Archives by Semester

Fall 2008
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Fall 2008
December/Early January

Professor Stephen Alton gave a lecture on December 10, 2008 entitled "A Brief History of American Legal Education and Jurisprudence." The lecture examined the history of legal education in America and placed special emphasis on the establishment and evolution of the case method of instruction in American law schools.

Professor Megan Carpenter will be giving a presentation to the Tarrant County Bar Association on Friday, January 16, 2009. She will speak on the issue of whether or not intellectual property rights effectively protect the interests of indigenous peoples in a talk entitled "Riding Roughshod over the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: The Problem of Crazy Horse."

Professor Frank Elliott was interviewed on December 8, 2008 at the Belo Mansion in Dallas, Texas as part of a compilation of the history of Texas lawyers who have been licensed over 50 years.

Professor Cynthia Fountaine has been invited to give two talks in April 2009 at the Northern Kentucky University Chase School of Law. She will speak to the entire law school community on the topic, "Protecting Diversity of Thought While Encouraging Diversity as Inclusiveness: Exploring Potential Tensions." She will speak to the law school faculty on the topic, "Improving Diversity in the Legal Profession by Creating a Pipeline to Law School."

Professor Jason Gillmer was invited to participate on an "author meets reader" panel at this year’s annual meeting of the Law and Society Association. Professor Gillmer will be commenting on the leading slave scholar Ariela Gross’s book, What Blood Won’t Tell. The meeting is being held in Denver, Colorado in May, 28-31, 2009.

Professor Michael Green gave a poster presentation at the Association of American Law Schools Annual Meeting in San Diego, California on January 9, 2009 on the topic, "No Strict Evidence Rules in Labor and Employment Arbitration." In this poster presentation, Professor Green explored the application of the rules of evidence in labor and employment arbitration proceedings and suggests a framework for dealing with evidentiary issues in those disputes. Professor Green will also be presenting, "Doubting the Thomases: Is Black-on-Black Workplace Harassment A Matter of Sex or Race or Both?" at the Law and Society Annual Meeting to be held in Denver, Colorado in May 28-31. 2009.

Professor Keith Hirokawa presented "Implementing the New Environmental Discourse: Sustainable Development Codes," on December 12, 2008 at the Planning, Zoning and Property Rights Conference, hosted by the Center for American and International Law and the State and Local Government Section of the American Bar Association. Also, Professor Hirokawa’s article, "Property Pieces in Compensation Statutes: Law's Eulogy for Oregon's Measure 37," 38 Environmental Law 1111 (2008), was recently published.

Professor James McGrath will be presenting a discussion of transgendered and intersexual persons’ experience in prisons from a legal perspective, and will compare popular media notions of the same experience at the Law, Culture and Humanities Conference on March 4, 2009 in Boston, Massachusetts.

Professor Carla Pratt presented "The End of the Pipeline at the Millennium: Using Stories from New African American Attorneys to Inform Theories of Intervention" on January 7, 2009 at the Association of American Law Schools' (AALS) Annual Meeting as part of a panel on Empirical Research in the Pursuit of a Social Agenda. She and her co-investigator, Dr. Dorothy Evensen, presented preliminary findings on a qualitative study aimed at learning what institutional structures aided blacks in becoming lawyers. On January 8, 2009, Professor Pratt also presented "In Search of Recognition: The Freedmen's Obdurate Struggle for Indian Identity" as part of the AALS panel on Law and Anthropology where she explained the disconnect between the Freedmen's claims to Indian identity and the tribes' rejection of those claims. Professor Pratt has been invited to serve as the keynote speaker for the Pittsburgh Black Bar Association's Martin Luther King program to be held on January 19, 2009 where she will present, "Are We There Yet? Has America Arrived at the Promise Land?" She has also been invited to present, "The Interpretive Role of Hip Hop in American Law and Democracy" at the University of West Virginia's symposium on The Evolution of Street Knowledge: Hip Hop's Influence on Law and Culture on February 13, 2009. Professor Pratt has also been invited to serve as a roundtable discussion leader at the Critical Race Theory 20: Honoring Our Past, Charting Our Future Conference to be held April 2-4, 2009 at the University of Iowa. There she will launch the discussion of Critical Race Theory and Indian Law with her paper, "Race and Sovereignty: An Examination of Racial and Political Identity in Indian Territory."

Professor Aric Short was interviewed for and quoted in a December 15, 2008 article in the Fort Worth Business Press by Leslie Wimmer entitled, "Internet Becoming a Popular Place to Build a Will." http://www.bizpress.net/display.php?id=9075. Professor Short has also been invited to participate in a panel addressing "Food, Law, and Culture," at the Association for the Study of Law, Culture and Humanities annual conference at Suffolk University on April 3 & 4, 2009. His presentation, entitled "Faith By Itself Is Dead: Local Homeless Feeding Restrictions and their Impact on the Free Exercise of Religion," will explore the First Amendment implications of municipal ordinances enacted across the country to limit the ability of individuals and groups to feed the homeless in public spaces.

Dean Frederic White moderated a panel at the Association of American Law Schools Annual meeting in San Diego, California on January 8, 2009 regarding creative options for teaching part-time students.

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November

Professor Stephen Alton has been invited to speak at the Texas Attorney General’s Office on December 10, 2008. Professor Alton’s lecture, "A Brief History of American Legal Education and Jurisprudence," examines the history of legal education in America and places special emphasis on the establishment and evolution of the case method of instruction in American law schools.

Professor Megan Carpenter presented on Trademarks as Human Rights at the Leadership Meeting of the International Trademark Association in Boca Raton, Florida on November 13, 2008. She was further appointed to the Academic Subcommittee of the Membership Committee of the organization, which plans global academic symposia, including at the Association of American Law School’s annual meeting. Professor Carpenter was also asked to present her work on the role of intellectual property in transitional economies at an invitation-only conference at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to be held on April 24, 2009. This conference focuses on Creativity and Entrepreneurship. Professor Carpenter has also begun a pro-bono project to enable students to assist the estate of Crazy Horse with intellectual property issues.

Professor Cynthia Fountaine has been invited to make a presentation at the Twenty-Sixth Annual Academic Chairpersons Conference, sponsored by Kansas State University and to be held in Orlando, Florida in February 2009. The topic of the presentation is "Campus Speech: Exploring Tensions; Seeking Solutions." Professor Fountaine was recently interviewed on November 6, 2008 by the University of Southern California News Network regarding the impact of the current economic downturn on both the applicant pool for law school and the career options for law students graduating into this economy.

Professor Paul George presented to the Dallas Bar Family Law Section on the topic, "Cross-Border Family Law," on November 12, 2008 at the Belo Mansion in Dallas, Texas. In a second Continuing Legal Education program on November 21, 2008 and part of his agreement with West (Thomson/Reuters) to provide federal pre-trial training, Professor George gave his first on-line program, "Federal Pleading in the Fifth Circuit,"as a "broadcast" from the federal court’s media room in Dallas. That program included panelists Judge Jane Boyle and Frank Carroll of Cox Smith. Other programs will follow, both on-line and live, in Texas at both Dallas and Houston, in Oklahoma at Oklahoma City, and in Arkansas at Little Rock.

Professor Jason Gillmer was asked to contribute an introductory chapter to a book on slavery in Texas, titled, "UNNATURAL LAWS: Studies in Slave and Free Negro Laws in Texas, 1821-1865," edited by the Texas Supreme Court Historical Society.

Professor Michael Green has been selected by the Evidence Section of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) to give a poster presentation at the AALS Annual Meeting in San Diego, California on January 9, 2009 from 9:30-10:30 a.m. Professor Green’s poster will be displayed throughout the AALS conference and will cover the topic, "No Strict Evidence Rules in Labor and Employment Arbitration," in which Professor Green explores the application of the rules of evidence in labor and employment arbitration proceedings and suggests a framework for dealing with evidentiary issues in those disputes. Professor Green has also been invited to speak at the American Bar Association (ABA) Labor and Employment Section Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility Meeting in March 26-28, 2009 in Key West, Florida on the topic of "Issue Conflicts, Positional Conflicts, and Business Conflicts." Professor Green has also been invited to speak at the ABA Dispute Resolution Section Annual Conference in New York, New York on April 15-18, 2009 as part of a panel to discuss the United States Supreme Court’s pending decision in 14 Penn Plaza v. Pyett. Other participants on this panel will include the attorneys who argued the case in front of the Supreme Court on December 1, 2008. Professor Green has also accepted an offer to speak at the AALS 2009 Workshop on Work Law to be held at the AALS Mid-Year Meeting in Long Beach, California on June 10-12, 2009. During this program, Professor Green will participate as part of a panel discussion on the application of statutory employment discrimination claims in the union arbitration setting.

Professor Terri Helge will be presenting, "Policing the Good Guys: An Alternative to the Regulation of Charitable Organizations" on a tax panel at the Law & Society annual meeting in Denver, Co., May 28-31, 2009.

Professor James McGrath will be presenting "Approaches of the Law, Public Health and Social Science in the Treatment of Transgendered Persons in Prison," at the Southwest Social Sciences and Sociological Association in Denver, Colorado, April 8-11, 2009. A number of Texas Wesleyan University’s Social Science professors will also be presenters at this conference.

Professor Neal Newman has received an invitation to speak at the University of Memphis Law School Spring Symposium on the Department of Treasury’s "Blueprint for a Modern Financial Regulatory Structure" to be held Friday, February 20, 2009. Professor Newman will present his paper entitled, "The U.S. Move to International Accounting Standards – A Matter of Cultural Discord," in which he explores the aspects of recent efforts to establish a global accounting standard for financial reporting and what the implications will be for American corporations. On Nov. 18, 2008, Professor Newman was seen on CW Channel 33, KDAF-TV, Dallas-Fort Worth, as he commented about the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) litigation regarding allegations of insider trading involving Dallas Mavericks owner, Mark Cuban. During this commentary, Professor Newman also addressed the possibilities of bias related to prior e-mail communications allegedly made to Cuban by a Fort Worth SEC lawyer who complained about Cuban’s plans to help with distribution of a movie that was critical of President Bush and the events of September 11, 2001.

Professor Huyen Pham served as a commentator on a paper presented by Professor Hiroshi Motomura, UCLA School of Law, as part of SMU's Colloquium on Law & Citizenship held in Dallas, Texas on Nov. 19, 2008.

Professor Aric Short’s earlier article, "Post-Acquisition Harassment and the Scope of the Fair Housing Act," published by the Alabama Law Review in 2006, was recently cited in a major housing discrimination treatise, John P. Relman, 1 Housing Discrimination Practice Manual, Chapter 2, Section 2.5, Discriminatory housing practices under Title VIII – Discriminatory Provision of Services (October 2008).   

Dean Frederic White has just published the newest edition of his book, Ohio Tenant Law (West 2008-09). Dean White also wrote a chapter entitled, "Smoking Joe Camel," in a book entitled Profiles in Prominence 2008. The book was published this fall by Golden Gate University and it chronicles the lives of eight prominent Golden Gate University alumni.

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October
Professor Wayne Barnes has been invited to present at Southeast Association of Law Schools to be held in August 2009 as part of a panel on Comparative Contract Law.  During this presentation, Professor Barnes will examine French contract law in his paper entitled, The French Subjective Theory of Contract: Separating Rhetoric from Reality."

Professor Megan Carpenter presented on "Trademarks as Property Interests," at the WIP IP Conference at Tulane Law School in New Orleans, Louisiana, on October 3-5, 2008.  Professor Carpenter also spoke on Intellectual Property and Indigenous Peoples at the Law Review Symposium "IP Squared" at Texas Wesleyan School of Law on October 24, 2008.  

Professor Cynthia Fountaine was a panelist and spoke on the topic of "The Role for Pre-Law in Improving Diversity in the Profession: Pipeline and Collaboration" at the Pre-Law Advisors' National Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada on October 18, 2008.  In addition, Professor Fountaine was appointed to the American Bar Association Site Team that made a site inspection visit to Charlotte School of Law on October 21-24, 2008.  Also, her editorial entitled "An Open Letter to the Next President of the United States," was published in the Rotagraph, Vol. 90, No. 18, October 31, 2008.

Professor Jason Gillmer presented his paper, “Shades of Gray: The Life and Times of a Free Family of Color in Antebellum Texas” at the Thirteenth Annual LatCrit conference in Seattle, Washington, on October 3, 2008.  The paper seeks to tell the story of the Ashworths, a prominent free family of color who lived in southeast Texas during slavery times.  Professor Gillmer presented his paper as part of a panel titled, “Race and Slavery: Historical and Contemporary Problems.”  On October 25, Professor Gillmer presented a version of the same paper at a conference commemorating the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade, “Commemorating 1808:  Fighting for the Right to Dream.” This conference was held at the University of Toledo College of Law, and brought together scholars and activists interested in the historical significance of slaves and slavery.

Professor Paul George had his most recent article "Enforcing Judgments Across State and National Boundaries: Inbound Foreign Judgments and Outbound Texas Judgments" accepted for publication by the South Texas College of Law.  Professor George was also invited back by the SMU Dedman School of Law to continue writing its annual Conflicts of Law update for 2008.

Professor Michael Green presented “Doubting the Thomases: Is Black-on-Black Workplace Sexual Harassment an Issue of Race or Sex or Both?” at the Thirteenth Annual LatCrit Conference in Seattle, Washington on October 4, 2008. During this presentation, Professor Green examined the intersection of race and sex involved with the high profile sexual harassment cases involving Clarence Thomas and Isiah Thomas and what these cases can teach us about black-on-black workplace sexual harassment claims. On October 10, 2008, Professor Green presented “Bias and Ethical Issues for Attorneys of Color: Whether Leveraging Diversity May Help” as part of an Ethics Panel at the Tarrant County Bar Association Brown Bag Seminar, “Why Diversity: It’s Good Business” held at Texas Wesleyan School of Law on October 10, 2008.  On October 24, 2008, Professor Green presented "Retaliatory Aspects of Compelling Employees to Arbitrate," at the Third Annual Colloquium on Current Scholarship in Labor and Employment Law held at the University of San Diego School of Law, San Diego, California.  On October 25, 2008, Professor Green presented “Searching for the Wright and Pyett Answer to Collective Bargaining Arbitration of Statutory Claims" at the Second Annual AALS Dispute Resolution Section Works-in-Progress Program held at Arizona State University Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, Phoenix, Arizona.

Professor Maxine Harrington had her most recent article, "The Thin Flat Line: Redefining Who Is Legally Dead in Organ Donation After Cardiac Death," accepted for publication by the Denver University Law Review as its lead piece in Volume 86, Issue 2.

Professor James McGrath presented at the Central States Law Schools Association 2008 Conference held at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois on October 25, 2008.  During his presentation entitled “A Prisoner’s Dilemma; Transgendered People in Prison,” Professor McGrath discussed the treatment of transgender and intersexual persons in prison as their sex determination may be medically and legally unclear. During the presentation, Professor McGrath examined the legal and social underpinnings of the policies that direct placement of prisoners into binary prison populations and the legal and other harms that may occur from this placement.  

Professor Tanya Pierce has been named to the ABA Standards & Program Structures Committee for the Legal Writing Institute (LWI).  This Committee will monitor both programmatic changes and ABA accreditation standards and other matters as decided by the LWI Board of Directors.

Professor Carla Pratt presented her paper, “From Slave to Freedman – Slavery’s Influence on Contemporary Notions of Indianness” at the Thirteenth Annual LatCrit Conference in Seattle, Washington on October 3, 2008. Professor Pratt’s presentation was part of a panel on “Race and Slavery: Historical and Contemporary Problems” held on October 3, 2008. Professor Pratt also presented "Killing Two Birds With One Stone: The Role of Law Firm Diversification in Fulfilling Pro Bono Responsibilities," as part of an Ethics Panel at the Tarrant County Bar Association Brown Bag Seminar, “Why Diversity: It’s Good Business” held at Texas Wesleyan School of Law on October 10, 2008.

Professor Aric Short presented “Exorcisms Gone Bad: Treading the Line Between Free Exercise and Personal Responsibility” to faculty and students in the Department of Religion at Texas Christian on October 6, 2008.  Professor Short discussed and critiqued a recent Texas Supreme Court decision that immunized a local church from tort liability in connection with injuries sustained during rituals to rid a church member of demonic possession.

Dean Frederic White presented at the 2008 American Bar Association program on Bar Exam Passage held in Chicago, Illinois on Friday, October 17, 2008.  Dean White participated on a panel, “Programs That Work: Highlighting Programs of Several Schools that have Shown Improved Bar Passage Rates” and discussed his own experience and success in developing a program to improve bar passage rate.

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Late August/September
Professor Susan Ayres was invited to present at Southeast Association of Law Schools to be held in August 2009 as part of a panel on Policing Families. Professor Ayers will survey neonaticide cases to demonstrate how law enforces and constructs norms of parenting and to examine whether law's construction of the neonaticidal mother as a passive victim should be revised to take into account the possibility that she is instead a responsible agent who has rejected conventional expectations of motherhood. Professor Ayres’ article was accepted for publication: Kairos and Safe Havens: The Timing and Calamity of Unwanted Birth, 15 Wm & Mary J of Women & Law ___ (2009). Professor Ayres has also been invited to serve on an advisory board of Tarrant County Alliance For Children that is being established to promote public awareness about Baby Moses laws. Professor Ayres has also been invited to co-present (with Dr. Prema Manjunath) as part of a Grand Rounds presentation at John Peter Smith Hospital, Psychiatric Department in January on the topic of Mothers in Denial.

Professor Wayne Barnes article, Toward a Fairer Model of Consumer Assent to Standard Form Contracts: In Defense of Restatement Subsection 211(3), 82 Wash. L. Rev. 227 (2007), was cited in the venerable treatise, 2 Williston on Contracts § 6:17 n.1 (4th ed. May 2008 update). Also, Professor Barnes’ article, The Objective Theory of Contracts, 76 U. Cin. L. Rev. 101 (2008), was recently published.  Professor Barnes’ article, The French Subjective Theory of Contract: Separating Rhetoric from Reality, 83 Tul. L. Rev. _____ (forthcoming 2008), was accepted for publication by the Tulane Law Review.

Professor Megan Carpenter will be speaking on "Trademarks as Property Interests," at the WIP IP Conference at Tulane Law School in New Orleans, Louisiana, on October 3-5. Professor Carpenter will also be speaking on Intellectual Property and Indigenous Peoples at the Law Review Symposium "IP Squared" at Texas Wesleyan School of Law on October 24. Professor Carpenter has been invited to speak at the Leadership Meeting for the International Trademark Association in Boca Raton, Florida, from November 12-15, on "Trademarks as Human Rights." Professor Carpenter will also speak on a panel at the conference "Creativity, Law, and Intellectual Property" at the University of Wisconsin School of Law on April 24. Professor Carpenter has also been selected as a Moderator for a Panel at the Annual Meeting for the International Trademark Association, on Trademarks and Moral Rights, in May, 2009.

Professor Frank Elliott and his co-author/editor, Adjunct Professor Kay Elliott, published a new book, Simple Dispute Resolution: A Handbook of Settlement Science Solutions (2008 Knowles Publishing Company).

Professor Cynthia Fountaine has been invited to present "Exploring Tensions in Formulating and Enforcing Free Speech Policies for University Campuses" at the International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences at the University of Athens in Athens, Greece in July 2009. Professor Fountaine has also been re-appointed to the Law School Admissions Council (LSAC) Sub-Committee on Misconduct and Irregularities in the Admissions Process. In addition, Professor Fountaine has been appointed to an LSAC ad hoc sub-committee to consider proposals to change the LSAC statement regarding "Ethical Conduct in Applying to Law School" and the LSAC "Statement of Good Admissions and Financial Aid Practices."

Professor Jason Gillmer participated in a panel discussion about the work of the controversial artist Kara Walker at the Modern Art Museum on September 6, 2008. His talk was titled, “Complexity and Confusion in the Laws of Slavery,” and was designed provide historical background for Walker’s images, most of which focus on slavery and its incidents. The other members of the panel were Robert Storr, Dean of the Yale Art School, and Adrienne Davis, professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. Also, on August 29, 2008, Professor Gillmer’s paper, “Base Wretches and Black Wenches: A Story of Sex and Race, Violence and Compassion, During Slavery Times" was listed on Social Science Research Network’s Top Ten download list for its SL: Comparative & International Law (Topic) database at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/JELJOUR_Results.cfm?form_name=journalBrowse&journal_id=1092618.  

Professor Michael Green presented at the American Bar Association’s Annual Labor and Employment Conference held in Denver, Colorado on September 11, 2008. His presentation was titled, “Witness Preparation and Ex Parte Communications: A Fundamental Discussion.” Professor Green will speak at the Third Annual Labor and Employment Scholars Colloquium on Friday, October 24, 2008 in San Diego, California at the University of San Diego Law School on the topic, “Retaliatory Aspects of Compelling Arbitration.” Professor Green will also speak at the 2nd Annual AALS Dispute Resolution Section Works-in-Progress Conference on Saturday, October 25, 2008 held in Phoenix, Arizona at Arizona State School of Law. His presentation is titled, “Searching for the Wright and Pyett Answer to Collectively-Bargained Arbitration of Statutory Claims.” Professor Green has also been invited by the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law’s Labor and Employment Law Lecture Series Committee to be its Littleton Speaker this year for a presentation that will be held on Thursday, March 12, 2009. Professor Green will explore the dynamics of employment discrimination law forty-five years after the passage of Title VII in a speech currently titled, “Where are We Going with the Merger of Employment Discrimination Claims and Alternative Dispute Resolution?” Professor Green will also speak on an Ethics Panel with Professor Carla Pratt at the Tarrant County Bar Association Diversity Program to be held on October 10, 2008 at Texas Wesleyan School of Law. Professor Green’s presentation is entitled, “Bias and Ethical Issues for Attorneys of Color Who Work for Corporations on Matters of Race: Whether Leveraging Diversity May Help.”

Professor Keith Hirokawa has been elected to the Publications Oversight Board for the State and Local Gov't Section of the American Bar Association. In December, Professor Hirokawa will speak about Sustainability Codes at the Planning, Zoning and Property Rights conference, sponsored by the Center for American and International Law in Plano, Texas. Professor Hirokawa has also been invited to be a speaker on a panel titled, “A Whole New Land Use Law: Teaching New Urbanism, Smart Growth, Green Building and the Laws that Govern Them” as part of a workshop regarding Land Use and Real Estate to be held at the Southeastern Association of Law Schools (SEALS) on August 2, 2009.

Professor Charlotte Hughart drafted the application and made a presentation in Austin, Texas this summer that resulted in the awarding of an IOLTA (Interest on Lawyer’s Trust Accounts) in the amount of $40,000 from the Texas Access to Justice Foundation that started in September. This grant helps provide representation to caretakers of children at risk of abuse or neglect. Through the grant, the Texas Wesleyan Law Clinic is able to assist a new caretaker, for a child at risk, in obtaining a legal custody order or adoption, depending on the circumstances, so the caretaker can enroll the child in school, apply for benefits for the child and obtain medical care for the child. Professor Hughart also received notice of renewal of the Clinic’s United Way grant for $85,000 and the Clinic is currently in the middle of a two-year grant from the Department of Justice through the SafeHaven organization to represent victims of domestic violence.

Professor James McGrath made a presentation on September 6, 2008 at the Lavender Law Conference held in San Francisco, California. Professor McGrath discussed the experience of transgender and intersexual persons in prisons while noting the difficulties in placement and treatment of people who don’t fit neatly into a sex or gender binary and the limitations of the current approaches for defining sex in prison placement. Professor McGrath has also been invited to speak at the Central States Law Schools Association 2008 Conference to be held at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois on October 25, 2008. At that time, he will again discuss the treatment of transgender and intersexual persons in prison as their sex determination may be medically and legally unclear. Professor McGrath expects to focus on historic assumptions for segregation by sex in other legal contexts and will compare the social context for sex segregation in other institutions in an effort to establish a more sensible placement schema in the prisoner context.

Professor Neal Newman presented a paper, "The U.S. Move to International Accounting Standards – A Matter of Cultural Discord – How Do We Reconcile?" at the Northeast People of Color Scholarship Conference held at Boston University School of Law on September 12, 2008.

Professor Malinda Seymore has co-authored a paper entitled, "China's Future Lawyers: Some Differences in Education and Outlook" that was recently listed on Social Science Research Network's Top Ten download list for the EAS East Asian Studies Subject Matter Journals, HRN East Asian Studies Research Network and INT: Other (Topic) databases as of August 19, 2008 at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/topten/topTenResults.cfm?groupingId=948056&netorjrnl=ntwk.

Professor Huyen Pham’s article, "Lessons Learned from the First Generation of Local Immigration Laws," has been published by the Hofstra Law Review. This article was part of an invitation to participate in a symposium, Local Dimensions of Immigration, sponsored by Hofstra Law School in Fall 2007. Also, Professor Pham’s earlier article, "The Private Enforcement of Immigration Laws," published by the Georgetown Law Journal in Spring 2008 was cited by the ABA's Section of Administrative Law & Regulatory Practice as a "Recent Article of Interest" in its summer newsletter. Professor Pham has also been asked to serve as a commentator on a paper to be presented by Professor Hiroshi Motomura, UCLA School of Law, as part of SMU's Colloquium on Law & Citizenship to be held on November 19.  Additionally, Professor Pham has been invited to speak at the "Perspectives on Justice" symposium to be held at the University of South Carolina School of Law in April 2009.

Professor Carla Pratt presented a paper at the Fordham Law School’s Louis Stein Center for Law and Ethics on "The Role of the Black Lawyer in Our Democracy." Professor Pratt will be presenting "Killing Two Birds With One Stone: The Role of Law Firm Diversification in Fulfilling Pro Bono Responsibilities," as part of an Ethics Panel at the Tarrant County Bar Association Diversity program to be held at Texas Wesleyan School of Law on October 10, 2008. Professor Michael Green will also participate in this program as part of the same Ethics Panel.

Dean Frederic White was appointed to the Board of the Development Corporation of Tarrant County(DCTC). The DCTC is a non-profit organization located in Fort Worth that provides direct funding and housing activities for the residents of Tarrant County.

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Summer 2008
July/Early August

Professor Susan Ayres gave a lecture on August 7, 2008 at the Fort Worth Museum of Modern Art. The lecture, about the relationship between the novel,  BELOVED, and the art of Kara Walker, was part of the museum's summer reading series in conjunction with its current exhibition, "Kara Walker: My Complement, My  Enemy, My Oppressor, My Love."

Professor Mark Burge and Professor Roger Simon spoke at the Thirteenth Biennial Conference of the Legal Writing Institute (LWI) held at Indiana University - Indianapolis during July 14- 17, 2008.  Their presentation was entitled "Integration of Statutory-Interpretation Skills into Your Existing Writing and Analysis Curriculum: Theoretical and Practical Perspectives."  LWI is the second largest organization of law professors in the United States.

Professor Cynthia Fountaine presented at the Southeastern Association of Law Schools (SEALS) annual conference on July 31, 2008 held in Palm Beach, Florida. Professor Fountaine was a Co-Chair, Panelist, and Discussion Leader for a SEALS panel entitled, "Overview Regarding the Teaching of Professional Responsibility." Her presentation was entitled, "From Orientation to Graduation: Legal Ethics Across the Law School Curriculum, Mexican Curricular Reform Project: Professional Responsibility." Professor Fountaine has also been invited to present "Protecting Diversity of Thought While Encouraging Diversity as Inclusiveness: Exploring Potential Tensions" at the 2009 International Conference on Diversity in Organizations, Communities and Nations, which will be held in June 2009 in Riga, Latvia.

Professor Jason Gillmer presented at the Southeastern Association of Law Schools (SEALS) annual conference on August 1, 2008 held in Palm Beach, Florida. Professor Gillmer’s latest article, "Base Wretches and Black Wenches: A Story of Sex and Race, Violence and Compassion, During Slavery Times," was chosen as a "Top Paper" to be presented at SEALS after a national call for papers. This paper was one of three final papers chosen out of more than thirty-five applications. In this paper, which will be published in the Alabama Law Review, Professor Gillmer examines in detail the local and trial records of a nineteenth-century Texas case to tell the story of a white slave master who had a thirty-year relationship with a female slave. Professor Gillmer was also invited to speak at a conference commemorating the abolition of the slave trade 200 years ago. This conference is being held at the University of Toledo College of Law at the end of October, and Professor Gillmer will be presenting a paper entitled, "Shades of Gray: Free Blacks, Poor Whites, and the Politics of Difference in Antebellum Texas."  Professor Gillmer has also been invited to present his latest research regarding the history of free blacks in Texas at the Thirteenth Annual LatCrit Conference in Seattle, Washington. Professor Gillmer will participate as part of a LatCrit panel on Race and Slavery: Historical and Contemporary Problems to be held on October 3, 2008. Professor Carla Pratt will also be a presenter on this LatCrit panel.

Professor Michael Green presented at the Southeastern Association of Law Schools (SEALS) annual conference on August 1, 2008 held in Palm Beach, Florida. Professor Green’s topic, "Retaliatory Aspects of Compelling Arbitration," was part of a Labor and Employment Panel regarding The Impact of Retaliation in the Workplace After Burlington v. White. Professor Green has also been appointed as the Co-Chair of the American Bar Association Dispute Resolution Section’s Advocacy Committee. Professor Green has been invited to speak at the Thirteenth Annual LatCrit Conference in Seattle, Washington. Professor Green will participate as part of a LatCrit panel on Sex, Race, and Other Identities at the Intersections to be held on October 4, 2008. Professor Green will discuss the topic, "Doubting the Thomases: Is Black on Black Workplace Harassment an Issue of Race or Sex or Both?" During this presentation, Professor Green will explore the intersection of race and sex involved with the high profile sexual harassment cases involving Clarence Thomas and Isiah Thomas. Professor Green also participated on a panel with Dean Frederic White and alumnus, Judge Dan Wilson (97), at the Evidence Summit held in Austin, Texas on August 4, 2008. Professor Green drafted thirty evidence questions and presented them to Texas trial and appellate judges in a "Jeopardy" format at the Evidence Summit which was sponsored by the Texas Center for the Judiciary. Professor Green was also reappointed to the final year of a three year term as a member of the American Bar Association's Legal Opportunity Scholarship Committee.

Professor Maxine Harrington gave a presentation on July 24, 2008 to the Fort Worth Paralegal Association on the topic, "The Debate over "futile" care under the Texas Advance Directives Act."

Professor Keith Hirokawa presented at the Southeastern Association of Law Schools (SEALS) annual conference in Palm Beach, Florida as a member of a new scholar panel on July 29, 2008. He presented his paper, "Property Pieces in Compensation Statutes: Law's Eulogy for Oregon's Measure 37." 

Professor Neal Newman has been invited to present his paper, "The U.S. Move to International Accounting Standards – A Matter of Cultural Discord – How Do We Reconcile?" at the Northeast People of Color Scholarship Conference to be held at Boston University School of Law in September.

Professor Susan Phillips and her co-author Professor Nancy Johnson (Georgia State) have completed the 10th edition of Legal Research Exercises, Following the Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation.  This book of legal research exercises and its accompanying instructor’s manual is published by Thomson West and is used in law school and library school legal research programs throughout the country.  This edition marks the 5th edition that Professor Phillips has co-authored the work.

Professor Carla Pratt has been invited by the Fordham Law School’s Louis Stein Center for Law and Ethics to present a paper on "The Role of the Black Lawyer in Our Democracy." Professor Pratt will make this presentation in September at Fordham’s Colloquium on The Lawyer’s Role in a Contemporary Democracy. Professor Pratt has also been invited to speak at the Thirteenth Annual LatCrit Conference in Seattle, Washington. Professor Pratt will participate as part of a LatCrit panel on Race and Slavery: Historical and Contemporary Problems to be held on October 3, 2008. Professor Pratt will address the topic, "From Slave to Freedman – Slavery’s Influence on Contemporary Notions of Indianness." Professor Jason Gillmer will also be a presenter on this LatCrit panel. Professor Pratt has also been invited to speak on a panel at the Plenary Session of the Association of American Law Schools Annual Meeting on January 7, 2009. At that time, Professor Pratt will partner with Dr. Dorothy Evensen (Penn State College of Education) to present "The End of the Pipeline at the Millennium: Using Stories from New African American Attorneys to Inform Theories of Intervention." This project is qualitative in nature and uses the narratives of new African American attorneys to learn how to better construct theories of intervention aimed at helping African Americans navigate the pipeline from birth to the bar.

Professor Malinda Seymore participated in the Southeastern Association of Law Schools (SEALS) annual conference in Palm Beach, Florida by acting as a mentor of a new scholar from another school. In that capacity, Professor Seymore reviewed and provided input about the new scholar’s draft paper and attended the new scholar’s work-in-progress presentation held on July 30, 2008.

Professor Aric Short recently had his article entitled, "Slaves for Rent: Sexual Harassment in Housing as Involuntary Servitude," published by the Nebraska Law Review. The citation for this article is 86 Nebraska L. Rev. 838 (2008).  Professor Short has also been invited to speak to faculty and students in the Religion Department at Texas Christian University on October 6, 2008.  His presentation is tentatively entitled, "Exorcisms Gone Bad: Exploring the Line Between Free Exercise and Legal Responsibility." 

Professor Roger Simon and Professor Mark Burge spoke at the Thirteenth Biennial Conference of the Legal Writing Institute (LWI) held at Indiana University - Indianapolis during July 14- 17, 2008.  Their presentation was entitled "Integration of Statutory-Interpretation Skills into Your Existing Writing and Analysis Curriculum: Theoretical and Practical Perspectives."  LWI is the second largest organization of law professors in the United States.

Dean Frederic White has been reappointed to a new two-year term as a member of the American Bar Association Committee on Bar Admissions (not to be confused with the American Bar Association Accreditation Committee). Dean White also served as a faculty member at the 2008 Evidence Summit sponsored by the Texas Center for the Judiciary held in Austin, Texas on August 4, 2008. The Summit included trial and appellate judges throughout the state who were challenged to answer certain Evidence topics presented to them in a "Jeopardy" format by Evidence professors from eight of the nine Texas law schools. Professor Michael Green developed the Texas Wesleyan Evidence questions and participated on the panel with Dean White and an alumnus, Judge Dan Wilson (97).

June
Professor Susan Ayres was asked to be an outside reader for review of a Ph.D. dissertation by Leslie Middleton at Pacifica University on “The Quest for Justice: Archetypes in the Courtroom When Mothers Murder Their Children.”  

Professor Mark Burge has written a short essay, “Raising a Spectre: Using the Ghost of Law Practice Future to Sell Statutory Analysis Today,” that was recently selected for publication in the Fall 2008 issue of The Second Draft. The essay was derived from his article-in-progress on teaching statutory construction.

Professor Megan Carpenter recently published two of her creative works, an essay titled, “River Rats,” 23(2) Legal Studies Forum 673 (2008) and an excerpted dictionary, “The Lexical Heart:  A Dictionary,” 22(1) Legal Studies Forum 137 (2008).

Professor Margarita Coale spoke at the Organization for Women in International Trade Quarterly Meeting held on Thursday, June 19, 2008 in Irving, Texas regarding the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.   Professor Coale also spoke on the topic of, “The Gathering and Presenting of Evidence,” to the Asian Judicial Institute program held on June 24, 2008.

Professor Frank Elliott presented a CLE program on Wednesday, June 4, 2008, to a group of Assistant Attorney’s General of the State of Texas in Austin.  The presentation covered Evidence Rule 103, Offers and Exclusion of Evidence and Protecting the Record for Appeal.  On June 23, 2008, Professor Elliott and Adjunct Professor Kay Elliott made a presentation on mediation and other conflict resolution to a group of visitors sponsored by the North Texas Council for International Visitors from Chad, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, and Zimbabwe. On June 25, 2008, they also gave a presentation on alternative dispute resolution to a group of Mongolian lawyers as part of the law school’s Asian Judicial Institute training.

Professor Michael Green presented a paper, “Identifying and Cultivating a Diverse Pool of Arbitrators: Reviewing the Biases and Ethics Involved Within the Selection Process,” at the 14th National Labor-Management Conference sponsored by the Federal Mediation and Conciliation  Services in Washington, D.C. held on June 9, 2008.

Professor Dennis Kelly spoke about careers in law to students entering grades 7-9 during the Texas Wesleyan Summer Law Camp held from June 17-26, 2008.

Public Services Librarian Stephanie Marshall has recently completed a new publication titled, Advance Directives: A Legal Research Guide, Volume 51 of the Legal Research Guides Series published by William S. Hein Company.

Professor James McGrath spoke about careers in law to students entering grades 7-9 during the Texas Wesleyan Summer Law Camp held from June 17-26, 2008.

Professor Neal Newman spoke about careers in law to students entering grades 7-9 during the Texas Wesleyan Summer Law Camp held from June 17-26, 2008.

Professor Vickie Rainwater was recently acknowledged for her contribution as the editor of the Tarrant County Bar Association Bulletin which was honored as the Best Overall Newsletter by the Texas Bar Association during its annual meeting luncheon held on June 26, 2008 in Houston, Texas.

Professor Roger Simon was recently acknowledged for his contribution as a committee member who reviews and edits articles published in the Tarrant County Bar Association Bulletin which was honored as the Best Overall Newsletter by the Texas Bar Association during its annual meeting luncheon held on June 26, 2008 in Houston, Texas. 

Professor Joe Spurlock, the Director of the Asian Judicial Institute, began a two-week program on June 23, 2008 where he hosted a group of Mongolian judges and lawyers who will be trained by Texas Wesleyan law professors on how the Texas legal system works.  This training program, “A Study of the Texas Integrated Bar Association, History, Organizations & Operation,” was recently discussed in an article published in the Fort Worth Business Press on June 23, 2008.  This story included quotes from Professor Spurlock and it explained how the Texas Bar Foundation had given a grant to the Law School in an amount of $25,000 which was used to support the Asian Judicial Institute which ended on July 6.

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Spring 2008
May

Professor Susan Ayres has been invited to discuss the novel, Beloved, in conjunction with the Fort Worth Modern Art Museum's summer reading program to accompany the up-comiing Kara Walker exhibit. More details about this speaking engagement will appear in the early August faculty highlights. On May 20, 2008, Professor Ayres’ letter to the editor, "Dealing with Abandoned Babies," appeared in the on-line edition of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Professor Wayne Barnes presented "Mechanic's Liens in Texas" as part of the State Bar of Texas Continuing Legal Education seminar on "Collecting Debts and Judgments" held in San Antonio, Texas on May 8, 2008.

Professor Margarita Coale has been invited to speak at the Organization for Women in International Trade Quarterly Meeting to be held on Thursday, June 19, 2008 in Irving, Texas.  Professor Coale’s topic will be the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.  More details about this speaking engagement will be identified in the June faculty highlights.

Dean Cynthia Fountaine has been invited to be a co-chair and a presenter of a panel on the Mexican Curricular Reform Project: Professional Responsibility and she will also act as a discussion leader for this panel at the Southeast Association of Law School (SEALS) meeting to be held in Palm Beach, Florida in late July. More details about this SEALS program and participation by other faculty members in SEALS programs will be identified in the July and early August faculty highlights.

Professor Paul George has been appointed to the recruitment committee for the American Law Institute. Professor George has also recently agreed to a contract with West in which he will produce a series of continuing legal education programs on federal pre-trial practice.  These on-line programs will be tailored to address different federal district courts within different states.  Professor George has also agreed to present a fall luncheon program to the Dallas Bar Family Law Section on "Interstate and International Issues in Family Law." More details about this presentation will be provided in one of the fall 2008 semester faculty highlights.  Professor George was also nominated and has now become a Fellow in the Dallas Association of Young Lawyers where he will be expected to help mentor members of that organization.

Professor Jason Gillmer has been invited to present a paper at the University of Ottawa for a conference celebrating the great Caribbean historian and intellectual, C.L.R. James.  Professor Gillmer will be discussing his work on slavery and freedom in Texas, drawing parallels to James’ influential work on the slave revolution in San Domingo.  The conference is being held in March of 2009. More details about this presentation will appear in the March 2009 faculty highlights. Professor Gillmer has also been solicited to help coordinate a panel in conjunction with the upcoming exhibit, Kara Walker: My Compliment, My Enemy, My Oppressor, at the Modern Art Museum.  The panel will be held in September and is designed to provide context for Walker's much-heralded, yet controversial, work on the African-American experience under slavery.  The other panelists include Robert Storr, the Dean of the Yale Art School, and Adrienne Davis, professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. More details about this program will be mentioned in the September faculty highlights.

Professor Michael Green presented a paper, "To Prepare or Not to Prepare Employment Discrimination Witnesses: Ethically, Is That Not the Question?" at the 25th Annual Carl A. Warns Jr. Labor & Employment Law Institute sponsored by the University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law on Friday, May 30, 2008. Professor Green has also been invited to speak on a panel at the American Bar Association’s Labor and Employment Section Annual Conference in Denver, Colorado on September 11, 2008. This panel will discuss ethical fundamentals for labor and employment lawyers. More details about this program will be identified in the September faculty highlights.

Professor James McGrath has accepted an offer by the Nevada Law Journal to publish his work entitled, "Are you a Boy or Girl? Show Me Your Real ID." This article criticizes the unpopular Real ID Act due to its requirement that states include gender on all driver's licenses and official identification cards. The article also examines the scientific, legal, and social components that help expose the false dichotomy involved when attempting to categorize all people by gender or sex.

Professor Huyen Pham was interviewed by several newspapers on immigration and criminal law matters. Her comments appeared in the Dallas Morning News ("Mexican Police Chiefs Flee to U.S. for Safety," May 14, 2008), the Fort Worth Star Telegram ("Dallas DA Says He’ll Lobby for Changes in Law," April 30, 2008), and a Reuters article published by the New York Times ("Polygamists Erred When They Messed with Texas," May 1, 2008).

April
Professor Jason Gillmer presented his paper, “Base Wretches and Black Wenches: A Story of Sex and Race, Violence and Compassion, During Slavery Times,” to the faculty at Stetson Law School in Gulfport, Fla., on April 3, as part of its faculty colloquium.

Professor Megan Carpenter presented “Bare Justice:  A Feminist Reconceptualization of Justice and Its Potential Application to Crimes of Sexual Violence in Post-Genocide Rwanda” at the Creighton International Human Rights Symposium on April 4, 2008. Her paper on the same topic will be published in a special issue of the Creighton Law Review.

Professor Michael Green spoke at the American Bar Association’s Labor and Employment Section Employment Rights and Responsibilities Midwinter Committee Meeting held in Dana Point, Calif., on April 5, 2008. His panel addressed “Friend or Foe: Ethical Traps Involving In-House Counsel,” and Professor Green spoke on the topic, “Employment Litigation Investigation and the Ethical Dilemmas involving In-House Counsel.”

Professor Neal Newman presented his current work-in-progress, “The U.S. Move to International Accounting Standards – A Matter of Cultural Discord – How do we Reconcile?” at the Southeast/Southwest People of Color Conference. In his paper, Professor Newman argued that a shift in United States corporate culture and paradigms must occur before converting successfully to the more principle based standards commensurate with International Financial Reporting Standards. The conference was hosted by North Carolina Central University School of Law on April 11, 2008.

Professor Michael Green has been invited to speak at the 25th Annual Carl A. Warns Jr. Labor & Employment Law Institute at the University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law on Friday, May 30, 2008 where he will present on “Ethical Issues in Interviewing and Preparing Witnesses for Employment Litigation." Professor Green also has been invited to speak at the 14th National Labor-Management Conference sponsored by the 14th Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service in Washington, D.C., June 9-11.  Professor Green will be speaking on the topic, “Identifying and Cultivating a Diverse Pool of Arbitrators.”

Professor Keith Hirokawa has accepted an offer to publish his work entitled, “Property Pieces in Compensation Statutes: Law's Eulogy to Oregon's Measure 37.” Professor Hirokawa's article examines the tensions between property and property rights rhetoric. His article will be published in Issue 4 of Volume 38 of Environmental Law, one of the premier legal journals focusing on environmental issues.

March
Professor Maxine Harrington's article, "The Ever-Expanding Health Care Conscience Clause: The Quest for Immunity in the Struggle Between Professional Duties and Moral Beliefs," was published by the Florida State University Law Review.  Professor Harrington's article explores the tension between the legal duties of health care providers and their right to refuse care on grounds of conscience.

Professor Huyen Pham was an invited panelist at the March symposium sponsored by the Tulsa Journal of Comparative and International Law, "What about Federalism?  States' Rights and the New State Immigration Laws." Her talk was entitled, "Analyzing the 'Success' of Local Immigration Laws."

Professor Maxine Harrington completed a Beazley Visiting Professorship in Health Law at Loyola University Chicago School of Law.  While there, she presented, "The Thin Flat Line: Are Organs Being Removed From Donors Who are not Legally Dead?" to faculty and student forums and lectured to several health law classes.

Professor Michael Green has been asked to be on the Executive Board of the Labor and Employment Relations Association’s Labor and Employment Law Section. It is a three-year appointment starting in 2008.

Professor Megan Carpenter has been asked to speak at the prestigious International Trademark Association's Leadership Meeting in November 2008. Her talk will address recent trademark cases that have been decided under the European Convention on Human Rights, posing the question of whether there is a human rights component to trademark law (and a trademark component to human rights law).

Professor Keith Hirokawa presented “Moving into the Second Generation of Green Building Laws” to the Texas Bar Association and other land use professionals at the 12th Annual Land Use Conference, hosted by University of Texas. Professor Hirokawa presented an assessment of green building's successes and failures in introducing new technologies and perspective into the construction process, and provided analysis of the likely direction of local government efforts to reduce the ecological footprint of building practices.

Professor Susan Ayres and Professor James McGrath both spoke at the annual meeting of the Association for the Study of Law, Culture and the Humanities, held on March 28-29, 2008, in Berkeley, Calif. In her paper “[Not-So] Safe Havens?,” Professor Ayres examined the rhetorics surrounding legalized abandonment, abortion, and neonaticide, and also re-evaluated the profile of neonaticidal mothers in order to argue that, while Safe Havens will not prevent all neonaticides, they are an important piece of the strategy for prevention. Professor McGrath, in his paper, “Are You a Boy or a Girl?,” examined and critiqued categorization of sex as a binary in the law from a historical perspective and in light of recent scientific developments.

Professor Huyen Pham spoke at a plenary panel of the Cambio de Colores Conference, Latinos in Missouri: Uniting Cultures in Columbia, Missouri, sponsored by the University of Missouri. Her panel was entitled, “Local Enforcement of Immigration Laws: The Implications for Missouri.”

Professor Michael Green spoke at the American Bar Association’s Labor and Employment Section Joint Midwinter Meeting of its Equal Employment Opportunity and Ethics & Professional Responsibility Committees held in Tucson, Ariz., March 28-29, 2008. His first panel presentation was on “Preparing Witnesses Ethically and Effectively” and he spoke on the topic, “To Prepare or Not To Prepare Witnesses During a Deposition: Ethically, is that not the Question or Is it balancing the Duty to the Client with the Duty to the Tribunal and Others to Be Truthful?” On the second panel, “Ethical Traps Involving In-House Counsel,” he spoke on the topic, “Ethical Employment Investigations Involving In-House Counsel.”

February
Professor Huyen Pham's article, "The Private Enforcement of Immigration Laws," was published by the Georgetown Law Journal.  In this article, Professor Pham argues that private enforcement laws (requiring private parties like landlords and employers to check immigration status before granting a private benefit) have not been effective in reducing illegal immigration.  Drawing on our 20 year experience with federal employer sanctions, she suggests that the laws instead will result in substantial discrimination against those who look or sound foreign.

Professor Huyen Pham was also invited to speak at the University at Buffalo Law School on Feb. 22, as part of the Immigration Crucible Spring Speaker Series there.  She presented her paper, "When Immigration Borders Move: the Implications for Citizenship, Membership, and Community."

Professor Susan Ayres presented her paper at William & Mary School of Law on Feb. 23, for the annual symposium organized by the Journal of Women and the Law.  The paper was entitled, "Kairos and Safe Havens:  The Timing and Calamity of Unwanted Birth." The paper examined the effectiveness of laws allowing legalized abandonment of newborns and discussed customs and laws in the United States and other countries. It also analyzed the problem of abandonment using the rhetoric of kairos, or right-timing.

Professor Maxine Harrington was a panelist on "Bioethics," sponsored by the Fort Worth Life Sciences Coalition.

January
Professor James McGrath's article, “Overcharging the Uninsured in Hospitals: Shifting a Greater Share of Uncompensated Medical Care Costs to the Federal Government,” was published at 26 Quinnipiac Law Review 173 (2007). This article explores the hidden federal subsidies for medically treating the uninsured, questions the legitimacy of hospital pricing schemes, and adds support to the existing literature advocating a single payer health care system in the United States.

Professor Megan Carpenter's article, “Bare Justice: A Feminist Reconceptualization of Justice and Its Potential Application to Crimes of Sexual Violence in Post-Genocide Rwanda” was accepted by the Creighton Law Review and she has been invited to present it at the Symposium on Human Rights in April. In addition, Professor Carpenter received two offers of publication for her creative works from the Legal Studies Forum. One is called “The Lexical Heart” and is an excerpted dictionary. The other is called “River Rats” and is an essay.

Professor Michael Green presented “What Hurricane Katrina Should Have Taught Employers About Using Expedited ADR to Address Employment Matters in a Crisis,” at the Labor Employment Relations Association 60th Annual Meeting held in New Orleans, La. on Jan. 5, 2008. The overall theme of the conference was “Rebuilding America in a Changing Global Context” and Professor Green participated on a panel regarding Workers’ Rights in the Aftermath of a Disaster. Professor Green’s talk focused on labor and employment matters, including employee retirement and salary benefits, safety, relocation, worker’s compensation, employee counseling and other concerns that may arise when a crisis occurs. Professor Green asserted that employers and employees can be better prepared to deal with these issues by developing expedited ADR procedures that spring into action at the time of a crisis and involve all interested stakeholders including government and community participants in developing quick and effective resolutions.

Professor Jason Gillmer’s article, “Base Wretches and Black Wenches: A Story of Sex and Race, Violence and Compassion, During Slavery Times,” was selected as one of the top three papers in the Southeastern Association of Law Schools’ 2008 Call for Papers competition. Professor Gillmer will receive an award honoring his achievement at a special luncheon during the SEALS conference in August, where he will also present his paper.

Professor Susan Ayres’ article, “Who Is to Shame?  Narratives of Neonaticide,” was published in 14 William & Mary Journal of Women in the Law 55 (2007). In her article, Professor Ayres considers why attitudes and laws about newborn child murder, or neonaticide, have not evolved in America as they did elsewhere. She points out that, like in 17th-century England, we still view cases of neonaticide with shame, disgust, and anxiety about teen sexuality and motherhood. Drawing on literary sources as much as the law, Professor Ayres argues that our social and legal responses will not change until we make an effort to understand the causes of neonaticide and to deal with its complexities.

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Fall 2007

November
Professor Huyen Pham presented, “Lessons Learned from the First Generation of Local Immigration Laws,” at Hofstra Law School’s conference, “Local Dimensions of Immigration: Challenges and Opportunities in Our Changing Communities,” Hempstead, New York, November 9, 2007. At this presentation, Professor Pham examined the specific problems that local governments have experienced in implementing local immigration laws and considered the implications of these problems for local immigration enforcement generally.

Professor Frank Snyder moderated the panel “Implication, Interpretation, and Default Terms” at the Pace University Law Review Symposium, “The Enduring Legacy of Wood v. Lucy, Lady Duff Gordon,” White Plains, New York, November 2007. The other panelists were Melvin Aron Eisenberg (UC-Berkeley), Peter Linzer (University of Houston), Nicholas Weiskopf (St. John’s University), and Jonathan Kang (University of Washington).

Interim Dean Cynthia Fountaine presented “Private Legal Education in the United States,” at the US-Russia Joint Conference on the Rule of Law held at St. Petersburg University in Russia. Dean Fountaine’s talk focused on various aspects of American legal education, including highlighting differences between public and private legal education, accreditation issues, financing legal education, American legal educational pedagogy, law school admissions, attorney licensing regulations, clinical legal education and other skills and experiential learning programs, and incorporating ethics education into the law school curriculum.

Professor Michael Green’s commentary, “A New Call to Action: Selecting Diverse Arbitrators,” was published in Volume 36, Fall 2007 of the American Bar Association Section of Labor and Employment Law Newsletter. In this commentary, Professor Green laments the lack of diverse arbitrators being used for resolving statutory employment discrimination claims and asserts that corporations should agree to match their diversity efforts in selecting attorneys with their efforts in selecting arbitrators.

Four Texas Wesleyan University School of Law professors have been invited to present their papers at the annual meeting of the Association for the Study of Law, Culture and the Humanities, to be held March, 2008 in Berkeley, California. In her paper, “[Not-So] Safe Havens?” Professor Susan Ayres will examine the rhetorics surrounding legalized abandonment, abortion, and neonaticide, and will also re-evaluate the profile of neonaticidal mothers in order to argue that, while Safe Havens will not prevent all neonaticides, they are an important piece of the strategy for prevention. Professor Jason Gillmer, in his paper, “The Murder of Isaac Baughman: Race and Violence in Reconstruction Texas,” will be exploring the lynching of Sheriff Baughman, appointed during Republican rule, to highlight a period of intense racial conflict and tremendous upheaval in a place that, like many others, was struggling to come to terms with a new social order. Professor James McGrath, in his paper, “Are You a Boy or a Girl?” will examine and critique categorization of sex as a binary in the law from a historical perspective and in light of recent scientific developments.  Finally, in his paper, “Private and Semiprivate Law: The Contract/Tort Divide,” Professor Frank Snyder will challenge the usual treatment of tort law as part of “private law,” arguing that tort law really is a mechanism for enforcing involuntary social norms rather than enabling private ordering, and thus the real distinction ought to be drawn not between “public” and “private” but between “social control” and “social enabling” legal regimes.

Professor Michael Green presented “Arbitration of Employment Disputes: Will it Continue or Diminish?” to the Conflict Resolution Network in Plano, Texas on Nov. 20, 2007. Professor Green asserted that employers have started to become skeptical about the use of arbitration for employment disputes and this may not bode well for future employment of arbitrators.

Professor Charlotte Hughart was interviewed by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram for an article about three clients represented by the Law Clinic and their successful experiences.  The article appeared on November 28, 2007, and was titled, “They give the poor a voice in the justice system.” Professor Hughart provided background information on the Clinic operations.

Professor Michael Green has been asked to speak at the ABA Labor and Employment Section Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibilities Midwinter Meeting in Tucson, Arizona on March 28, 2008, regarding Ethical Traps in Preparing Witnesses in Employment Discrimination Suits. Professor Green has also been asked to speak at the ABA Labor and Employment Section Committee on Employment Rights and Responsibilities Midwinter Meeting in Dana Point, California on April 5, 2008, regarding dilemmas for in-house counsel in pursuing their own employment discrimination claims.

October
Professor Terri Helge presented “Tax Aspects of Transactions with Charitable Organizations,” at the Tax Section of the Dallas Bar Association, Oct. 1, 2007. Professor Helge’s presentation examined transactions between charitable organizations and taxable parties and discussed the special tax considerations involved in engaging in these types of transactions.

Professor Michael Green presented “Developing a Scholarly Agenda to Obtain Tenure: Know Yourself and Know Your Institution,” at the Twelfth Annual LatCrit Conference, Fifth Annual LatCrit-SALT Junior Faculty Development Workshop, held in Miami, Florida, on October 5, 2007. The Workshop, titled “On Scholarship: What to Write and How to Finish,” was designed to help new scholars navigate the waters of obtaining tenure.

Professor Maxine Harrington has been selected for a Beazley Visiting Professorship in Health Law at Loyola University Chicago School of Law in March 2008. Professor Harrington will spend three days in residence, giving a faculty lecture and teaching two classes on health law.

Professor Wayne Barne’s article, “The Objective Theory of Contracts,” was selected for publication in the University of Cincinnati Law Review. In this article, Professor Barnes articulates the soundness of the objective theory of mutual assent to contract formation, and argues that three areas of contract law should be reformed to conform to objective theory. The three areas are the rule that death terminates an offer, the mailbox rule, and consumer assent to standard form contracts.

Professor Aric Short’s article, “Slaves for Rent: Sexual Harassment in Housing as Involuntary Servitude,” was selected for publication in the Nebraska Law Review. In this article, Professor Short examines the problem of sexual harassment in the landlord-tenant context, focusing specifically on the plight of poor, single mothers who are the most frequent victims of such exploitation by their landlords. After qualifying and quantifying residential sexual harassment and critiquing application of the Fair Housing Act in this context, the article explores the Thirteenth Amendment’s prohibition of involuntary servitude as a possible source of rights for victims suffering abuse in this setting.

Professor Neal Newman’s article, “The ‘Carrot’ Approach to Accounting Standard Setting,” was selected for publication in the University of Miami Business Law Review.  In this article, Professor Newman argues for the removal of incentive based compensation for executive officers, maintaining that this form of compensation has an adverse affect on accounting standards and the quality of financial reporting.

Professor Jason Gillmer’s article “Base Wretches and Black Wenches: A Story of Sex and Race, Violence and Compassion During Slavery Times,” was selected for publication in the Alabama Law Review. In the article, Professor Gillmer examines in detail the local and trial records of a nineteenth-century Texas case to tell the story of a white slave master who had a thirty-year relationship with a female slave. The article is designed to add depth and detail to our understanding of the slave South and the relations between the races, ultimately concluding that the master narrative of rape so familiar to students of the subject is inadequate to account for a case like this.

Professor Michael Green’s article, “Ruminations About the EEOC’s Policy Regarding Arbitration,” was published in the Chicago Kent Employee Rights and Employment Policy Journal as part of the proceedings from an AALS panel, “Dispute Resolution in Action: Examining the Reality of Employment Discrimination Cases.” In Professor Green’s article, he argues that the EEOC has failed to set effective policy regarding the arbitration of statutory employment discrimination claims and lost a major opportunity to assist employers and employees in resolving these disputes.

Interim Dean Cynthia Fountaine presented “Texas Wesleyan University School of Law: Ten Years of Service and Impact in Fort Worth,” at the Fort Worth City Council, Pre-Council Meeting, October 23, 2007. This presentation highlighted the law school's achievements and accomplishments in the ten years since Texas Wesleyan University School of Law has been located in downtown Fort Worth, and highlighted the law school's economic impact on Fort Worth as well as public service programs that benefit the citizens of Tarrant County.

Professor Jason Gillmer was a presenter at the SMU Colloquium on Law and Citizenship on October 30, 2007. At the Colloquium, Professor Gillmer discussed his current work on using trial level data to understand the everyday life of race and slavery.

September
Professor Lynne Rambo presented “Update on the Supreme Court's 2006 Term: The Swing Votes Are Gone,” at the Tarrant County Bar Association Brown Bag Program, September 21, 2007. Professor Rambo analyzed the cases decided in the last Term, focusing especially on Justices Alito and Roberts and Justice Kennedy’s shift to the right.

Professor Susan Ayres co-presented “Infanticide” with Dr. Prema Manjunath during Grand Rounds at John Peter Smith Hospital’s Department of Psychiatry, September 7, 2007. Professor Ayres discussed social constructions and legal treatment of women who kill their children, while Dr. Manjunath discussed the psychiatric considerations of infanticidal mothers.

Professor Maxine Harrington was appointed by the ABA Standing Committee on Specialization as Examination Reviewer for the Medical Liability Certification Program.

Professor Michael Green presented “Searching for the Wright Answer to Collective Bargaining Arbitration of Statutory Claims,” at the Second Annual Colloquium on Current Scholarship in Labor and Employment Law held at the University of Denver College of Law, Denver, Colorado on Sept. 28, 2007. Professor Green highlighted the unique difficulties for employees represented by unions when they have statutory discrimination claims and suggested a solution to a growing conflict in the federal courts regarding the analysis that should apply to determine whether these disputes may be subject to final resolution through labor arbitration.

Professor Maxine Harrington was interviewed by a reporter from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel who is writing a series of articles on medical error.

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Summer 2007
August

On August 10-11, 2007, Professors Meredith Conway and Wayne Barnes organized and held the first Texas Junior Legal Scholars Conference at Texas Wesleyan University School of Law.  The conference brought together over 25 young scholars from around the country to share their works in progress and receive collaborative feedback from their colleagues. Five Texas Wesleyan Law School Professors presented their work.  Professor Conway presented, “The Connection Between Wealth and Income Disparity and the Taxation of Executive Compensation.” Professor Barnes presented “The Objective Theory of Contracts.” Professor Maxine Harrington presented “The Thin Flat Line: Are Donors Whose Organs are Removed After Cardiac Death Legally Dead?”  Professor James McGrath presented “Paying for the Most Expensive, Least Efficient Health Care: Bush’s Answer to the Health Care Crisis.” Finally, Professor Neal Newman presented “The Holy Grail of Financial Reporting and Why We May Never Get There.”

Professor Susan Ayres has been invited to participate in the annual symposium sponsored by the William and Mary Journal of Women and the Law to be held in February 2008. The symposium title is “Not That Kind of Girl: The Legal Treatment of Women Defying Traditional Gender Roles.”

Professor Malinda Seymore’s article, “China’s Future Lawyers: Some Differences in Education and Outlook,” has been selected for publication by the Asper Review of International Business and Trade Law, a peer-reviewed journal at the University of Manitoba, Canada. The article is an outgrowth of Professor Seymore’s experience teaching American law for five months as a Fulbright Professor at Xiamen University School of Law in Xiamen, China.  Professor Seymore’s fellow authors are: Patricia Ross McCubbin (Southern Illinois/Wuhan University, China), Andrea Curcio (Georgia State/South China Normal University, China), and Llewellyn Joseph Gibbons (University of Toledo/Zhongnan University, China).

July
Professor Susan Ayres presented “Stories of Neonaticide,” at the Rights, Ethics, Law & Literature International Colloquium, held at Swansea University, Wales, July 6-8, 2007. At the Colloquium, Professor Ayres discussed narratives of neonaticide found in works of literature. She argued that the benefit of literary stories for legal analysis is that stories provide the opportunity and model to balance the view that mothers who kill newborns deserve only treatment versus the view that they deserve only imprisonment.

On July 19-21, 2007, Texas Wesleyan Law School held its fourth annual Gloucester Law Conference in Gloucester, England.  This year’s conference, titled “Law, Culture, and Rights in an Age of Globalization,” was organized by Professors Aric Short, Margarita Coale, and Frank Snyder.  The conference brought together scholars from around the world to discuss the law as a tool for social change in an increasingly complex and interdependent world. In particular, the conference commemorated the 200th anniversary of the ending of the British slave trade. Presenters examined a wide range of topics, including the rights of migrant workers, lingering vestiges of African slavery, the global sex trade, the intersection of religion and free speech, and discrimination in the education setting.

At the Gloucester Law Conference, Professors Aric Short, James McGrath, and Huyen Pham each presented papers. Professor Short’s paper, “Sexual Harassment in Housing as Involuntary Servitude,” examined the possible use of Thirteenth Amendment to protect poor, single mothers sexually harassed by their landlords. Professor McGrath’s paper, “Overcharging the Uninsured for Health Care in the United States: An Anachronism in the Age of Globalization,” discussed competitive global trade implications for the United States as a nation that does not have universal health care coverage for its workers. Finally, Professor Pham’s paper, “When Immigration Borders Move,” explored the practical and conceptual implications of our shifting borders paradigm.  Professor Frank Snyder also moderated the panel, “Migration and Human Rights.”

Professors Huyen Pham and Jason Gillmer attended the annual meeting of the Law and Society Association, held in Berlin, Germany, on July 25-28, 2007. At the Conference, Professor Pham further developed her paper, “When Immigration Borders Move,” by discussing the legal implications of new and proposed laws requiring all residents to demonstrate their legal immigration status, multiple times and at multiple points within the country, to obtain licenses, employment, and other important benefits.  Professor Gillmer also organized and chaired a panel on “Race and Slavery: Historical Problems and Contemporary Context.” The panel brought together scholars interested in cultural and legal history, and the role of race and slavery in shaping the American legal landscape. At the panel, Professor Gillmer also presented his paper, “Base Wretches and Black Wenches: A Story of Sex and Race, Violence and Compassion, During Slavery Times.” 

Four Texas Wesleyan Law Professors participated in the Southeastern Association of Law Schools (SEALS) annual meeting, held on Amelia Island, Florida, on July 31-August 4, 2007. Professor Michael Green coordinated an employment discrimination panel on the impact of the Civil Rights Act of 1991. As a participant on that panel, Professor Green presented, “The Suspicious Enforcement of Arbitration for Title VII Claims After the Civil Rights Act of 1991 Granted the Right to Jury Trials and Punitive Damages: What Congress Could Not Have Intended,” where he argued that judicial interpretation of arbitration law conflicted with legislative intent under the Civil Rights Act of 1991. In addition, Professor Neal Newman helped coordinate a panel on “Teaching Socio-Economics in Law School.”  At this panel, Professor Newman presented a paper in which he gave an overview of socio-economic principles and discussed how these principles can be applied in doctrinal courses. Professor Meredith Conway participated on the same panel, and gave a paper in which she discussed how to incorporate socio-economics into tax courses. Professor Michael Green also served as a moderator for the panel. Finally, as part of the SEALS New Scholars Workshop, Professor Aric Short presented, “A 13th Amendment Critique of Residential Sexual Harassment.” In his paper, Professor Short examined structural and doctrinal weaknesses in the federal Fair Housing Act and the Civil Rights Act of 1866 as tools to address housing-related harassment perpetrated in the landlord-tenant relationship.

June
Professor Aric Short participated in the Interschool Junior Faculty Workshop on Poverty Law, held at American University, Washington College of Law, on June 1, 2007.  Professor Short’s talk, which explored the exploitation and abuse often encountered by low income women in the housing market, was one of several presentations by young scholars across the country that examined poverty and its effect on legal rights in America today.

Professor Michael Green was selected and participated as a faculty fellow for the Cross-Cultural Negotiation and Employment Dispute Resolution System Design Courses held at the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, Pepperdine Law School in Malibu, California, June 5-23, 2007. As part of this unique faculty fellows program, Professor Green attended two Dispute Resolution courses with the goal of allowing him to enhance both his scholarship and teaching in this area while learning from the classroom dynamics and approaches of others who teach these subjects.

Professor Joe Spurlock, Director of the Asian Judicial Institute (AJI), organized and conducted the 7th annual training session in the American common law legal system for members of the Mongolian legal profession from June 23 to July 10. The 2007 AJI summer trainees were law professors and attorneys from the National Legal Training Center of Mongolia and Association of Mongolian Advocates who returned to Mongolia to help retrain Mongolian private attorneys, prosecutors, and government lawyers in American substantive and procedural law. The course program, “Pursuing Justice in the U.S. and Local Common Law Court Systems,” was taught by several professors of the school. Professors Aric Short, Paul George, Margarita Coale, James McGrath, Stephen Alton, Joe Spurlock, and Frank Elliott, and adjunct professors Kay Elliott, G. Ganzorig, Joe Shannon, U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade, and assistant law librarian Stephanie Marshall each presented a half-day lecture and discussion on one of the subjects covered. The Honorable Ravdan Bold, Ambassador of Mongolia to the United States visited the school during the program to express the Mongolian government’s appreciation for the law school efforts in support of judicial and legal reform in Mongolia. Ambassador Bold presented to Professor Spurlock a plaque “In Recognition of Outstanding Contribution to Mongolia-United States Relations and Continued Support for Training Mongolian Lawyers.”

May
Professor Maxine Harrington presented “Obtaining Medical Records under HIPAA in Judicial or Administrative Proceedings” at a CLE activity sponsored by the Northeast Tarrant County Bar Association, May 15, 2007. At her talk, Professor Harrington presented an overview of how the HIPAA Privacy Rules affect the disclosure and use of medical information in legal proceedings.

Professor Michael Green presented “Leveraging Opportunities for Minority Arbitrators through Mandatory Arbitration Agreements,” at the Third National Conference, Minority Professionals in Alternative Dispute Resolution, held at Capital University Law School in Columbus, Ohio, May 17, 2007.  Professor Green asserted that the growing number of disputes involving employment discrimination claims when intersected with the growth of arbitration can provide many opportunities for minority arbitrators to handle these matters.

Professor Terri Helge presented “Legislative Update from Washington on Charitable Reforms: The Pension Protection Act of 2006” at the TSCPA 2007 Nonprofit Organizations Conference in Dallas, Texas, May 21, 2007. Professor Helge’s presentation focused on the impact of the reforms contained in the Pension Protection Act of 2006 on the nonprofit community.

Professor Neil Sobol presented “Persuasive Writing” to the Fort Worth Paralegal Association at the Petroleum, Club on May 24, 2007. The presentation illustrated the differences between objective and persuasive writing. Professor Sobol also described the role of word choice, placement, and organization in persuasive writing.

Professor Mark Burge presented “Teaching Statutory Interpretation in an Age of Outsourcing: Are Our Students Ready to Play Judge Yet?” at the Second Biennial Lone Star Legal Writing Conference, held at Texas Wesleyan University School of Law, May 31-June 1, 2007. Professor Burge argued that judicially-oriented methods of interpreting statutes are on the wane, and that a consequence of this development is a need for reinvigorated instruction in interpretive principles.

Professor Susan Ayres’ poem, “My Brilliant Career,” was published in The Legal Studies Forum.

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