Lectures/Symposia/Conferences

The Texas Law Review will be hosting a Symposium honoring Professor Jay L. Westbrook, a once-in-a-lifetime event that will pay overdue homage to one of the most distinguished living bankruptcy scholars in the United States. In the subfield of cross-border insolvency, Professor Westbrook is probably the world’s leading expert. The Symposium’s contributors, a diverse group of preeminent scholars from across the country and world, will present original scholarship that builds upon Professor Westbrook’s research and engages with the central questions in debtor-creditor law today. The Symposium will focus on four areas in which Professor Westbrook reshaped the field: consumer bankruptcy in the U.S., comparative consumer bankruptcy, U.S. business bankruptcy, and international insolvency. It will feature a half day on consumer bankruptcy and a full day on business bankruptcy, concluding with a roundtable of distinguished lawyers that will lead a conversation from the floor of the symposium’s international topics.

The Dean of the Hebrew University Faculty of Law in Jerusalem will be here to participate in the Civic Education symposium on Friday and Saturday. (He’s the first Arab Christian to serve as Dean, among other things). This is an informal gathering before the symposium. Small drinks and refreshments will be served.

Friday, February 16

8:00 – 8:30am: Breakfast for everyone and Registration for Teachers

8:30 – 9:00am: Welcome by Dean Farnsworth and Setting the Stage by Sanford Levinson

9:00 – 12:15pm: On "Introducing" Constitutional Law--and the Casebooks We Use to Do That. A host of editors of leading casebooks on the US Constitution will address two central questions: 1. What aspects of the Constitution should American undergraduates and/or law students be “introduced” to in 2018, given the high unlikelihood that even the law students will actually "practice" constitutional law in any capacity other than citizens? 2. What do you see as the principal point(s) of your own casebook relative to whatever answer you gave to the first question? Each person will make a short presentation, followed by presumably intense conversation including participation by the audience. There will be a brief break around 10:30 Panelists: Josh Blackman, Erwin Chemerinsky, Richard Fallon, Mark Graber, Gary Jacobsohn, Sanford Levinson, Pam Karlan, Mark Tushnet Chair: Richard Albert Location: Francis Auditorium

1:45-2:00pm: Introduction to the general topic of civic education (and the remaining panels): Meira Levinson

2:00 – 3:30pm: Historical Perspectives. As educators and citizens try to make sense of contemporary political and ideological divisions in the United States, it can be useful to see how educators and policy makers addressed profound division and civic upheaval in the past. This panel brings together historians of education to provide perspectives and insights into prior approaches to civic education in times of upheaval. Panelists: Jarvis Givens, Julie Reuben, Jonathan Zimmerman Chair: Lorraine Pangle Location: Sheffield-Massey Room

3:50 – 5:35pm: Civic Education in Divided Societies. Partisanship in the United States is at higher levels than we’ve seen in decades, and increasingly tracks other divides such as education level, income, and place of residence. Not only are we more extreme in our beliefs, therefore, but we are also more likely to be disconnected from those who have different perspectives. We are not the only country to face profound civic division, however; nor is this the first time that the United States finds itself ideologically driven. This panel brings together scholars and educators who work around the globe in deeply divided countries. Panelists: Michelle Bellino, Thea Abu El-Haj, Michael Karayanni, Adam Strom Chair: Michael Stoff Location: Sheffield-Massey Room

Saturday's Conference Schedule can be found here.

Please RSVP to the conference, here.

Note: Teachers can get Continuing Education credit through the State Bar of Texas. Please pre-register with the RSVP and register in front of the desk at TNH 2.111.

• Civic Education in a Time of Upheaval Conference Schedule

Friday's Conference Schedule can be found here.

Panels will be located all day in the Eidman Courtroom.

Note: Teachers can get Continuing Education credit through the State Bar of Texas. Please pre-register with your RSVP.

Saturday, February 17

8:15 – 8:50am: Breakfast for everyone and Registration for Teachers. Location: Jamail Pavilion.

9:00 – 10:30am: Teaching Civic Contestation in Schools. How can and should educators teach controversial issues in schools? This is a perennial question, but one that has heightened salience in these unsettled times. What principles and practices should guide educators’ choices about what to include in the curriculum, and what to leave out as either “too hot to handle” or inappropriate to be treated as something open to debate? How have educators tried to protect themselves or their students when investigating contested topics, and what happens when things go wrong?

Panelists: Curtis Acosta, Dafney Blanca Dabach, Diana Hess

Chair: Randall Kennedy

10:45 – 12:15: Fault Lines in the Constitution. To the extent that the Constitution is taught in middle schools and high schools today, focus is generally placed on two areas: (1) the genius of the Framers in creating a government of divided and balanced powers, and (2) the perfection of the rights accorded to citizens, particularly those embedded in the Bill of Rights. Such anodyne and uncritical approaches to our founding document, however, diminish students' civic capacities. As the panelists will explain, celebratory approaches to teaching the Constitution are both inadequate and inaccurate. Cynthia Levinson and Sanford Levinson, authors of Fault Lines in the Constitution: The Framers, Their Fights, and the Flaws that Affect Us Today, a book for young readers, explain an alternative perspective on the Constitution, focusing on the ways that the structures of our government contribute to dysfunctionalities in American political life. In addition, an educator will provide insights into ways to make civics education more complex and comprehensive.

Panelists: Cynthia Levinson, Sanford Levinson, Aaron Hull, Katherina Payne

Moderator: Meira Levinson

1:30 – 3:00: Schools as Civic Actors. Civic education is traditionally thought of as a subject (like math or science), a set of pedagogies (such as in-class discussion or action civics), or extracurricular learning opportunities (such as student government or debate). But schools also educate civically by modeling civic values and engagement themselves as civic actors. This can prove challenging when teachers, administrators, students, and parents are divided about what their obligations should be. Should schools create “sanctuary campuses” intended to disrupt the school-to-deportation pipeline? How should they respond when students stage school walkouts over civic and political issues, or when students who merely repeat politicians’ statements run afoul of anti-bullying laws? This session will immerse participants in case study discussions about how educators and policy makers are addressing schools’ responsibilities as civic actors in times of upheaval.

• Conference Schedule

On Monday, March 19, 2018, the Robert Strauss Center welcomes Dr. Diane Howard, Assistant Professor of Commercial Space Operations at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, for a discussion on the law, security, and technology policy issues arising from steadily increasing space traffic. This talk, free and open to the public, will take place at the Texas Law School in the Sheffield-Massey Room, TNH 2.111.

Dr. Diane Howard is Assistant Professor in the Commercial Space Operations program at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida USA. She is responsible for curriculum development and teaching space law and policy courses that are core to the program. Diane first became involved in space initiatives in 2004, participating in citizen lobbying efforts to facilitate the passing of the Commercial Space Law Amendments Act of 2004, a critical piece of US legislation that has made possible the development of innovative technologies and a burgeoning commercial space transportation industry.

Dr. Howard has retained her interest in commercial space issues. After working as a staff attorney in the Florida Appellate courts for a number of years, she took the decision to specialize in space law and attended McGill University’s Institute of Air and Space Law. Her LLM thesis centered upon private space law issues and her doctoral work focused upon effective spaceport regulation.

Diane serves as Executive Secretary of the International Institute of Space Law and participates in numerous legal projects, both domestically (within the US) and internationally. She works with COMSTAC Working Groups when invited. The US Department of State named her a private sector advisor and subject matter expert in Expert Group D of the UN COPUOS STSC Long Term Sustainability of Space Activities Working Group, hoping to soon conclude its work. Dr. Howard was legal lead for the International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety Suborbital Safety (IAASS) Technical Committee, which recently finalized its guidelines. She continues to publish her research and speaks at space conferences and events throughout the world. In addition to the IISL and the IAASS, Diane is a member of the AIAA and the Florida Bar.

Brandon Garrett discussing his new book, “End of its Rope: How Killing the Death Penalty Can Revive Criminal Justice”

http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674970991

G. Rollie White Scholar in Residence Michael Allen

The Justice Center invites you to hear Michael Allen speak on “Using Modern Impact Litigation to Advance Civil Rights” on April 2 at 3:45 in the Eidman Courtroom. Allen is an outstanding advocate and speaker and both the issues and the litigation techniques used are very interesting. Allen is with Relman, Dane & Colfax, a civil rights law firm based in Washington, D.C. The firm litigates cases in the areas of housing, lending, employment, public accommodations, education, and police accountability. The national practice includes individual and class action lawsuits on behalf of plaintiffs with claims of discrimination and harassment on the basis of race, national origin, color, religion, sex, disability, age, familial status, source of income, and sexual orientation.

Reception to follow in the Jamail Pavilion.

The UT Law Capital Punishment Center will host its annual symposium on April 6 & 7, 2018.

This year’s conference, "Mitigation Advocacy," will discuss the growth of mitigation practice over the past 30-40 years along several dimensions: changes in best practices; empirical assessments of what "works" in mitigation development and presentation; the extension of mitigation practices to non-capital contexts; the importance of cultural competence in mitigation investigation; and the significance of mitigation to the practice of American capital punishment. The goal of the conference is to understand the evolving role of mitigation development and presentation in criminal litigation. We also hope to build momentum for the establishment of a mitigation program within UT's Capital Punishment Center. The proposed program would bring together experts from a variety of disciplines at UT and beyond (law, social work, nursing, psychology, medicine, communications, journalism, etc.) to train students for careers as mitigation professionals and to research best mitigation practices (both within and outside of the capital context).

Please join the Capital Punishment Center faculty and a stellar group of nationally-renowned and local panelists for a retrospective examination of mitigation investigation in the modern era as well as group discussion of our vision for mitigation training and development moving forward.

• Conference Agenda

2018 Capital Punishment Center Conference: "Mitigation Advocacy"

• Conference Agenda

The 6th Annual Empirical Patent Law Conference (EPLC-6), is organized by Professors Melissa Wasserman (The University of Texas School of Law) and Michael Frakes (Duke University School of Law). They will bring together for one day a diverse mix of scholars in patent law, economics, and policy. Each scholar will employ advanced empirical techniques to confront a research question of particular relevance to patent policy. Faculty who wish to attend must email Sarah Shamburg no later than 5:00 pm, Thurs., Apr. 26.