, 2015).
Professor Paul George participated in the Sedona Conference’s drafting workshop on data privacy in Scottsdale Arizona (Dec. 1-2, 2015)
- He is a member of the Sedona Conference’s Working Group 11 focused on data privacy, and the American Law Institute’s project on data privacy.
- He presented a one-hour Continuing Legal Education (CLE) program on Privacy Law to lawyers at Gardere Wynne & Sewell, LLP, live in Dallas and by video to Austin and Houston (Dec. 8, 2015). The CLE was based on his work with the Sedona Conference and the American Law Institute.
Professor Michael Z. Green has been invited to speak on “Post-Pyett Arbitration of Statutory Discrimination Claims under CBAs” at the American Bar Association Section of Labor and Employment Law ADR in the Labor and Employment Law Committee 2016 Midwinter Meeting in St. Pete Beach, Fla (Feb. 13, 2016). He will participate with attorneys for the clients involved in the Supreme Court’s 2009 decision, 14 Penn Plaza v. Pyett, and discuss his paper, “A Post-Pyett Collective Bargaining Agreement to Arbitrate Statutory Employment Discrimination Claims: What is it Good For—Could It Be Absolutely Nothing or Really Something?,” which is Chapter 12 in his book, The Challenge for Collective Bargaining: Proceedings of the New York University 65th Annual Conference (M. Green Ed. Matthew Bender/LexisNexis 2013).
Professor William Henning attended the annual meeting of the Permanent Editorial Board for the Uniform Commercial Code, of which he is an emeritus member, in Chicago, Ill. (Dec.11, 2015).
Professor James McGrath presented “Integrating Effective Cognitive Learning Techniques Into First Year Doctrinal Topics” at the New England Consortium of Academic Support Professionals (NECASP) Changing Students, Evolving Roles for ASP at the New England School of Law in Boston, Mass. (Dec. 7, 2015).
Dean and Anthony G. Buzbee Dean Endowed Chair Andrew P. Morriss’ article, “An Antifragile Tax System” was published in CCH® Global Tax Weekly (Dec. 31, 2015).
Professor Frank Snyder accepted an invitation to speak to the Native American Law Section of the Texas Bar at its 2016 Annual Conference, where he will address recent developments in tribal marijuana policy around the country, in Austin on Jan. 29.
- He will present his recent research on consumer preferences in contract default rules at the 11th International Conference on Contracts in San Antonio on Feb. 26-27.
- He has also been invited to present on a panel on motivating and engaging students in the 1L Contracts class to be held at the conference.
- He was quoted at length about the pending acquisition of The Williams Companies by Energy Trading Equity LP in the article, “Federal Trade Commission to Review Proposed $37.7B Pipeline Merger,” in The Texas Lawyer (Dec.16, 2015).
- He was invited to moderate a panel on marijuana legalization at the upcoming Southwest Cannabis Conference + Expo, which will be held in Fort Worth on Feb. 26-28.
Professor Peter Yu actively participated in digital copyright reform in Hong Kong. The reform proposal he helped develop is being considered by the Hong Kong Legislative Council (Dec. 9, 2015).
- Delivered a Chinese-language seminar on the Copyright (Amendment) Bill 2014 to legislators and legislative aides at the Hong Kong Legislative Council in Hong Kong (Dec. 23, 2015).
- Delivered the 18th ACIP Intellectual Property Forum Lecture titled "The Copy in Copyright," at the Intellectual Property School of South China University of Technology, and met with the law school and IP school in Guangzhou, China, to discuss collaboration with TAMU Center for Law and Intellectual Property (CLIP) (Dec. 21, 2015).
- Served as a featured panelist on the "Amendment of the Copyright Bill in Hong Kong: Who Owns the Right to Communicate in the Digital Age?" panel organized by Hong Kong In-Media and the Journalism and Media Studies Centre at the University of Hong Kong (Dec. 18, 2015).
- Discussed recent developments in China at the "National and International Intellectual Property Practices and Policies: Assessing the Impact of Political, Economic and Technological Pressures" workshop at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C. (Dec. 11, 2015).
- Delivered a lecture on "Virotech Patents, Viropiracy, and Viral Sovereignty" and served as an external Ph.D. referee at the Hanken School of Economics in Helsinki, Finland (Dec. 7, 2015).
- Presented "The Chinese Intellectual Property System at 35: Transplant, Transformation and What's Next" at the Legal Transplant for Innovation and Creativity—China and the Evolution of Intellectual Property Norms Conference organized by Hanken School of Economics and the University of Helsinki in Finland (Dec. 3-4, 2015).
- He contributed the following Chinese-language op-eds:
- Media coverage of his work on digital copyright reform in Hong Kong is available as follows:
- "Record of Copyright Seminar," (Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4) Hong Kong In-Media (Dec. 29, 2015).
- "At Copyright Law Tutorial, Legislators Again Show Limited Understanding," Oriental Daily News (Hong Kong) (Dec. 23, 2015).
- "US Scholar Comments on Copyright Bill and Calls for Moratorium on Lawsuits Against Netizens," Ming Pao (Hong Kong) (Dec. 23, 2015).
- "Copyright Bill Is Highly Controversial; See Model Examples to Avoid Running Aground," Hong Kong Economic Journal (Dec. 23, 2015).
- "Ex-LegCo Councilor Ronny Tong: Netizens Rebel and Distrust Professional Organizations," Local Press (Hong Kong) (Dec. 21, 2015).
- "Hong Kong's Netizens Protest Internet Bill," Hacked (Dec. 21, 2015).
- "Scholar Calls for Moratorium on Lawsuits Against Netizens," Hong Kong Economic Journal (Dec. 21, 2015).
- "Netizens' Adviser Open to Passing Copyright Bill Now with Review Later," China Daily Asia (Dec. 19, 2015).
- "Scholar: US Supports Copyright Bill in Effort to Pressure China," Apple Daily (Hong Kong) (Dec. 18, 2015).
- "Hong Kong Netizens Oppose Bill," Los Angeles Times (Dec. 17, 2015).
- "From Copyright Amendment Bill to 'Internet Article 23,' How Online Creativity Was Ambushed?" The News Lens (Hong Kong) (Dec. 4, 2015).
- "With Internet Article 23, Earnest Performance Will Be Illegal!" Apple Daily (Hong Kong), (Dec. 4, 2015).