IN THIS ISSUE : THE 2008 CONTRIBUTORS REPORT WINTER 2008 THE MAGAZINE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS SCHOOL OF IHLAW @5K UT Law proudly announces the creation of BVS1S\bS`T]`E][S\W\:Oe Who Speaks for the Children? Professor Jack Sampson and the Children’s Rights Clinic THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS LAW SCHOOL FOUNDATION, 727 E. DEAN KEETON STREET, AUSTIN, TEXAS 78705 Children’s Rights Clinic helps lawyers “speak for the child” When Judge Barbara Walther in San Angelo, Texas, signed an order to remove more than 450 children from the Yearning for Zion Ranch last April, she initiated the largest child custody case in U.S. history. Amid the media frenzy, Walther faced another task: securing an attorney for each of those children and making sure each of the attorneys had the appropriate training. To do this, she turned to the Children’s Rights Clinic at the University of Texas School of Law. For nearly thirty years, the Children’s Rights Clinic has been helping lawyers “speak for the child.” Full story on page 12. InCamera PHOTO BY CHRISTINA MURREY PHOTO WINTER 2008 VOLUME 7 ISSUE 2 4 12 8 4 Professor at the Helm 12 Who Speaks for 30 Seize the Day: the Professor Michael Sturley is an expert the Child? The Children’s Campaign for UT Law in admiralty law and Supreme Court practice. Next year he will receive a major Rights Clinic UT Law has set an ambitious goal of award from American Maritime Cases, raising $200 million over the next five and the Supreme Court Clinic, which For almost thirty years, the Children’s years. The money raised during the he helped found, boasts a remarkable Rights Clinic has trained generations of campaign will be used for support in record of litigating at the highest level. lawyers to represent the most vulnerable three broad categories—faculty recruit- members of society: children. ment and retention, student recruitment and support, and support for new and 8 The Center for Women expanded programs at the Law School. 18 Faculty News in Law Stefanie Lindquist 30 The George McMillan Fleming Center A recently launched initiative, the for Law and Innovation in Biomedicine Center for Women in Law will identify Lori Duke and Healthcare and address persistent issues facing women in the legal profession by Mira Ganor advocating for significant and lasting change. The Center’s ambition is to Elana Einhorn 32 The Glickman Fellowship in Public become a nationally acclaimed institu- Interest Law tion dedicated to improving the status Angela Littwin of all women in law. The Justice Corps Eliza Platts-Mills On the cover: Martha Smiley, ’72, Nina Sean Williams Cortell, ’76, Catherine Lamboley, ’79, Linda Addison, ’76, and Lauren Eaton Prescott, ’75, meet at the Law School to discuss plans for Ernest Smith the Center for Women in Law. 2 UTLAW K]bhYf&$$, The 2008 UT SCHOOL OF LAW Contributors Report Dean LAWRENCE SAGER University of Texas Law School Foundation 33 The Stanley President, Board of Trustees ROBERT C. GRABLE, ’71 Johanson Fund for UT Law School Alumni Association President Teaching and Scholarship NINA CORTELL, ’76 UT LAW MAGAZINE Law Partners Editor KIRSTON FORTUNE Contributing Editors 34 Estates and Trusts TOM HENNINGER, ’92 JULIEN DEVEREUX Charles Alan Wright Contributing Writers JULIEN DEVEREUX 18 Society LAURA CASTRO, ’97 TOM GERROW VIVÉ GRIFFITHS TOM HENNINGER, ’92 Major Gifts JERRY DE JAAGER DIANA SMITH 77 Class Notes Contributing Photographers 35 Endowed Student BRIAN BIRZER MARSHA MILLER CHRISTINA MURREY 86 In Memoriam Scholarships MARK RUTKOWSKI Photo Editor 100% Giving Club STEPHANIE SWOPE Class Notes Editor CHRISTINA DUNGER 36 Keeton Fellows Design MARYBETH DAIGLE Cover photo 39 Annual Fund BRIAN BIRZER COMMENTS? We welcome your letters. Please email Kirston Fortune at [email protected] 53 Friends of the Law or write care of: The University of Texas School of Law 727 East Dean Keeton Street School Austin, Texas 78705 TO ADVERTISE, PLEASE CONTACT: MIKE MCKEE 55 Companies & ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE TEXAS MONTHLY CUSTOM PUBLISHING Foundations Phone: (512) 320-6934, Fax: (512) 476-9007 Email: [email protected] TO CHANGE YOUR CONTACT 57 Gifts by Fund INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT: Phone: (512) 471-6314 Email: [email protected] Online: http://www.utexas.edu/law/depts/ 64 Gifts by Class alumni/form.html UTLAW Magazine is published twice a year by The University of Texas Law School Foundation, a nonprofit corporation, 727 E. Dean Keeton Street, Austin, Texas, 78705. 76 Sunflower Society ©2008 University of Texas Law School Foundation K]bhYf&$$,UTLAW 3 DfcZYggcfDfcZYggcfDfcZYggcf ObbVS<Y`a A]W\UY`Ghif`YmW\UfhgUbYk WcifgYZcf]bhYfbUh]cbU` aUf]h]aY`UkUbXghYYfggiWWYggZi` GidfYaY7cifh7`]b]W by LAURA CASTRO, ’97 FOR SIXTEEN YEARS, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS LAW professor Michael Sturley has spent countless hours quietly working on an ambitious project: negotiating and drafting a new convention to govern international shipping. Although he has generally worked behind the scenes, Professor Sturley’s strong leadership and influ- ence in the development of maritime law have not gone unnoticed. 4 UTLAW K]bhYf&$$, PHOTO BY MARSHA MILLER PHOTO K]bhYf&$$,UTLAW 5 Contributions to Maritime Law In September, American Maritime Cases (AMC), a leading mari- Maritime International committee that prepared a preliminary time-law publication, dedicated its seventeenth, five-year digest draft of the new convention for UNCITRAL, as the senior advi- to Sturley for his outstanding contributions to the field. Every sor on the U.S. delegation to the UNCITRAL Working Group five years, since its founding in 1923, AMC has honored promi- that negotiated and drafted the final convention, and as a mem- nent industry leaders, primarily federal judges and attorneys. ber of the UNCITRAL Secretariat’s expert group that assisted Sturley, in his twenty-fifth year at the School of Law, is only the and advised the Secretariat during the process. second full-time academic to receive this distinction. Sturley generally served as the U.S. spokesperson on sub- New York maritime attorney Chester D. Hooper said the stantive maritime law issues, providing invaluable advice and dedication was timely because the U.N. Commission on Interna- leadership to the delegation. “Everyone I asked said that Michael tional Trade Law (UNCITRAL) just completed its Convention Sturley was the leading U.S. (and perhaps the world) expert in on Contracts for the International Carriage of Goods Wholly or this area, and that he would be a key member of the delegation. Partly by Sea. Sturley began working on a predecessor domestic They were right,” said Mary Helen Carlson, a State Department project in 1992 and has been centrally involved ever since. attorney who assembled and led the U.S. delegation. The new convention not only updates international regimes “This is a highly complex, technical subject with a long written decades ago but also unifies aspects of transport law history. Many countries’ delegates did not have much back- that international agreements never addressed. While the ground in this area. Everyone came to rely on Michael,” United States adheres to its aging Carriage of Goods by Sea Carlson said. “Of course, he represented the United States, Act (COGSA), other countries follow a variety of different and therefore was always advocating the U.S. position on an maritime codes. In recent years, this breakdown in uniformity issue. But everyone trusted him, and looked to him to give a has caused commercial problems. fair, balanced, and accurate explanation of any issue.” Carlson ¿;WQVOSZWa\]R]cPb]\S]TOVO\RTcZ]T^S]^ZSW\ bVSe]`ZReV]Y\]eaSdS`gRSbOWZ]TbVWaW[^]`bO\b W\bS`\ObW]\OZW\ab`c[S\bÀ “With Professor Sturley’s tremendous work on this convention, added that she often called Sturley the “intellectual spark plug” he’s helping to unify the world’s maritime law,” said Hooper, of the convention. past president of the U.S. Maritime Law Association. Tomotaka Fujita, the head of the Japanese delegation, said Sturley, who will formally receive the AMC award in New UNCITRAL colleagues often exclaimed with admiration that York next May, said he’s honored to be included among the the American professor could explain other delegates’ con- luminaries who have received this distinction. He noted the fusing statements. “Michael is one of the rare experts who honor was unexpected. “The people I work with appreciate can explain complicated issues in transport law so clearly that my contributions, but much of what I do is quiet, behind-the- even a layman with little knowledge can understand,” said scenes work. I’m never sure if anyone in the larger community Fujita. “Michael is no doubt one of a handful of people in the has any idea what I do, let alone appreciates it.” world who knows every detail of this important international With Sturley playing a key role, the U.S. delegation was at instrument.” the center of the UNCITRAL negotiations. The completed Not surprisingly, Sturley has written several law review convention—which addresses major changes in the industry articles (including for the Texas International Law Journal) about such as the development of electronic commerce and the UNCITRAL’s transport law project. In the coming year, he will shipping of goods in containers—was approved by the U.N. coauthor (with delegates from Japan and the Netherlands) a General Assembly in November. The convention’s formal treatise that will serve as a guide to the new convention. He is signing, which Sturley plans to attend, is set for September also scheduled to teach a seminar on the subject in Spring 2009. 2009 in Rotterdam. He said students will read the UNCITRAL public records, but In the past sixteen years, Sturley has served as the reporter on they will also hear about the behind-the-scenes negotiations.