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Faculty Highlights

January 2016


Professor Cynthia Alkon moderated a panel, "The Modern Problem-Solving Court Movement: Taking Stock After 25 Years,” that she organized for the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) Annual Conference (Jan. 9, 2016).

  • In January, Alkon started her term as Chair of the AALS Alternative Dispute Resolution Section.

Professor Susan Ayres was invited to present her paper, “Vignettes of Racism in Claudia Rankine’s Citizen” at the Women’s Research on Women Symposium to be held at Texas A&M University on March 30, 2016.

Associate Professor Sahar Aziz was awarded The Derrick A. Bell Award by the American Association of Law Schools (AALS) Section on Minority Groups. The award was presented at the AALS Annual Meeting.

  • ​Elected to the AALS Executive Committee of the Islamic Law Section.

  • Awarded a Diversity Matters ​seed ​grant, “Discrimination Experiences of Muslim American Students at Texas A&M University,” by Texas A&M University Office of the Vice President and Associate Provost for Diversity (co-PI with Dr. Shaida Kalbasi).

  • Invited to present “National Security and the Rise of ISIS” at the International Law Association – West, Brigham Young University School of Law (Jan. 29, 2016).

  • Presentations at the AALS Annual Conference in New York, NY, Jan. 6-10, 2016:
    • Presented “Challenging Sovereignty: Exploring the Rise of ISIS and Boko Haram” (Jan. 9, 2016).
    • Invited presenter for “Coercive Assimilationism: Muslim Women’s Identity Performance in the Workplace” (Jan. 9, 2016).
    • Spoke on "Regulation of Appearance in the Workplace and the Meaning of Discrimination," co-sponsored by the AALS Employment Discrimination Section, Women in Legal Education, Islamic Law Section, and Minority Groups Section (Jan. 9, 2016).
    • Invited participant for "Roundtable on Increasing Author Diversity in Legal Scholarship" (Jan. 9, 2016).
  • Served as a moderator for “EEOC General Counsel David Lopez: My Year in the U.S. Supreme Court,” part of the Texas A&M School of Law Distinguished Speakers Series (Jan. 15, 2016).

  • Interviewed on Al Jazeera English, “NYPD Settles Lawsuit Alleging Mass Surveillance on Muslims” (Jan. 7, 2016).

  • Published a solicited symposium article “Coercing Assimilation: The Case of Muslim Women of Color” in 24 Transnational L. & Contemp. Prob. 1 (Univ. of Iowa) (Fall 2015).

Associate Professor Mark Edwin Burge presented “Commercial Law’s Past Prologue: The Governance of Emerging Payment Systems” at Texas Tech University School of Law (Jan. 28, 2016).

  • He was invited to contribute a post to the CLS Blue Sky Blog, the Columbia University Law School blog on corporations and capital markets.

  • His forthcoming article, "Apple Pay, Bitcoin, and Consumers: The ABCs of Future Public Payments Law," was listed in the Social Science Research Network (SSRN) January 2016 Top Ten download lists for the following topics in the Legal Scholarship Network: Contracts & Commercial Law, UCC Rules, and Consumer Law.

Executive Professor and Associate Dean of Special Projects William Byrnes ​began his term as Chair of the Association of American Law Schools International Legal Exchange Section, after serving as Chair-Elect. ​In 2015, he served as ​Treasurer of the Section on Graduate Programs for Non-US Lawyers, Executive Committee.

Professor Irene Calboli published her article "Time to Say Local Cheese and Smile at Geographical Indications of Origin? International Trade and Local Development in the United States" in Vol. 53 of the Houston Law Review (as part of the National Santa Fe 2015 IPIL Conference).

  • Admitted to the Singapore Academy of Law.

  • Organized and delivered a presentation, "Overlapping IP rights," at the Roundtable IP in Media and Entertainment co-hosted by Singapore Management University and the National University of Singapore (Jan. 20, 2016).

  • Organized the Inaugural Works-in-Progress Conference IP Scholars Asia hosted by the School of Law, Singapore Management University, which attracted more than 100 participants from Asia, Europe, and the U.S. (Jan. 28-29, 2016).

  • Elected to the Association of American Law Schools Executive Board of the Intellectual Property Section.

Professor Megan Carpenter, Co-Director, Center for Law and Intellectual Property (CLIP), was appointed 2016-2017 Chair of the Academic Committee of the International Trademark Association, the world's premier professional organization focused on branding and trademarks. As Chair, she will oversee five subcommittees and lead academic programming for the organization.

  • Presented her work on branding and corporate social responsibility at the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE). She is chair of the Law and Entrepreneurship Special Interest Group of USASBE, and oversaw three workshops at the annual conference (Jan. 10, 2016).

  • Published "NSFW: An Empirical Study of Scandalous Trademarks", co-authored with Texas A&M Law School 3L Mary Garner, in the Cardozo Arts and Entertainment Law Journal (Jan. 15, 2016).

  • Elected to the Association of American Law Schools Executive Board of the Art Law Section.

Professor Gabriel Eckstein's paper, "Identifying and Characterizing Transboundary Aquifers Along the Mexico-US Border: An initial assessment," has been accepted for publication in the peer-reviewed Hydrology Journal. The paper was co-authored with Dr. Rosario Sanchez and graduate student Victoria Lopez, both with Texas A&M University’s Water Management and Hydrological Sciences Program.

  • He presented on “Federal Environmental Laws and State Water Rights: Whose Water Is It?” for the webinar, Look But Don't Touch: How Water Quality Regulation Affects Water Availability, which was organized by the American Bar Association, Section of Environment, Energy & Resources (Jan. 26, 2016).

Professor Susan Fortney was elected Chair-Elect of the Professional Responsibility Section of the Association of American Law Schools at the AALS Annual Meeting (Jan. 8, 2016).

  • Opening speaker for a three-hour program at the AALS Annual Meeting. The program, “The Hardest Questions Today: A Conversation in Honor of Monroe Freedman,” was co-sponsored by the Professional Responsibility Section and Criminal Justice Section and organized by Fortney and Bruce Green (Jan. 8, 2016).

  • Spoke at the 11th Annual Symposium of the Texas Journal of Oil, Gas, and Energy Law on “Seeking Shelter: Understanding Coverage Under Your Lawyers’ Professional Liability Policy” (Jan. 28, 2016).

Professor Paul George was inducted into the Honorary Serjeant’s Inn of Court at the annual joint meeting of DFW American Inns of Court at the Belo Mansion in Dallas (Jan. 12, 2016). The Serjeant’s Inn, established in 2002 by the DFW Inns, is based on the highest-ranked English Inn of Court dating back to the 13th century. Each local Inn annually nominates one new Serjeant’s Inn member, who must be a Master in the sponsoring Inn and have a career of significant contributions to the profession and the community. George has been a Master in Fort Worth’s Eldon Mahon Inn since 1999, and is the fifteenth Fort Worth lawyer to be honored since 2002.

  • Re-appointed to the Oklahoma Civil Procedure/Evidence Code Committee for a term of two years.

  • Notified that a recent court opinion relied on his "Parallel Litigation" article in ruling on a forum non conveniens motion. See Stone & Webster, Inc. v. Georgia Power Company, 779 F.3d 614, 617 & 619 (D.C. Cir. 2015).

  • Cited three times in the 2016 edition of Tex. Jur. 3d. See Tex. Jur. 3d, Evidence, sections 54 & 55 (proof of foreign law), and Tex. Jur. 3d, Landlord and Tenant, section 161 (rent concessions).

  • George had 180 full downloads of twenty-one articles, including four by the Administrative Office of United States Courts, according to Berkeley Electronic Press.

Professor Michael Z. Green was elected the 2016 Chair of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) Section on Labor Relations and Employment Law and elected a member of the 2016 executive committee of the AALS Section on Employment Discrimination Law at the AALS Annual Meeting, New York, NY (Jan. 8-9, 2016).

  • Presented his commentary on the works-in-progress paper, “Unifying Antidiscrimination Law through Stereotype Theory,” authored by Stephanie Bornstein, University of Florida Levin College of Law, as part of an overall call for papers program on “New and Emerging Voices in Workplace Law,” co-sponsored by the AALS Section on Labor Relations and Employment Law and the AALS Section on Employment Discrimination Law at the AALS Annual Meeting (Jan. 9, 2016).

  • His recent draft paper, “Negotiating While Black,” a forthcoming chapter in the Negotiator’s Desk Reference edited by Andrea Kupfer Schneider and Christopher Honeyman, was listed for the last 60 days (from its initial posting in Nov. 2015 through Jan. 2016) on SSRN’s Top Ten Download List for the following networks and ejournals: Labor eJournal; Law & Culture eJournal; Law, Cognition & Decisionmaking eJournal; CSN: Law (Topic); Conflict Studies: Prevention, Management & Resolution eJournal; and Negotiation & Dispute Resolution eJournal.

  • Presented “What Non-Union Lawyers Need to Know About Employment Policy Enforcement at the National Labor Relations Board” as part of a “Labor/Employment Update” given at the Dallas Bar Association program on “Law Stuff You Should Know:  A 2015 Survey” held at the Belo Mansion (Jan. 29, 2016).

  • Invited to speak on employment discrimination related to psychiatric and mental disabilities as part of a panel on “The Ever Expanding Scope of the ADAAA” to be held at The National Employment Law Council 21st Annual Conference in Orlando, Fla. (April 20-22, 2016).

  • Invited to present “The Negotiation of Collective Bargaining Agreements” at the 53rd Annual Course on Labor Law and Labor Arbitration at the Center for American and International Law in Plano, Texas (May 10, 2016).

  • Invited to present “A Review of Employment and Labor Law Decisions by the Supreme Court in 2016,” at the Fort Worth Human Resources Management Association Monthly Legal Hour and Luncheon (June 16, 2016).

  • Green will be involved with several workplace law programs held at the annual meeting of the Southeastern Association of Law Schools (SEALS) in Amelia Island, Florida (Aug. 3-9, 2016) including:
    • Discussant, Labor and Employment Law Workshop Discussion Group: Fisher v. University of Texas – Implications for Labor and Employment Law (Aug. 7, 2016).
    • Moderator, Discussion Group: Works-in-Progress Series, Workplace Law, as part of a response to a call for papers for New and Existing Voices in Workplace Law, an assembly of experienced labor and employment law scholars will discuss works-in-progress papers from Stephanie Bornstein (Florida), Stacy Hawkins (Rutgers), and Jamillah Williams (Georgetown) (Aug. 8, 2016).
    • Presenter, Labor and Employment Law Workshop Panel: “Football’s Labor and Employment Intersection: GINA, ADA, Northwestern, Tom Brady, and Other NFL Commissioner Challenges” (Aug. 8, 2016).

Executive Professor William Henning attended a meeting of the Uniform Law Commission’s Executive Committee (of which he is a member), which is in effect the organization’s board of directors, in Amelia Island, Florida (Jan. 23-24).

Professor H. Brian Holland was elected to the Executive Committee of Association of American Law Schools (AALS) Section on Defamation and Privacy at the AALS Annual Meeting, New York, NY (Jan. 6-10, 2016).

Professor Gary Lucas published the following op-eds:

Professor James McGrath, Director of Academic Support and Bar Services, was invited to present “Bridging the Gap Between 2L Year and Bar Preparation” at the 4th Annual Southwestern Consortium of Academic Support Professionals Workshop, ASP Through the Years: Building a Program to Reach Students Throughout Law School at University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s William H. Bowen School of Law on March 3, 2016.

  • Elected to the American Association of Law Schools Executive Committee of the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Section.

Professor Timothy Mulvaney participated on a cross-cutting panel, “Peer-to-Peer Consumption: Emerging Legal Issues in the New Sharing Economy,” at the American Association of Law Schools (AALS) Annual Meeting in New York, NY (Jan. 6-10, 2016).

  • Elected to the AALS Executive Committee of the Property Law Section.

  • Presented his work-in-progress, “Omission Takings in the ‘Sharing Economy’ and Beyond,” at a faculty seminar at Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law in Villanova, Pa. (Jan. 27, 2016).

Professor Meg Penrose spoke at the American Association of Law Schools panel, “The New Frontier in College Sports: The Professionalization of Amateurism” (Jan. 7, 2016).

Professor and Associate Dean for Faculty Research and Development Huyen Pham was elected Chair of the Immigration Law Section of the American Association of Law Schools.

  • Invited to present her paper, “Modeling Cooperation: How Federal and Subfederal Authorities Should Work Together to Enforce Immigration Laws,” at the University of St. Thomas Law Review Symposium, Sanctuary, Detainers, Undocumented Crime and the Law: History, Contemporary Challenges, and Possible Solutions (to be held March 18, 2016).

  • Interviewed by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram for the article, “Judge Who Gave Ethan Couch Probation Gave Another Teen 20 Years Behind Bars for Fatal DWI Crash” (Jan. 2, 2016).

Associate Professor Tanya Pierce was invited to participate on the panel "Beyond Rule 23 Challenges to Class Actions,” at the American Bar Association Class Action Litigation in America National Symposium in New Orleans, La. on March 10-11, 2016.

Professor and Vice Dean Aric Short, after serving as Chair-Elect, he began his term as Chair of the Association of American Law Schools Post-Graduate Legal Education Section.

Associate Professor Neil Sobol was invited to present “Starting Millennials Out Right: Consumer Law for 1Ls” at the Teaching Consumer Law Conference in Santa Fe, N.M. (May 20-21, 2016).

  • His article, “Charging the Poor: Criminal Justice Debt & Modern-Day Debtors’ Prisons,” published at 75 Maryland Law Review 486 was discussed in The Crime Report, "Court Fees Create ‘Endless Cycle of Debt’ for Poor" (Jan. 14, 2016), and was recently listed on SSRN’s Top Ten Download Lists for the following networks and ejournals: AARN: Criminal Law (Topic), AARN: Class & Status (Sub-Topic), LSN: Consumer Credit & Payment Issues (Topic), LSN: Consumer Credit Issues (Sub-Topic), LSN: Debt Collection (Sub-Topic), LSN: Ethical Issues (Topic) SRPN: Poverty (Topic), Economic Inequality & the Law eJournal, Sustainability & Economics eJournal; AARN: Economic Anthropology (Topic), Consumer Law eJournal, Corrections & Sentencing Law & Policy eJournal, Criminal Procedure eJournal, LSN: Procedure (Criminal Procedure) (Topic), Discrimination, Law & Justice eJournal, Law & Society: Criminal Procedure eJournal, Criminal Law & Procedure eJournals, Cultural Anthropology eJournal, Law & Society: Public Law - Crime, Criminal Law, & Punishment eJournal, SRPN Subject Matter eJournals, and Sustainability Research & Policy Network.

Associate Professor Gina Warren was elected Secretary of the Association of American Law Schools Natural Resources and Energy Section.

Professor Peter Yu, Co-Director, Center for Law and Intellectual Property (CLIP), published “The Transplant and Transformation of Intellectual Property Laws in China” in Governance of Intellectual Property Rights in China and Europe (Nari Lee, Niklas Bruun & Li Mingde eds., Edward Elgar Publishing 2016).