May 2006 News
Tech Law Alum, Robert A. (Bob) Black has been elected Chair of State Bar Board. Robert A. (Bob) Black, a shareholder in MehaffyWeber in Beaumont, defeated five other candidates and was elected Chair of the State Bar of Texas Board of Directors. Black, a 1980 graduate of the Texas Tech University School of Law, stated his primary leadership goals were to increase the availability of on-line CLE for the benefit of attorneys practicing away from major cities, and to ensure that there is an open, fair and transparent process at the Bar.
Bill Miller, a Tech Law alumnus, has been elected president-elect of the Texas Young Lawyers Association. Miller is a partner in the Texarkana firm of Greer, McCasland & Miller LLP. He currently serves as chair of the TYLA Board of Directors. He has been an advisor to and worked on 14 TYLA committees, received the TYLA President’s Award of Merit in 2002, and was named Outstanding Director in 2003. He is a founding member of the Texarkana Young Lawyers Association, and has served as its president and vice president. Miller received a B.A. from Vanderbilt University and a J.D. from Texas Tech University School of Law. He and his wife, Jessica, have three sons, Davis, Austin, and Mason. The out-going President of TYLA, Lee Ann Reno, is also a Tech Law grad. Reno is a partner in the Amarillo firm of Sprouse, Shrader, Smith, P.C.
Maddox Professor Bruce M. Kramer will be speaking on the topic of Ethics in Negotiation at the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation’s Special Institute on Oil and Gas Agreement on May 18, 2006 in Santa Fe, NM. Professor Kramer will be presenting a paper co-authored with George Mahon Professor Susan Saab Fortney.
He will be speaking on the topic of Pooling and Unitization in the Eastern United States and the Annual Institute of the Energy and Mineral Law Foundation on May 23, 2006 in Colonial Willamsburg, Virginia.
Additionally, Professor Kramer will be participating in a meeting of the Executive Committee of the Institute for Energy Law of the Center for American and International Law in Houston on May 17, 2006.
Professor Vaughn James will be a presenter at the Ninth Annual Planned Giving Seminar to be held in Midland, Texas, on Thursday, May 11. The seminar, which is jointly sponsored by the Midland College Foundation and Midland Memorial Foundation, will be attended by attorneys and accountants in the Midland-Odessa area. Professor James’s one-hour presentation will be entitled “Community Property Issues in Probate of Texas Estates.” The day-long seminar will be held at Midland College.
The Midland County Bar Association (MCBA) has scheduled its 2006 Annual Law Day Luncheon for Thursday, May 4, at 11:45 a.m. at the Midland Center. The keynote speaker will be Professor Vickie Sutton, Chief Counsel for the Research and Innovative Technology Administration at the United States Department of Transportation, currently on leave from Texas Tech University School of Law, where she is the Robert H. Bean Professor of Law, 1999 and Texas Institute of Environmental and Human Health Director, Center for Biodefense, Law and Public Policy.
Admission is $11.00 and includes lunch with 1.0 hour of continuing legal education credit for legal professionals.
MCBA also is hosting its 2006 Law Day High School Essay Contest on this year's theme, "Liberty Under Law: Separate Branches, Balanced Powers." The essay contest ran from October 1, 2005 - March 3, 2006, and was open to all area high school students. Students were to submit a 500 word essay addressing the Law Day Theme in accordance with the contest's rules. Prizes will be awarded with a First Prize of $1,500.00, Second Prize of $1,000.00, and Third Prize of $600.00. In addition, Honorable Mentions of $125.00 awards may be given to additional contestants.
The awards will be presented at the Law Day Luncheon, and the winner may recite his or her winning essay at the Luncheon and have it published in one or more local newspapers. Last year, more than 175 people attended our Law Day celebration.
Contact:
Michael Jay Willson, Esq.
President, MCBA
Cotton, Bledsoe, Tighe & Dawson
A Professional Corporation
500 West Illinois, Suite 300
Midland, Texas 79701
Tel: 432-685-8567
Fax: 432-684-3188
E-mail: mwillson@cbtd.com
On May 18th, Susan Saab Fortney, George H. Mahon Professor of Law, will be speaking in Washington, D.C. at the Second National Forum on Law Firm Retention, Recruitment, and Professional Development. In covering her topic, Changing Developments for Work-Life Balance, Professor Fortney will present findings from the national study that she conducted for the NALP Foundation, In Purusit of Attorney Work-Life Balance: Best Practices in Management. For more information on the institute program sponsored by Hildebrant International, see http://www.hildebrandt.com/HDBTInstitute.aspx?WS_ID=576/
Visiting Professor Bill Jeffery has been invited to participate in a panel discussion on “Legal Implications of Adaptive Management” at the Third Annual Water Law, Policy, and Science Conference, hosted by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln on May 4 and 5. The conference will explore adaptive management strategies for utilization of water resources. Other panel participants include Bradley Karkkainen of the University of Minnesota Law School, Jonathan Cannon of the University of Virginia Law School, and Sandra Zellmer of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Law.
Professor Jorge Ramírez has been selected by the International Rotary Foundation as one of five professionals that will participate in a Group Student Exchange program in Brazil during the month of May. The Group Study Program provides participants with an opportunity to meet with colleagues in Brazil to discuss opportunities for collaboration, study and research. Professor Ramírez administers our international study abroad programs in Spain, France, Mexico and Australia. His responsibilities include teaching introductory international law courses including courses on the North American Free Trade Agreement (“NAFTA”) and International Business Transactions. While in Brazil he will meet with international traders, academics that teach in the area of international trade and government officials that deal with international trade issues. The program should provide Ramírez with an interesting perspective on trade with Latin America. Although Brazil, the largest nation in Latin America, is a Co-Chair of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (“FTAA”) along with the United States, they have not been a strong supporter of the FTAA. As many of the thirty-four Democracies in Latin America continue to move to the left, Brazil’s President, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, is seen as a leftist with which the U.S. can work. Therefore, Brazil should provide Ramírez with an excellent laboratory for furthering his understanding of U.S. and Latin American trade relations.
The United States Tax Court has accepted the Law School's invitation, made through Professor Camp, to conduct its Lubbock docket here at the Law School. The Court will sit in the Alvin R. Allison Courtroom to hear cases on May 8, 2006. Although the timing puts the Court's session during finals, students are nonetheless welcomed and invited to sit in and see how the Tax Court operates.
Professor Camp, Vice Chair of the Individual Income Tax Committee of the ABA Tax Section will be part of a panel presentation on "It's Not Easy Collecting Green: Tax Collection by Private Collection Agencies." Also on the panel will be the National Taxpayer Advocate, Nina Olsen, and practitioner Megan Brackney, from one of New York City's top criminal tax defense firms. The panel will explain the new rules regarding qualified tax collection contracts under section 6306. The panelists will discuss the authority granted by the statute, the potential restrictions on debt collection imposed by the IRC and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, and any remedies available for violations of a statutory or contractual violation. The focus will be on the impact on individual taxpayers, and the potential problems that may arise from the process.
Professor Gabriel Eckstein has been invited to serve as a keynote speaker at the III International Symposium on Transboundary Waters Management: Overcoming Water Management Boundaries, hosted by the University of Castilla-La Mancha, in Spain, from May 30th to June 2nd, 2006. Professor Eckstein will speak about “Developing International Law for Transboundary Ground Water Resources and the Work of the UN International Law Commission,” a topic relating to his ongoing service as an expert advisor to the United Nations.
Professor Vaughn James will be the speaker at this year’s Caring for Aging Parents Seminar to be held at the Texas Tech Health Sciences Center from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 20. Prof. James’s two-hour presentation will focus on areas of Elder Law, Wills and Trusts, and Estate Planning, and will include time for a question-and-answer session.
Professor Ann Graham will speak to the Amarillo Bar Association’s Spring Institute on May 13. Her topic is “The New Business Organizations Code”.