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features 

2 

Advocacy 

program Makes 

great Strides 

20 

Means Is a 

Quiet Mentor 

sections 

24 

Around Campus 

44 

Advancement 

Report 

2012 | volume 12 | issue 2 

on the cover 

9 

Mcgrath Spends 

Fulbright year 

in China 

16 

Judge Means 

Receives 2012 

Excellence in 

Justice Award 

22 

Texas Wesleyan School of Law 

2012-2013 New Faculty and promotions 

29 

In Academia 

49 

Alumni News 

& Notes 

37 

Alumni Report 

52 

Career Services 

Jill Smith ’12, Scott Thompson ’12 and 3L Amy herrera were the 

2012 national quarterfinalists in the ABA National Appellate Advocacy 

Competition. See “Advocacy program Makes great Strides” article 

beginning on page 2. — photo by Dan Brothers 

Texas Wesleyan University 

School of Law 

1515 Commerce Street 

Fort Worth, Texas 76102 

817-212-4000 

www.law.txwes.edu 

DEAN 

Frederic White 

ASSOCIATE DEAN FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS 

Aric Short 

ASSOCIATE DEAN FOR FACULTy 

RESEARCh & DEvELOpMENT 

huyen pham 

ASSOCIATE DEAN FOR EvENINg 

DIvISION pROgRAMS 

Stephen R. Alton 

DIRECTOR OF ThE LAW LIBRARy 

Michelle Rigual 

ASSISTANT DEAN FOR CAREER SERvICES 

AND ACTINg ASSISTANT DEAN OF 

ADMISSIONS & SChOLARShIpS 

Arturo Errisuriz 

ASSISTANT DEAN FOR STUDENT AFFAIRS 

Rosalind Jeffers 

DIRECTOR OF ALUMNI 

RELATIONS & EXTERNAL AFFAIRS 

Casey Dyer Oliver ’06 

pRESIDENT 

Frederick g. Slabach 

pROvOST AND SENIOR vICE pRESIDENT 

Dr. Allen henderson 

EDITORIAL STAFF 

EDITOR 

Dan Brothers 

STAFF WRITERS 

Cristina Noriega 

Sara Rogers 

COpy EDITOR 

Janna Franzwa Canard 

please direct correspondence to: 

Dan Brothers, Editor 

Texas Wesleyan Lawyer 


Fort Worth, Texas 76102 

dbrothers@law.txwes.edu 

Texas Wesleyan Lawyer is published twice a year for the 

benefit of Texas Wesleyan University School of Law graduates, 

faculty and friends. The views and opinions expressed in Texas 

Wesleyan Lawyer are those of the authors and not necessarily 

those of Texas Wesleyan University School of Law. 

The School of Law is fully accredited by the Council of the Section 

of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar of the American 

Bar Association, 321 N. Clark Street, Chicago, IL 60610, 800-285- 

2221, www.abanet.org. 

Texas Wesleyan University is accredited by the Commission on 

Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools 

to award baccalaureate, master’s, and doctoral level degrees. 

Contact the Commission on Colleges at 1866 Southern Lane, 

Decatur, Georgia 30033-4097 or call 404-679-4500 (Web site: 

www.sacscoc.org) only for questions, comments or issues 

related to the accreditation of Texas Wesleyan University. 

Texas Wesleyan University shall not discriminate against any 

individual because of race, color, religion, creed, national or 

ethnic origin, gender, age, disability, veteran’s status, sexual 

orientation or any other reason prohibited by applicable federal, 

state, or local laws.

Dear Alumni and Friends, 

Our law school community – faculty, staff, alumni and friends – is extremely proud of 

the recent successes our advocacy program teams have enjoyed. The very hard work 

of our students, coaches and program director, Jennifer Ellis ’05, has paid off with 

significant dividends. In our first 23 years, teams in the three advocacy disciplines have won 

three international championships, 10 national championships and 13 regional championships. 

The experiences these students receive preparing for and during competitions reflect the law 

school’s commitment to producing graduates who are “practice ready.” 

Professor James McGrath is back teaching at the law school after having spent the 2011-2012 

academic year as a Fulbright Scholar in China. He shares his Chinese adventure teaching at the 

Beijing University of Technology in this issue’s second feature. Unlike the United States, where 

law school is a graduate school, in China, students may earn their bachelor’s degree in law. 

McGrath is the law school’s fifth Fulbright Scholar. 

The law school presented its coveted Texas Wesleyan University Excellence in Justice Award 

to the Hon. Terry R. Means at the conclusion of the Fort Worth Business Press Power Attorneys 

Luncheon at The Fort Worth Club in October. Judge Means has spent countless hours mentoring 

students, supporting the law school’s mission, and helping the Tarrant County Bar Association. 

This was the fourth year that the law school has been the presenting sponsor for the Power 

Attorneys Luncheon. We value our ongoing partnerships with the Fort Worth Business Press, and 

the Fort Worth and Tarrant County legal communities. 

This fall, the law school welcomed three new faculty members for the 2012-2013 academic 

year. Our new professors are Associate Professor of Law Milan Markovic, Associate Professor 

of Law Carol Pauli, and Associate Professor of Law Lisa Rich. In addition, we congratulate our 

newly tenured faculty members Megan Carpenter and Brian Holland who have been promoted to 

professor of law. 

Texas Wesleyan University and the law school continue to work on efforts that we hope will result 

in Texas Wesleyan School of Law being acquired by the Texas A&M University System. We still 

anticipate that this process will be complete sometime in June 2013. Several steps must yet be 

accomplished to bring this strategic partnership to fruition. 

We look ahead to our future with great anticipation. 

Sincerely, 


Dean and Professor of Law 

1 

message 

from the dean

Advocacy Program 

Makes Great Strides 

By Jennifer Ellis ’05, director of Texas Wesleyan School 

of Law Advocacy Program 

Over the past decade, advocacy at Texas Wesleyan has grown into a powerful program. 

We now send teams of students to about 20 competitions a year. Our advocacy program is 

comprised of moot court, mock trial and dispute resolution. Moot court simulates appellate 

advocacy and includes both a brief writing and an oral advocacy component. Mock trial 

is traditional trial advocacy. Dispute resolution includes competitions in the areas of 

mediation, negotiation, client counseling and arbitration. Our teams compete in a wide 

variety of subject matter, including constitutional law, securities, labor and employment, 

criminal law and administrative law. 

The most prestigious of advocacy competitions involves 

two separate components: one at the regional level and 

an elite one at the national level. Teams must qualify for 

the national finals by winning or placing highly in the regional 

competition. Last year, we qualified teams for the national 

finals in all three advocacy disciplines for the first time. Scott 

Thompson ’12, Jill Smith ’12 and 3L Amy Herrera won the 

New York regional of the prestigious ABA National Appellate 

Advocacy Competition and went on to place in the top eight 

at the national finals. Thompson was awarded the National 

Best Advocate award and the team received the second 

place National Best Brief award. The team was coached by 

Jennifer Ellis ’05, director of advocacy programs. In mock 

trial, Antonio Allen ’12, DeAndrea Jackson ’12, 2L Matthew 

Jackson and 2L Marcus Johnson advanced as a team to the 

national finals of the BLSA Thurgood Marshall Competition, 

3 

where they placed in the top eight. The team was coached by 

attorney Douglas Greene. Two teams advanced to the national 

finals in dispute resolution. Ross Tew ’12 and Marissa Warms 

’12 were regional champions and national semifinalists of the 

ABA Client Counseling Competition. Danielle Huddleston ’11 

and Johnny Lanzillo ’12 advanced to the national finals of the 

ABA Negotiation Competition. The client counseling team was 

coached by Professor Kay Elliott, and the negotiation team was 

coached by attorney Chris Watts ’00. 

Another incredible opportunity came in the summer of 2011. 

Tew and Danny Ippolito’s ’12 team advanced to the national 

finals of the ABA Negotiation Competition in the fall of 2010. Just 

days prior to the competition, the early birth of Ippolito’s first son 

prevented him from being able to compete. Subsequently, Tew 

competed alone at the national finals and won the national title. As 

Opposite page: The law school’s advocacy program display cases are full – almost overflowing. Due to the successes of the advocacy teams, 

director Jennifer Ellis ’05 is running out of room to display the trophies, plaques and other awards that have been won over the past 10 years. 

— Photo by Dan Brothers

cover 

story 

a result, he and Ippolito advanced to the 

international finals in the summer of 2011, 

where they represented Texas Wesleyan 

and the United States in Copenhagen and 

earned the Joint Maximizing Award. Elliott 

and Watts coached the winning team. 

This school year began with a bang when 

2L Joshua Graham, 3L Graham Norris 

and 3L Adam Swartz’s team won our 

newest national championship at the 

Securities Dispute Resolution Triathlon. 

This unique competition requires 

students to compete in the fields of 

negotiation, mediation and arbitration, 

all concerning the challenging subject 

of securities. The competition is hosted 

by FINRA and St. John’s Law School in 

New York. The team, coached by Elliott, 

defeated 17 other teams from around 

the nation to win the title. 

Texas Wesleyan will be attending nine 

other competitions across the three 

disciplines this fall, and 11 in the spring 

semester. Team members are selected 

by tryouts held before the director of 

advocacy programs and a selection of 

coaches from that discipline. Professor 

recommendations and performance at 

in-school competitions can also play a 

factor in team selection. Both part-time 

and full-time students are eligible to 

participate, and students receive course 

credit for serving on a competition 

team. Students also receive invaluable 

experience. The subject matter is often 

one that will either be covered on the bar 

examination, or one that will help them 

in future internships or in the practice 

of law. They are able to hone their 

advocacy skills of public speaking and 

persuasive writing. They are also given 

the opportunity to meet local practicing 

attorneys who act as judges during 

team practices, and the adjunct faculty 

coaches become very familiar with 

each student’s abilities and work ethic. 

Michael Zimprich ’11 was champion in the 

2010 Jeffry S. Abrams National Mediator 

Competition. — Photo by Dan Brothers 

To be able to win 

numerous titles 

demonstrates the talent 

and dedication of our 

students and coaches. 

These are useful connections when 

securing future potential employment 

and references. 

Most exciting this spring is the invitation 

to compete in the Moot Court National 

Championship. Three years ago, the 

University of Houston’s Blakely Advocacy 

Institute implemented an intricate ranking 

system for all moot court programs in 

the nation. Schools receive points based 

on performance at competitions. Only 

national competitions can receive points, 

and more points are received based on 

size of the competition. At the end of the 

school year, the top ranked schools are 

invited to participate in a “best of the 

best” competition. 

4 

For the first time ever, Texas Wesleyan 

has qualified for an invitation to this 

competition. The tremendous success 

of Thompson, Smith and Herrera’s team 

at the ABA National Appellate Advocacy 

Competition contributed in large part to 

this invitation. Points were also received 

for two national semifinalist awards. 

3L Jo Pate, Jill Smith ’12 and 3L Kline 

Pillow’s team received that honor at the 

2011 Chicago Bar National Moot Court 

Competition. Francesca Scanio ’12, 

Jim Mathew ’12 and 3L Kyle Fonville’s 

team did the same at the 2012 Gibbons 

National Criminal Procedure Moot Court 

Competition. Melinda Westmoreland ’06 

of the Tarrant County district attorney’s 

office coached both teams. Finally, 

points were received when 3L Brent 

Chapell won Best Petitioner’s Brief at the 

2011 Pepperdine National Entertainment 

Law Moot Court Competition. 

For the first time in several years, 

Texas Wesleyan was able to, once 

again, achieve success at the national 

level in mock trial. In addition to the 

success of the national finals qualifying 

team, teammates Marissa Warms ’12, 

Jessica Brumm ’12, 3L Graham Norris 

and 3L David McClellend were national 

octofinalists at the South Texas Mock 

Trial Challenge. Joshua Burgess, of the 

U.S. attorney’s office, coached the team. 

The time leading up to competition is 

arduous and requires hard work and 

preparation. Students practice for several 

hours, three times a week for about a 

month, with further training devoted 

individually between practices. Moot 

court requires an additional month to 

research and write an extensive appellate 

brief prior to the preparation for oral 

argument. Many advocacy students 

must balance this time commitment with

2012 Securities Dispute Resolution Triathlon national champions were 3L Adam Swartz, 2L Joshua Graham and 3L Graham Norris. — Photo by Dan Brothers 

Team members are selected by tryouts held before the director of advocacy 

programs and a selection of coaches from that discipline. Professor 

recommendations and performance at in-school competitions can also play a 

factor in team selection. Both part-time and full-time students are eligible to 

participate, and students receive course credit for serving on a competition team. 

the other obligations of school, work, extracurricular activities 

and family. However, the hard work pays off in spades when 

they are awarded at competition. 

Since the law school’s inception, the following top honors have 

been received across the three disciplines: 

• Three international championships 

• Ten national championships 

• Thirteen regional championships 

• One state championship 

• Eleven Best Advocate awards 

• Eight Best Brief awards 

(including one national Scribes award) 

Wesleyan law students have received 11 of these awards in 

the past two school years alone. And that doesn’t even include 

the numerous rankings and awards for placements aside from 

first place. Students from around the world practice for weeks, 

sometimes months, for these competitions. To be able to win 

numerous titles demonstrates the talent and dedication of our 

students and coaches. Professors and local attorneys, some 

of whom are former advocates from our program, coach the 

school’s teams. 

The increase in Texas Wesleyan’s competition success over the 

past five years is most likely due to a combination of factors. 

First, the law school implemented the full-time director of 

advocacy programs position in 2007 to bring all three disciplines 

together under one united umbrella. Such coordination allows 

a central mechanism for selecting and supervising teams 

5

cover 

story 

and coaches, and ensures professionalism and unity among the 

disciplines. Second, there has been consistency in coaching over 

the past few years. 

Moot court’s longest-serving coach is Joe Spence, a partner 

at Shannon Gracey Ratliff and Miller, LLP, who has worked with 

moot court students since 2004. He has coached three of the 

school’s four national moot court championship teams. He has also 

coached two teams that came in second place at an international 

and a national competition, as well as a regional championship 

team. In addition to coaching, Spence has taught classes at the law 

school on various topics and was the 2010 recipient of the alumni 

association Friend of the Law School Award for his years of service. 

Elliott has coached the dispute resolution teams since the law 

school’s inception in 1989. She has coached two international, six 

national, and seven regional championship teams. In addition to 

coaching, she also teaches courses in dispute resolution. 

Another instrumental key to the 

continued success of our programs 

has been the implementation of the 

Board of Advocates. This studentrun 

organization helps to provide 

support to the competitive teams and 

to host the in-school competitions 

in all three disciplines that allow all 

students to compete and determine 

their level of interest and talent. 

Ross Tew ’12 and Marissa Warms ’12 were national semifinalists and regional champions in the 2012 ABA Client Counseling Competition. 

They were coached by Kay Elliott (center). — Photo by Dan Brothers

Jim Mathew ’12, Jeanette Walston ’11 and Chad McLain ’12 were the national 

champions in the 2010 Chicago Bar Association Moot Court Competition. 

— Photo by Dan Brothers 

Ross Tew ’12 (left) and Danny Ippolito ’12 (right) were national champions in 

the 2011 ABA Negotiation Competition. — Photo by Dan Brothers 

Support is essential for our advocacy 

programs. Attorneys are always needed 

to help our teams prepare for competition 

by playing the role of judge. Practices are 

held in the evenings and on weekends. 

7 

Recent Advocacy Awards 

• 2012 National Best Advocate, National Quarterfinalists, 

National second place Best Brief, Regional Champions, 

ABA National Appellate Advocacy Competition 

• 2011 International Best Advocate, Canadian 

International Mediation Advocacy Competition 

• 2012 National Champions, Securities Dispute 

Resolution Triathlon 

• 2010 National Champions, Chicago Bar 

Association Moot Court Competition 

• 2011 National Champions, ABA Negotiation 

Competition 

• 2010 National Champions, Jeffry S. Abrams National 

Mediator Competition 

• 2010 International Finalists, John Marshall 

International Moot Court Competition 

• 2012 National Semifinalists and Regional Champions, 

ABA Client Counseling Competition 

• 2012 Best Petitioner Brief and Quarterfinalists, 

John Marshall International Intellectual Property 

Moot Court Competition 

• 2011 Best Petitioner Brief, Pepperdine National Moot 

Court Competition 

• 2011 Best Brief, Gibbons National Moot Court 

Competition 

• 2012 National Semifinalists, Gibbons National Moot 

Court Competition 

• 2011 National Semifinalists, Chicago Bar Association 

Moot Court Competition 

• 2011 Regional Champions and National Qualifiers, 

ABA Negotiation Competition 

• 2012 National Quarterfinalists, Thurgood Marshall 

Mock Trial Competition 

• 2011 Octofinalists, John Marshall International 

Intellectual Property Moot Court Competition 

• 2012 Octofinalists, South Texas Challenge National 

Mock Trial Competition 

• 2011 Regional Best Advocate, ABA National Appellate 

Advocacy Competition

Antonio Allen ’12, 2L Marcus Johnson, DeAndrea Jackson ’12 and 2L Matthew Jackson were the 2012 national quarterfinalists in the BSLA Thurgood Marshall Mock 

Trial Competition. The team was coached by Doug Greene (center). — Photo courtesy of Doug Greene 

Another instrumental key to the continued success of our 

programs has been the implementation of the Board of 

Advocates. This student-run organization helps to provide 

support to the competitive teams and to host the in-school 

competitions in all three disciplines that allow all students to 

compete and determine their level of interest and talent. By 

promoting advocacy and the success of our teams, incoming 

students are aware of our success and want to be a part of 

maintaining that success. 

Support is essential for our advocacy programs. Attorneys are 

always needed to help our teams prepare for competition by 

Jennifer Ellis ’05 has served as director of advocacy 

programs since 2010. As a former advocacy 

student at Texas Wesleyan, she achieved national 

success in moot court that started the school’s 

rise in 2005. She then served as a coach for moot 

court over the next five years. 

playing the role of judge. Practices are held in the evenings 

and on weekends. We also use local attorneys to help judge 

our in-school competitions. Financial support is vital to allow 

us to continue to send teams to competition. Matthew ’08 and 

Andy Wright founded The Advocacy Endowment Fund in 2009. 

Matthew served on the moot court team that won the law 

school’s only state championship in 2007. Additionally, the Elliott 

ADR Endowment Fund was established in 2012 to support the 

dispute resolution program. Anyone interested in volunteering or 

donating should contact Jennifer Ellis at jaellis@law.txwes.edu. 

8

McGrath Spends 

Fulbright Year in China 

By James McGrath, professor of law 

Photos courtesy of Professor James McGrath 

The Great Wall is the world’s longest human-made structure, stretching more than 4,000 miles from Shanhaiguan in the east to Lop Nur in the west, 

along an arc that roughly delineates the southern edge of Inner Mongolia. McGrath is shown at a section of the wall near Juyongguan.

For most people, moving to another country for an extended 

period of time is a financial and social impossibility. 

However, for academics, artists, professionals, students 

and recent ex-students there may be an opportunity to 

spend up to a year in a foreign country with the support and 

assistance of that country and the United States government. 

That possibility comes in the form of a Fulbright grant. 

Texas Wesleyan School of Law has many faculty members 

who have spent time abroad in one of the Fulbright programs. 

They were all very helpful in navigating the rigorous application 

process, but more importantly, were all insistent that I should 

do everything I could to take advantage of this incredible 

program. I decided early in my application process that of 

the 155 countries that have Fulbright programs, I would most 

want to spend my Fulbright year in China. I was not notified 

Villagers celebrate during the Chinese New Year, the longest and most important festivity in the Chinese 

calendar. The Chinese year 4710, the Year of the Dragon, began on Jan. 23, 2012. 

The idea of spending a year abroad has always been appealing to me. I wanted the 

chance to truly immerse myself in another culture and to live as much as possible like 

the people who call that place home. I had previously spent six months in Guatemala, 

trying to learn some Spanish and volunteering in efforts to stem the spread of HIV. 

At the time, I was a soon-to-be failed nightclub owner, and had the time and nearly 

enough funds to make this possible. It was a life-changing experience and left me 

wanting to be an expatriate again. 

10 

that I received a Fulbright until late in April 2011, meaning I 

had a few short months before leaving in August. Our dean, 

Frederic White, had previously endorsed my application, and 

after my acceptance, the law school and university were very 

accommodating in making all this happen on such short notice. 

I attended a training session in Washington, D.C., with other 

Fulbright lecturers, researchers and students all preparing their 

visit to China. Most were preparing to spend one year, others 

just one semester. We were given practical information on 

securing visas, negotiating the health care system, the terms 

of our contracts, and a quick cultural primer. I was nervous 

but excited about my upcoming trip. We were reminded that 

China is roughly the size of the United States, with universities 

all across the country. Although researchers often negotiate 

with the university of their choice for their placement, lecturers

such as myself are usually placed. We were told not to expect 

to be sent to Beijing or Shanghai, as everyone selects one of 

those cities. I was very interested in learning Mandarin, so I 

welcomed the idea of being in a city where fewer people spoke 

English. I requested, “anywhere except Beijing or Shanghai.” 

Apparently that is Fulbright code for “send me to Beijing.” 

Originally a bit disappointed, I soon realized that I would be 

far happier in Beijing than I would likely have been in many 

other cities in China. I wanted what I thought would be a more 

“authentic Chinese experience” by being in a smaller city, but 

soon realized that like the United States, China is an enormous 

country with diverse geography, peoples and cultures. I 

arrived in Beijing for yet another training with just the other 

lecturers, and soon we scattered across China, although I 

merely ventured across town. 

I was assigned to the Beijing University of Chemical 

Technology, a seemingly odd choice for a law professor who is 

also interested in public health. Although BUCT was originally 

formed with a specialized chemical technology focus, it is now 

a full-range university with a small legal department and a 

smaller master’s program in the law. Unlike the United States, 

where law school is a graduate school, in China, students may 

earn their bachelor’s degree in law. For my first semester, I 

taught only the graduate students; in the second semester I 

taught undergraduates as well. 

11 

feature 

story 

My students were involved in helping me settle into my new 

life immediately upon my arrival. In most Chinese universities, 

professors are provided apartments on campus. When I 

arrived, BUCT did not have an available apartment on campus, 

so they leased an apartment for me in a neighborhood adjacent 

to the campus. The students were tireless in making certain I 

understood the controls on the appliances, in helping me set 

up phone service, and any other task that would be difficult 

without speaking Mandarin. The students helping me had the 

best English skills of those in the Master of Laws program at 

BUCT. As my first class had barely a dozen students, it was 

easy and affordable to take them all to lunch at one of the 

many local restaurants. Even with the Chinese habit of ordering 

an excess of food selections, I could treat the entire crowd for 

less than $20 U.S. dollars. 

I have always been gastronomically adventurous, and love 

trying almost any new food, so Beijing was paradise. Most 

styles of Chinese cooking were available somewhere in the 

city. I especially like the “snacks” cooked, sold and eaten 

on the street that were ubiquitous around the country. Many 

westerners avoid such offerings, so often the sellers were 

afraid to sell to me. Although I studied very hard, my Mandarin 

skills never really developed beyond a very rudimentary 

level, but I learned enough to navigate the city via public 

transportation and taxi, and to gain a lot of weight trying all 

McGrath lectured at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. Following his presentation, he was joined by 

Jin Yamin, director of the International Exchange Office, and Dr. Hon Gengming, deputy dean of the law school.

The family of one of McGrath’s students, who live in rural China on a small family farm, posed with him during a visit. Many of the 

people in the western part of the country are Muslim, according to McGrath. 

Photos are a big part of every gathering in China, and large meetings usually ended 

with a group photo being taken, with the photo printed, laminated and a copy handed 

to each participant. Although I was barely noticed in the larger cities, when traveling in 

smaller cities and towns, people would often approach me and let me know I was the first 

westerner they had seen in person. 

12

the amazing street food. Some of my favorites were available 

under the name “bing.” Some were very complicated, such as 

my favorite where the vendor – no – the sidewalk chef – would 

create a 20-inch-diameter crepe-like wrapper right there on 

the street. The batter was poured onto the large round griddle, 

spread thinly with a wooden hoe-like device until wafer thin. Then, 

an egg was cracked on top and was spread thinly across the 

surface of the wrapper. In seconds it was flipped to further cook 

the egg while a block of crunchy and very light noodles were 

added, along with some spices, some sauce and green onions. 

It was quickly folded into a kind of a burrito, but with more of a 

block shape. Other bing were smaller, some added meat, lettuce, 

pickles – but they were all amazing. They were so delicious, 

that after eating one on our strolls down the street, some of my 

guests would insist on walking back to have a second. Or third. 

I was surprised at the number of guests who visited me from 

the U.S. while I was living in China. I invited anyone who seemed 

interested, and many people took me up on my invitation. You 

could spend months exploring Beijing and not see it all, so my 

visitors gave me an opportunity to do more tourist activities 

than I would have on my own. Everyone who visited also brought 

unique interests that broadened my experience of Beijing. My 

partner, Anthony, was able to visit me twice, once early on, so 

he could relate to my day-to-day experiences during our once 

or twice daily Skype communications. He also visited me near 

the end of my Fulbright year, after my teaching duties were 

completed, so that we could travel at will. 

One amazing opportunity that comes with a Fulbright is the 

opportunity to speak at other universities. The host universities 

13 

feature 

story 

A random sampling of the incredible 

food McGrath experienced in China. 

“The idea of having ‘Chinese food’ 

for dinner will never make sense to 

me ever again after exploring the 

extraordinary variety of cuisine across 

this diverse country,” McGrath said. 

are responsible for your housing, and the Fulbright program 

provides your transportation. Most universities have their 

own hotels on campus, so they are very generous with their 

invitations to come visit. I was able to travel to many of the 

cities I wanted to explore on my own, as well as many I had 

previously never known existed. I was always welcomed in the 

cities I visited by student and faculty ambassadors from the 

host universities. They met me at the airport or train station 

and guided me every step of the way during my visit. After a few 

months in China, I had become fairly self-sufficient in arranging 

my travel and navigating around the country. Many times, I felt 

like my hosts were treating me as if I was a helpless baby, and 

I felt a bit insulted. I learned later that it was more of an effort 

to show respect to ensure that I enjoyed a trouble-free visit 

to their city. The campuses almost always posted large signs 

announcing my arrival and upcoming lectures. They were so 

large that they should have embarrassed me, but I loved them. 

If time permitted, I asked to have my photo taken with them. 

Photos are a big part of every gathering in China, and large 

meetings usually ended with a group photo being taken, with 

the photo printed, laminated and a copy handed to each 

participant. Although I was barely noticed in the larger cities, 

when traveling in smaller cities and towns, people would often 

approach me and let me know I was the first westerner they 

had seen in person. Many would ask to have their photo taken 

with me. My Fulbright colleagues with children reported their 

children were immediate celebrities in some places, and 

often were overwhelmed and frightened by the constant and 

sometimes aggressive demand for photos with them.

Professor McGrath’s 

Lectures in China 

“Why Americans are Likely to Sue Each Other, 

an Introduction to U.S. Tort Law” 

June 25, 2012, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin 

April 13, 2012, Guangxi University, Guangxi 

March 29, 2012, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 

March 23, 2012, Dalian Maritime University, Dalian 

Feb. 16, 2012, East China University of Politics and 

Law, Shanghai 

Jan. 13, 2012, University of Science and Technology 

of China, Hefei 

Dec. 6, 2011, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 

Sept. 27, 2011, Renmin University of China, Beijing 

“A History of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, 

Transgendered and Queer Legal Rights 

in the United States” 

June 29, 2012, Fuzhou Agriculture University, Fuzhou 

Note: The presentation was cancelled on the university grounds due to 

the “subversive nature of the subject matter,” but was held off campus. 

April 20, 2012, Xiamen University, Xiamen 

April 17, 2012, Shanghai University of Finance and 

Economics, Shanghai 

Dec. 20, 2011, Beijing University of Chemical 

Technology, Beijing 

Dec. 6, 2011, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 

“An Overview of U.S. Public Health Law” 

June 20, 2012, Xinjiang University, Urumqi 

April 20, 2012, Xiamen University, Xiamen 

March 30, 2012, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 

Jan. 12, 2012, University of Science and Technology 

of China, Hefei 

“The Carnegie Report and the 

Future of U.S. Legal Education” 

June 26, 2012, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin 

June 19, 2012, Xinjiang University, Urumqi 

April 18, 2012, Shanghai University of Finance and 

Economics, Shanghai 

April 13, 2012, Guangxi University, Guangxi 

March 23, 2012, Dalian Maritime University, Dalian 

Feb. 15, 2012, East China University of Politics and 

Law, Shanghai 

“Global Approaches to Lesbian, Gay, 

Bisexual, Transgendered and Queer and 

HIV/AIDS Activism” 

June 30, 2012, Fuzhou 

Surprising opportunities arose throughout my visit. One of my 

traveling lecture topics was about the legal struggle for LGBTQ 

legal rights in the U.S. I gave this lecture at many universities, and 

even at the American Cultural Center in Beijing. The U.S. consulate 

in Guangzhou heard of my lecture and invited me to speak at an 

LGBTQ gathering at a university in Fuzhou for gay pride month. 

Yes, gay pride month in China. The university later found the 

topic to be too controversial, but the local activists found a new 

venue for my lecture and invited me to be part of their multigroup 

planning session for their activist activities. I recounted my 

own experiences in working in the U.S. on LGBTQ and HIV issues 

over the past 30 plus years, and was amazed at how some of 

our early issues mirrored the problems the LGBTQ Chinese were 

facing today in China. More fascinating and perplexing were the 

unique cultural barriers to LGBTQ acceptance in China. I returned 

to Fuzhou two weeks later on my own to participate in their LGBTQ 

pride activities, including a bicycle “pride ride” through the city, 

with many stops for activities to promote LGBTQ awareness. 

Sometimes the leaders of the groups have been questioned and 

detained by the police, so the bravery of these dedicated activists 

was very impressive. 

Soon after my visits to Fuzhou, my teaching duties were over and 

Anthony and I spent my final two weeks in China as tourists. I said 

goodbye to my new friends and wrapped up my remaining Fulbright 

commitments. The Fulbright experience is very personal, and my 

time in China was very different from that of my colleagues who 

were there at the same time, and different still from colleagues 

at Texas Wesleyan who previously spent their Fulbrights in China 

or other countries. There is a limit on two Fulbrights per lifetime, 

and they must be separated by at least five years. I am not sure 

where or when, but I am certain I want my second. If you can make 

it happen, get online and create your own Fulbright adventure. 

14 

feature 

story 

McGrath toured a lake in western China in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous 

Region. He was speaking nearby at Xinjiang University in Urumqi, China.

McGrath lectured to Chinese law students at Xiamen University on the east coast in the south of China. 

Professor James McGrath joined the faculty at Texas Wesleyan School of Law as an associate 

professor of law in 2006. He was previously a visiting associate professor of law for the 2005-2006 

academic year. Prior to joining the faculty at Texas Wesleyan, McGrath worked as an associate 

professor at Appalachian School of Law. He has additional teaching experience at the University of 

San Diego and Temple University Beasley School of Law. 

McGrath’s scholarship echoes his interest in health and gender law issues. His study of public 

health within the law emphasizes the law’s effect on the health of groups of people with little or no 

political power, while his study of the law and human sexuality includes lesbian, gay, transgender, 

and intersexual legal issues. 

McGrath holds an LL.M. in graduate legal studies from Temple University Beasley School of Law. He 

earned his MPH from Harvard School of Public Health and his J.D. cum laude from Howard Law School. 

15

Judge Means Receives 

2012 Excellence in Justice Award 

Article and Photography by Dan Brothers 

Texas Wesleyan School of Law was again honored to be the presenting sponsor of the Fort Worth 

Business Press Power Attorneys Luncheon at The Fort Worth Club on Oct. 11, 2012. This was the 

fourth year that the law school has been the presenting sponsor of the event. It is an extension of efforts 

to forge lasting partnerships within Fort Worth and its legal and judicial communities. Over the years, 

many of the award recipients have consistently supported the law school and university. 

The law school was proud to present its coveted Texas Wesleyan University Excellence in Justice Award 

to a long-time supporter of the law school, the Hon. Terry R. Means, at the conclusion of the 2012 

Power Attorneys Luncheon. Judge Means has spent countless hours mentoring students, supporting 

the law school’s mission, and helping the Tarrant County Bar Association. 

Above: The Hon. Terry Means, U.S. District Court judge, Northern District of Texas, and Joe Spurlock II, professor of law at Texas Wesleyan School of Law and director 

of the Asian Judicial Institute, pose in front of a portrait of Judge Means during the reception at The Fort Worth Club just prior to the 2012 Power Attorneys Luncheon. 

Judge Means was the recipient of the 2012 Texas Wesleyan University Excellence in Justice Award. 

16

Aric Short, associate dean 

for academic affairs and 

professor of law at Texas 

Wesleyan, represented the law 

school at the 2012 event. “We’ve 

come an awfully long way in our 23 

years of existence and we firmly 

believe on the faculty that the best 

is yet to come for the law school,” 

Short said in his opening remarks. 

He noted that the legal profession 

is changing and that firms need 

recent law school graduates to have 

acquired real world experience 

during their legal education. To 

address that need, Short noted, 

“Over the last several years we 

have devoted resources to one 

central focus and that is to make 

our students practice-ready.” 

Short outlined several efforts 

that the law school is taking to 

make its graduates ready to hitthe-ground-running 

as young 

attorneys. “The prosecution 

clinic, run in conjunction with the Tarrant County DA’s office, 

is a wonderful example,” Short said, “because it shows how 

critically important all of you [the attorneys attending the 

luncheon] are to the success of the law school. If it weren’t for 

the vision and leadership of Joe Shannon and Jack Strickland, 

that clinic would simply not exist.” 

Fort Worth Business Press publisher Nick Karanges served 

as master of ceremonies for the 2012 event, acknowledging 

Rowlett-based appellate attorney Chad Baruch was the 

keynote speaker at the 2012 Power Attorneys Luncheon 

held at The Fort Worth Club on Oct. 11, 2012. 

“We’ve come an 

awfully long way in our 

23 years of existence 

and we firmly believe 

on the faculty that the 

best is yet to come for 

the law school.” 

17 

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story 

sponsors, introducing the award 

winners, and keeping everyone on 

a tight schedule. 

Other sponsors for the 2012 Power 

Attorneys Luncheon included Kelly 

Hart & Hallman, LLP; Shannon, 

Gracey, Ratliff & Miller, LLP; 

Charter Business; Jerry Durant 

Auto Group; Justin Boots; Gittings 

Photography; Coors Distributing 

Company; Whitaker Chalk Swindle 

& Schwartz, PLLC; Southwest 

Bank; and Del Frisco’s Double 

Eagle Steakhouse. 

Appellate attorney Chad Baruch 

was the keynote speaker at 

the 2012 luncheon. Baruch has 

a broad range of experience 

including being a recognized 

constitutional scholar, a basketball 

coach, a high school administrator, 

a private investigator, and a board 

certified attorney in civil appellate 

law by the Texas Board of Legal 

Specialization. 

Reflecting on the political aspects of many recent U.S. 

Supreme Court decisions, Baruch noted, “It’s an exciting time 

to be a lawyer.” 

He then discussed the difficulties associated with the adoption 

of the U.S. Constitution and the very narrow margin by which it 

was ratified, noting that many citizens today do not comprehend 

the separation of powers. “We must defend the Constitution,” 

Baruch said.

feature 

story 

“We are fortunate in this country 

to have jurists, particularly on 

our federal bench, who are wellintentioned 

people of integrity 

and scholars of the law.” 

“We as lawyers can do a great deal to support the nature of 

an independent judiciary,” he continued. “Our judiciary is under 

sustained and withering attack. It is a bipartisan attack. 

“We are fortunate in this country to have jurists, particularly on 

our federal bench, who are well-intentioned people of integrity and 

scholars of the law,” Baruch observed. “They are liberals, they are 

conservatives. They are Democrats and they are Republicans.” 

The presentation of the 2012 Power Attorneys awards followed 

Baruch’s remarks. Fort Worth Business Press editor Robert Francis 

and Short made the presentations to this year’s recipients. The 

award winners were Lisanne Davidson, Robert C. Grable, Mark 

D. Hatten, Jim Lane, Patricia F. Meadows, Brian C. Newby, Jeff 

Prostok, Don Reid, Angela Robinson, Jack V. Strickland, Wayne M. 

Whitaker, and Richard W. Wiseman. 

As already noted, the luncheon concluded with the presentation of 

the 2012 Excellence in Justice Award to Judge Terry Means. 

“It has been a great privilege to work with Texas Wesleyan School 

of Law over the years to help mentor its students,” Means said 

in closing remarks. “We have opened up our court to students 

who want to come over to observe, to participate in some of our 

hearings, to sit right in front of me, and to do post mortems after 

a hearing.” 

After receiving the Excellence in Justice Award gavel, Judge 

Means observed, “This is about a 10-pound gavel, and I think it 

might break my bench, but I’m going to give it a try.” 

18 

Lisanne Davidson 

Southwest Bank 

Robert C. Grable 

Kelly Hart & Hallman, LLP 

Mark D. Hatten 

Shannon, Gracey, Ratliff & Miller, LLP 

Jim Lane 

Law Office of Jim Lane 

Patricia F. Meadows 

Kelly Hart & Hallman, LLP 

Brian C. Newby 

Newby Davis, PLLC 

Jeff Prostok 

Forshey Prostok, LLP 

Don Reid 

Hillwood Properties 

Angela Robinson 

Tarrant County College District 

Jack V. Strickland 

Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office 

Wayne M. Whitaker 

Whitaker Chalk Swindle & Schwartz, PLLC 

Richard W. Wiseman 

Brown, Dean, Wiseman, Proctor, Hart & Howell, LLP

“It has been a great 

privilege to work with 

Texas Wesleyan School of 

Law over the years to help 

mentor its students.” 

19 

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story 

Left: 2012 Power Attorneys Robert C. Grable and 

Patricia F. Meadows, and 2011 Power Attorney Dee 

J. Kelly, Jr. attended a reception at Del Frisco’s on 

Oct. 10, 2012, honoring past and present Power 

Attorney award winners. All three are lawyers with 

Kelly Hart & Hallman, LLP. 

Below: Douglas Davidson and 2012 Power 

Attorneys Lisanne Davidson and Wayne M. Whitaker 

joined other guests at the reception at Del Frisco’s. 

Right: Lisa Vaughn Lumley, a partner 

at Shannon, Gracey, Ratliff & Miller, 

LLP, 2012 Power Attorney Richard 

W. Wiseman and Karen Wiseman 

networked with fellow attorneys 

during the Del Frisco’s reception.

Means Is a Quiet Mentor 

By Martha Deller, Fort Worth Business Press 

Robert Francis (left), editor for the Fort Worth Business Press, 

and Aric Short (right), associate dean for academic affairs and 

professor of law at Texas Wesleyan, present Judge Terry Means with 

the 2012 Texas Wesleyan University Excellence in Justice Award. 

20

Terry Means was only 8 when he became hooked on 

politics watching the Republican and Democratic 

national conventions on television. 

By 14, Means was volunteering in his first political campaign. 

And he was pretty sure he wanted to go to law school. 

“Politics is always connected to the law,” said Means, now a 

U.S. district judge in Fort Worth. 

Because his home state of New Mexico had no law school 

until 1954, many lawyers in Means’ ranching community had 

attended Southern Methodist University in Dallas. 

So that’s where Means applied – unaided by a family with 

no college attendees. He arrived at SMU “sight unseen and 

scared to death,” he recalled. 

An experienced student government leader, Means jumped 

into an evolving SMU governance system, helping design the 

University Assembly, which spread powers among students, 

faculty and administrators. 

It took Means five years to earn a double major in political 

science and history. But along the way, he worked with two 

powerful political mentors – before they became Gov. Bill 

Clements and President George H.W. Bush. 

Clements, a member of the SMU board of trustees, appointed 

Means to the state appellate court in 1988. Bush, whose 

1970 U.S. Senate campaign Means helped run, appointed 

Means to his federal bench in 1990. 

Means also learned to mentor other students during the 

height of anti-war protests and fraternity hazing while an 

undergraduate at SMU. 

“It taught me about leadership by example, trying to get 

young men to do what they ought to do and become better 

people,” he said. 

21 

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story 

Means continues to quietly mentor young people, from law 

students to soccer players. 

Those qualities were cited by Texas Wesleyan School of Law 

officials who selected Means for the Excellence in Justice 

Award created by the school in 2009. 

Casey Dyer Oliver, a 2006 Wesleyan alumna who heads the 

school’s alumni relations and external affairs department, said 

Means emulates the characteristics the school promotes. 

Each year, Means administers an oath and offers advice to 

incoming Wesleyan law students. 

“That’s a huge moment in their lives,” Oliver said. “Judge 

Means opens the door for them to come to his chambers, 

talk about the cases. I know some alumni still have that 

relationship with him. He is really genuine about his caring 

for our students.” 

Means said he welcomes the opportunity to offset bad 

influences with good influences. He said he gladly wrote 

a glowing recommendation for a young attorney seeking 

a new position. 

“He’s not alone,” he said. “I don’t have time to go out and look 

for them. But if they happen into my life, I go out of my way to 

help them because I know they’re not being helped by a lot of 

ruthless people in this world.” 

Means is just as proud of the young soccer players he has 

coached. Boosting the confidence of an unskilled player is 

among his major accomplishments, he said. 

“Of all the things that people have called me, the one I most 

value is ‘Coach,’” he said. “I think there’s more impact there 

than just about anything you can do.”. 

“Of all the things that people have called me, the one I most value is ‘Coach,’ 

… I think there’s more impact there than just about anything you can do.”


Milan 

Markovic 

Associate Professor of Law 

Photo by Glen Ellman 

Milan Markovic joined Texas Wesleyan School 

of Law in 2012 and is teaching legal ethics 

and business associations. Previously, he was 

an Abraham L. Freedman Fellow at Temple University 

Beasley School of Law. 

Markovic also practiced law in New York City with Sidley 

Austin LLP and BakerHostetler LLP, and clerked for the 

Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court in 

The Hague, Netherlands. 

Markovic’s primary research interests are in the fields 

of legal ethics and international law, with a special focus 

on the duties and responsibilities of lawyers and judges 

in transnational contexts. Markovic’s current project 

considers the role of securitization attorneys in the 

global financial crisis. 

In addition to his academic work, Markovic has written 

about legal issues for the National Post, Globe and Mail 

newspapers in Canada and Slate, an online magazine. 

Markovic is a graduate of Columbia University (B.A., 

magna cum laude), New York University (M.A.), and 

Georgetown University Law Center (J.D., cum laude). At 

Georgetown, Markovic was the executive editor of the 

Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics and received the 

tutorial award in recognition of his contributions to the 

law center’s academic program. 

22 

Carol Pauli 



Carol Pauli joined the faculty in 2012 and teaches 

legal analysis, research and writing. She previously 

taught legal writing as a Westerfield Fellow at 

Loyola University New Orleans College of Law. 

Pauli served as a judicial intern to the Hon. George B. 

Daniels, U.S. District Court judge, Southern District of 

New York, and she mediated disputes at the Small Claims 

Court in Manhattan and at the Safe Horizon Mediation 

Center in Brooklyn. 

Prior to teaching law school, Pauli was an associate 

professor at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., where 

she taught courses in mass communication law, press 

history and journalism. She was an associate instructor at 

the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. 

Pauli also taught journalism as a Fulbright lecturer at 

the University of Botswana, and she returned to Africa 

under the auspices of the U.S. Information Agency to 

lead workshops for news reporters in Tanzania, Malawi 

and Rwanda. 

Pauli’s scholarship focuses on mass communication, 

conflict and dispute resolution, all related to her 

background as a journalist with the Associated Press 

and with the CBS Radio Network in New York. 

Pauli earned her J.D. with honors at the Benjamin N. 

Cardozo School of Law, where she was an associate 

editor of the Cardozo Law Review, a member of the 

Dean’s Distinguished Scholars, and a member of the 

Order of the Coif. She earned an M.S. from the Columbia 

University Graduate School of Journalism. She received 

her B.A. from the University of Evansville.

2012-2013 New Faculty and Promotions 

Lisa Rich 



Lisa Rich joined the faculty of Texas Wesleyan 

School of Law in 2012 and teaches legal analysis, 

research and writing. Previously, Rich served as 

the director of Legislative & Public Affairs for the United 

States Sentencing Commission. 

Rich has taught legal writing and criminal procedure 

courses as an adjunct professor at George Mason 

University School of Law, George Washington School of 

Law and Howard University School of Law. She also has 

taught courses in constitutional law, legislation, federal 

sentencing, and legal research and writing as a visiting 

professor at the University of Wyoming School of Law. 

In addition, Rich has worked in private practice and spent 

a number of years with various committees of the U.S. 

House of Representatives. 

Rich’s scholarly interests relate to her background in 

federal sentencing and the federal legislative process. 

Her research focuses on federal sentencing reform, the 

criminal justice process from a legislative perspective, 

and community reentry. 

Rich earned her J.D. from American University 

Washington College of Law and graduated with honors 

from St. Andrews Presbyterian College with a B.A. in 

international politics. She also studied at the Beijing 

Foreign Languages Normal College in Beijing, China. 

23 

Megan 

Carpenter 

Professor of Law 

Photo by Dan Brothers 

Megan Carpenter received tenure and promotion 

to professor of law in 2012. She is director of 

the Center for Law and Intellectual Property at 

Texas Wesleyan School of Law. Carpenter writes in the 

areas of intellectual property and entrepreneurship, and 

her work has been published in the Vanderbilt Journal 

of Entertainment and Technology Law, Nevada Law 

Journal, Louisville Law Review, The Trademark Reporter, 

Creighton Law Review, and the Yale Journal of Human 

Rights and Development. Carpenter received her J.D. 

from the West Virginia University College of Law and her 

LL.M. from the National University of Ireland. 

Brian 

Holland 


Photo by Dan Brothers 

Brian Holland received tenure and promotion to 

professor of law in 2012. His scholarship focuses 

on intellectual property and technology. His work, 

which has been cited by federal court opinions, has been 

published in the Harvard Journal of Law & Technology, the 

Kansas Law Review, the University of San Francisco Law 

Review, and the Journal of Computer and Information Law. 

Holland received an LL.M., with honors, from Columbia 

University School of Law and a J.D., summa cum laude, 

from American University Washington College of Law.

AROUND 

Shahid Buttar speaks at 

Texas Wesleyan 

Shahid Buttar, executive director of the Bill 

of Rights Defense Committee, spoke to 

law school students, faculty and staff on 

Thursday, Feb. 23, 2012, on the subject 

of “Indefinite Detention of U.S. Citizens: A 

Bipartisan Assault on the Bill of Rights?” 

The noontime seminar was held in the Amon 

G. Carter Lecture Hall and sponsored by the 

Texas Wesleyan chapter of the American 

Constitution Society. After providing 

his opening remarks, Buttar began the 

presentation by showing a five-minute 

video on the Patriot Act. The act was signed 

into law in October 2011, following the 

9/11 attacks. Among other provisions, 

the act expanded the discretion of law 

enforcement authorities in detaining 

and deporting immigrants suspected of 

terrorism-related acts. 

“Transparency is important in democracy,” 

Buttar said. “It ensures accountability.” 

Buttar went on to discuss the 

National Defense Authorization Act, which 

also contains provisions for detaining 

suspected terrorists. 

“The NDAA and detention provisions are 

frontal assaults to the Fifth and Sixth 

Amendments,” Buttar said. 

Buttar ended his presentation by 

encouraging students to be knowledgeable 

about current events and get involved with 

issues that matter to them. 

Buttar previously served as director of 

a national program to combat racial and 

religious profiling by federal authorities, 

associate director of the American 

Constitution Society, and a litigator in private 

practice with a public interest docket. He 

received his J.D. from Stanford Law School 

in 2003, where he served as executive editor 

of the Stanford Environmental Law Journal. 

In addition to his work leading BORDC, 

Buttar serves on the advisory bodies of the 

Rights Working Group, the National Coalition 

to Protect Civil Freedoms, the National 

Campaign to Restore Civil Rights, and South 

Asian Americans Leading Together. 

campus 

notes of interest about campus events 

Texas Wesleyan Student Bar Association representatives 3L Ryan Clay, 2L Sabina Yushkevich, 1L 

Braxton Bragg, and 3L Martin Garcia attended the annual ABA Law Student Division 13 th Circuit 

meeting. Texas Wesleyan was awarded two Bronze Keys. — Photo courtesy of Martin Garcia 

Texas Wesleyan 

awarded Bronze Keys 

at ABA circuit meeting 

Texas Wesleyan was honored for 

its service to the ABA Law Student 

Division and the 13 th Circuit by being 

awarded two of the three Bronze 

Keys issued by the division during its 

annual meeting. 

The 13 th Circuit, comprised of all 13 

Texas and Louisiana law schools, met 

March 2-4, 2012, at Loyola University 

New Orleans College of Law for its annual 

circuit meeting and governor election. 

Texas Wesleyan was represented by 

the Student Bar Association 3L Martin 

Garcia, president; 3L Ryan Clay, ABA 

representative; 2L Sabina Yushkevich, 

ABA junior representative; and Braxton 

Bragg, 1L representative. 

Texas Wesleyan was recognized for 

strengthening law student participation 

in the programs and activities of the 

division and for achieving the highest 

percentage of association/division law 

school members in the 13 th Circuit. 

Texas Wesleyan was also recognized 

for achieving the most improved 

association/division membership in 

the 13 th Circuit. Outgoing 13 th Circuit 

Governor Pooja M. Ramrakhiani 

presented Garcia with a certificate 

24 

of appreciation for his faithful and 

professional execution of services to 

the law student division. 

“Texas Wesleyan’s success in the 

American Bar Association’s Law Student 

Division stems from two sources: 

student leadership’s involvement and 

faculty support,” Garcia said. “The 

Student Bar Association and the school’s 

ABA LSD reps work together to instill a 

culture that appreciates involvement in 

the biggest organized arena of lawyers 

in the country − the ABA.” 

The spring circuit meeting provides an 

opportunity for students to network 

and attend substantive programming. 

The spring meeting is designed to 

bring students in the circuit together 

to exchange ideas and develop 

camaraderie. Leaders from the 13 th 

Circuit discussed issues facing law 

student education, debated issues 

of public policy affecting students, 

exchanged ideas for enhancing 

legal education, and expanded their 

network with other students and 

practicing attorneys. 

The meeting culminated with the SBA 

presidents and ABA representatives from 

each ABA-approved law school in the 

circuit electing a new circuit governor. 

Bragg was elected as the circuit governor 

for the 2012-2013 term.

Dear Alumni: 

In August of 2012, Dean White asked 

me take on an old but very familiar role 

at the law school as the acting assistant 

dean of admissions and scholarships 

while we engaged in a national search to 

identify a new lead admissions officer. 

Some of you may recall that I started 

my career in legal education in the admissions office, after 

having served as a felony prosecutor. I was excited at the new 

challenge while staying mindful of my continuing responsibilities 

in the Office of Career Services. 

Last fall, we welcomed 259 first-year students and were 

delighted at their quality and promise. The fall 2012 entering 

class statistical profile reflected: 

Total applications = 1,808 Students enrolled = 259 

Full time = 183 Part time = 76 

25 th LSAT/GPA = 149/2.84 Median LSAT/GPA = 152/3.07 

75 th LSAT/GPA = 155/3.34 

More than half of the entering class (53 percent) received 

scholarship awards to help them defray the cost of tuition. 

Women comprised 56 percent, and 27 percent of the class 

consisted of ethnically diverse students. The average age in the 

full-time program was 26, while the average age for students 

enrolled in our part-time program was 30. A total of 99 colleges and 

universities were represented amongst the entering student body. 

I am proud of the fall entering class as they represent a wide 

array of interests and backgrounds. Each year, our admissions 

committee endeavors to enroll qualified and diverse students 

who will enhance classroom discussions and enrich the quality 

of the educational experience for everyone. We continue to work 

closely with prospective students and applicants to provide them 

with personal attention. In a challenging admissions environment 

that experienced a 13 percent decrease in law school applications 

nationally and 11 percent regionally, Texas Wesleyan only saw a 

6 percent drop, and I attribute that to the hands-on approach of 

our dedicated and hard-working admissions professionals. 

As always, we welcome the assistance of our alumni and friends in 

the admissions process. If you are interested in assisting our office, 

or if you have any questions, I invite you to contact us at 817-212- 

4040 or by email at lawadmissions@law.txwes.edu. 

Sincerely, 


Acting Assistant Dean of 

Admissions & Scholarships 

ADMISSIONS 

25 

Texas Wesleyan Law Review staff members, 2Ls Jessica 

McCurry and Creecy Richardson, assisted in hosting the annual 

energy symposium. — Photo by Deborah Barnett 

Texas Wesleyan Law Review hosts 

fourth annual energy symposium 

The Texas Wesleyan Law Review hosted its fourth 

annual energy symposium on March 29 and 30, 

2012, at Texas Wesleyan School of Law. During 

the two-day event, the symposium featured 28 

speakers from 11 different states. The presenters 

traveled from Alabama, California, Kansas, 

Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Dakota, 

Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and West Virginia to 

discuss emerging issues in the area of oil and gas, 

both on a state-specific and national level. 

The law review launched its inaugural 23-State Survey 

on Oil & Gas, which totaled 235 pages, and offered 

complimentary copies of the survey to all symposium 

attendees. In addition, the law review was honored 

to have the support of U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, who 

sent a video greeting in which he thanked the Texas 

Wesleyan Law Review for hosting a forum on such an 

important issue. 

The symposium was sponsored by XTO Energy. 

The Fort Worth firm of Judd & Jacks hosted the 

keynote luncheon on Friday, featuring speaker 

Bruce M. Kramer, Maddox professor of law 

emeritus, from Texas Tech University School 

of Law. The firm of Steptoe & Johnson hosted 

a reception on Thursday and contributed six 

presenters from across the country. 

“From the feedback I have received, the fourth annual 

energy symposium was an outstanding success,” 

Kate Echols, symposia editor of the Texas Wesleyan 

Law Review, said. “We are proud to announce a record 

number of 303 attendees for the event. In addition, 

the law review offered 15 CLE hours, as well as several 

other types of professional credits. 

“We were honored to have the sponsorship of XTO 

Energy, as well as the support of the firms of Judd 

& Jacks and Steptoe & Johnson,” Echols said. “The 

law review was supported by 11 faculty members 

participating in the event. Finally, we welcomed a 

record number of alumni to the energy symposium: 

35 alumni in total.”.

Dean Frederic White and Neil Sobol, associate professor of law and director of the LARW program, stand with the five graduates selected by the 

faculty for inclusion in the National Order of Scribes. — Photo by Sarge Hill 

Thomas E. Perez 

addresses class of 2012 

Texas Wesleyan School of Law’s May 

hooding ceremony was held on Saturday, 

May 12, 2012, at the Fort Worth 

Convention Center in downtown. 

After an invocation by Dr. Robert Kenji 

Flowers, chaplain of Texas Wesleyan 

University, Dean Frederic White offered 

opening remarks. Michael Green, then 

associate dean for faculty research 

and development and professor of law, 

presented Meg Penrose, professor of 

law, and Timothy Mulvaney, associate 

professor of law, with the Frederic White 

Faculty Scholarship Award. The award 

acknowledges the commitment and 

contribution to legal scholarship by one 

tenured faculty member and one tenuretrack 

faculty member. 

Rosalind Jeffers, assistant dean for 

student affairs and director of the Equal 

Justice Program, presented Marissa 

Warms with the Equal Justice Award, 

which recognized the more than 1,100 

hours of pro bono legal service she 

performed at the Dallas County district 

attorney’s office as the president of the 

Wesleyan Innocence Project. 

Eleven students earned certificates 

in addition to the J.D degree. These 

distinctions indicate that students 

have completed rigorous curricular 

requirements with outstanding grades 

and have attained significant expertise 

and experience in the relevant areas 

of law. Aric Short, associate dean for 

academic affairs and professor of law, 

acknowledged John Chay for a certificate 

in business law; Jessica DeWitt for a 

certificate in family law; Matthew Richwine, 

Daniel Ippolito, Corey Kellam, Jordan 

Veurink and Ross Tew for certificates in 

estate planning; and Adam Villanueva, 

Elizabeth Wilhelm, Edward McDonald 

and Hope Catterton with certificates in 

intellectual property. 

Neil Sobol, associate professor of law and 

director of the legal analysis, research, 

and writing program, announced the 

students whom the faculty selected for 

inclusion in the National Order of Scribes, 

which recognizes excellence in legal 

writing: Charles Hill, Emily Schneider, 

Jesse Snyder, Scott Thompson and 

Teal White. 

Rick Walker received the MacLean & 

Boulware Endowed Scholarship. For 

this award, the faculty selected the 

graduate who demonstrated high moral 

character during his or her law school 

career and exhibits the potential and 

desire to become a successful, ethically 

conscious attorney. 

Chay, chosen by his classmates to be the 

class speaker, reminded the graduates of 

all the hard work they’ve put in while in 

law school. 

“If there’s anything we’ve learned at 

Wesleyan, it’s to work hard. And it’s that 

mindset that will carry us through life.” 

Thomas E. Perez, assistant attorney 

general, U.S. Department of Justice, Civil 

Rights Division, was the keynote speaker. 

Perez challenged the graduates to do four 

things: continue to learn and search for 

knowledge; have the courage to stand up 

26 

for what’s right, even if it is not popular; 

use their knowledge to give back to the 

community; and treat others with respect. 

“As a child of immigrants, my parents 

always said to me, ‘Aim high. Give back 

and make sure the ladder is down for 

others,’” Perez said. 

“I chose a career in public service 

because I believe that’s one of the best 

ways to give back.” 

Perez asked the graduates to embrace 

diversity and public service. 

“I will tell you − as the sign says outside 

the law school − opportunity awaits. But 

it only awaits if you enter with an open 

mind, if you enter with a stick-to-itiveness, 

and if you enter with a desire for a 

better future.” 

Marta Miller ’06, assistant director of the 

Academic Support program, presented 

Gregory John Wilder II ’11 with the Daniel 

Denton Award. The award is named after 

Daniel Denton ’10, a Texas Wesleyan 

graduate who scored the highest in the 

state on the February 2011 bar exam. 

Wilder received the award for scoring the 

highest out of other Texas Wesleyan test 

takers on the February 2012 bar exam. 

A total of 174 students participated in 

the ceremony. Short presented each 

graduate with a purple academic hood, 

the color of which represents a discipline 

in law. Degrees were presented by 

White and conferred by Texas Wesleyan 

University President Frederick G. Slabach 

and Kenneth H. Jones, Jr., chairman of 

the Texas Wesleyan University Board 

of Trustees.

Law school welcomes class of 2015 

Texas Wesleyan School of Law welcomed the 259-member 

class of 2015 during the first day of new student orientation 

on Aug. 16, 2012. 

The entering 1Ls were pulled from a pool of 1,800 applicants, 

of which, the average age was 27 years. Applicants hailed from 

countries as far away as Poland and 16 different states to 

become a part of this class. 

Rosalind Jeffers, assistant dean for student affairs and director 

of the Equal Justice Program, welcomed students during 

Thursday’s half-day session. Jeffers provided opening remarks, 

introduced her office, and gave the 1Ls a summary of the 

day’s activities. 

Dean Frederic White spoke to the new 1Ls during Friday’s all-day 

orientation session. 

“I am proud to welcome you to the law school. At Texas Wesleyan 

School of Law, we stand for experience, tradition, community 

and success,” White said. 

Dr. Lee Shulman, a national expert in professional education, 

spoke to all new Texas Wesleyan School of Law students on 

Thursday, Sept. 20, 2012, at noon in the Amon G. Carter Lecture 

Hall. Shulman spoke on the topic of Developing Professional 

Identities in Lawyers. 

Aric Short, associate dean for academic affairs and professor of 

law, provided opening remarks for the day’s presentation. 

“The heart of what lawyers do is analyze,” Short said. “We are 

teaching you what to do and how to be.” 

Shulman, following Short’s remarks, spoke about his own 

experience in the professional world and the role those individuals 

play in society. 

“As professionals, we mess with the world, and we are responsible 

for the mess we make,” Shulman said. 

White spoke to students about their choice to learn and work in 

the legal profession. 

“Each of you has chosen to be in – what I like to call – the 

service business. Whether that business is serving individuals 

by keeping their assets from being taken from them unjustly 

or by keeping them from being incarcerated, or whether it’s 

serving the public at large as a judge, prosecutor or member of a 

regulatory agency.” 

Roland Johnson, Fort Worth lawyer and past president of the 

State Bar of Texas, followed White’s remarks and spoke to 

students about their place in the legal profession and the 

importance of networking. 

The Hon. Terry R. Means, of the United States District Court for 

the Northern District of Texas, was the final speaker during the 

second day of orientation and stressed the importance of time 

management in studying for classes. He then administered the 

oath of professionalism to the new 1Ls. 

The 259 new 1Ls recite the oath of professionalism during orientation. The students were selected from a pool of 1,800 applicants. — Photo by Sara Rogers 

National professionalism expert speaks to 1Ls 

“Professionalism is all about identity – how you want to think 

of yourself.” 

Shulman spoke about the responsibility law students and lawyers 

have in their profession. 

“To be a lawyer is to stand for a set of rules that govern society 

and make tyranny impossible,” Shulman said. 

He ended his presentation by noting three roles that students 

will have as lawyers. 

“You are a zealous advocate for the client; never forget that you 

are an officer of the court; and remember you are a citizen in a 

democratic society.”. 

27

Attorney Mike Ware (left center) and exoneree Richard Miles (right center) were joined by the WIP board at the conclusion of the luncheon on 

Sept. 24, 2012. — Photo by Dan Brothers 

Richard Miles shares prison ordeal 

He was only 19 years old when he was arrested in 1994. Despite 

little evidence, he was found guilty and sentenced to 60 years 

behind bars. Richard Miles then spent nearly 15 years in prison 

for a murder and an attempted murder that he did not commit. 

The Bernie Schuchmann Conference Center at Texas Wesleyan 

School of Law was packed to capacity by faculty, students, staff 

and guests on Sept. 24, 2012, wanting to hear Miles’ story, 

during the Wesleyan Innocence Project Exoneree Luncheon. 

“It is an honor and a pleasure to have been given the task of 

introducing Mr. Miles,” Mike Ware, WIP supervising attorney, 

said in his opening remarks. “He is an extraordinary human 

being.” Ware first heard about the case from Miles’ attorney, 

Cheryl Wattley, who was working with Centurion Ministries, 

an organization that investigates actual innocence cases, in 

Princeton, N.J. 

“Centurion had taken the Miles case,” Ware said, “and believed 

very, very strongly in it.” The case was presented to Ware, who 

at the time was head of the Conviction Integrity Unit in the Dallas 

County district attorney’s office. Reflecting, Ware noted that, “It 

sounded like a case that maybe did have some merit and did 

deserve further investigation. 

“Every time we went out and talked to a witness, every time we 

investigated further – the stronger the case for Richard Miles’ 

innocence seemed to be,” Ware observed. “The Texas Court of 

Criminal Appeals this year [2012] officially exonerated Richard 

Miles in a fascinating, 52-page published opinion.” 

“To be in the arena of the judicial system, you must have 

compassion,” Miles said as he began to share his ordeal with 

the conference center audience. In 1994, Miles was arrested 

by Dallas police for a fatal shooting at a Texaco station near 

Bachman Lake. He was detained in homicide while the police 

investigated his alibi. A short time later, a detective returned and 

said, “Your story checked out, but you’re going to prison. They 

have a witness.” 

Miles spent the next 17 months in the county jail until his jury trial 

in August 1995. He was then 20 years old. Despite none of Miles’ 

fingerprints being found at the scene, no weapon being found, 

and nine people saying that he was not the shooter – Miles was 

convicted and sentenced to 40 years for murder and 20 years for 

attempted murder. “Everything became black,” Miles recalled. 

“Freedom – people just don’t grasp the concept of freedom,” 

he said, as a free man talking to a crowd of law students in Fort 

Worth, while reflecting on his years of incarceration. “We take 

the small things in life for granted every day. The thing that was 

taken away from me and the thing that God gave everyone – and 

that is freedom. 

“My case was the first case ever where a person was actually 

exonerated where there was no DNA, nor confession, nor a 

recantation,” Miles said. “Way before I went to jury trial, someone 

had already called the police and told them that ‘my boyfriend 

has been bragging about killing two people last year at Bachman 

Lake and he showed me the 9mm gun.’” The caller went into 

great detail about the crime, divulging information that could 

have only come from someone who had been at the scene, as 

there had been no publicity about the murder. 

The police notes about that call had been withheld from both the 

defense and prosecution. “Nobody knows who dropped the ball,” 

Miles recalled. “The evidence was the key that eventually began 

to unlock the doors.” 

When he was released from prison in October 2009, Miles had 

not been exonerated. “It was hard,” he said. “It was really, really 

hard because people looked at me as if I was guilty.” 

On Feb. 15, 2012, Richard Miles was officially exonerated. 

“You never know the weight that you can push up off you, until it’s 

put on you,” Miles concluded, reflecting on his nearly 15 years 

in prison. 

28

in ACADEMIA notes 

Cynthia Alkon 


Publications: Accepted an offer to publish her article, 

“The Flawed U.S. Approach to Rule of Law Development,” 

in the Penn State Law Review (forthcoming 2013). 

Accepted an offer to publish her article, “Making a Deal 

in Criminal Law,” in The Ohio State Journal of Criminal 

Law (forthcoming 2013). The article will be part of 

a collection of articles discussing pedagogy in the 

context of the first year criminal law and is a followup 

to the panel discussion on this topic during the 

2012 Southeastern Association of Law Schools annual 

conference held in Amelia Island, Fla., August 2012. 

Published the lead article, “Plea Bargaining, Just as it 

Ever Was,” in The Ohio State University online dispute 

resolution journal Mayhew-Hite Report on Dispute 

Resolution and the Courts, Vol. 10, Issue 4, May 2012. 

Activities: Along with Texas Wesleyan law professors 

Maxine Harrington, James McGrath and Mark Burge, 

participated as a facilitator during the conference 

Reforming and Renewing the Education of Profession: 

An Interactive Vision of Professionalism, which was coorganized 

by the law school, the UNT Texas College 

of Osteopathic Medicine, the TCU Harris College of 

Nursing and Health Sciences, and Brite Divinity School. 

The event was held in Fort Worth, Texas, Oct. 21, 2012. 

Presented at the Southeastern Association of Law 

Schools annual conference for the panel Criminal Law 

Pedagogy Roundtable. She was also a mentor through 

the SEALS New Scholars program during the same 

conference, August 2012. 

Stephen Alton 

Professor of Law and Associate Dean 

for Evening Division Programs 

Activities: Chaired three panels (“Perspectives on 

the Death Penalty,” “Law Goes Pop,” and “Courts & 

Religion: Legal Tests and Citizen Subjectivities”) at the 

15 th Annual Conference of the Association for the Study 

of Law, Culture, and the Humanities, Texas Wesleyan 

School of Law, March 16-17, 2012. 

Susan Ayres 


Publications: Published “Pregnancy Denied, Pregnancy 

Rejected in Stephanie Daley” in Law, Culture and the 

Humanities (co-authored by Prema Manjunath, print 

edition forthcoming). 

29 

about Texas Wesleyan law 

faculty and administrators 

Had an article, “When Women Kill Newborns: The 

Rhetoric of Vulnerability,” accepted for publication 

(forthcoming, Cambridge Scholars Press). 

Published “Denial and Concealment of Unwanted 

Pregnancy” (co-author Prema Manjunath), 26 J. C. R. 

& Econ. Dev. (forthcoming 2012). 

Activities: Moderated a New Scholars Workshop panel 

at the SEALS conference held in Amelia Island, Fla., 

Aug. 2, 2012. 

Sahar Aziz 


Publications: Accepted an offer of publication from 

the George Washington International Law Review for 

her paper “Revolution Without Reform? A Critique of 

Egypt’s Election Laws” (forthcoming January 2013). 

Accepted an offer of publication from the Oxford Islamic 

Journal Online for her paper “Heeding the Call of the 

Miner’s Canary Post-9/11” (forthcoming January 2013). 

Attended and submitted a briefing paper, “Promoting 

Rights as a Counterterrorism Tool: The Case of 

American Muslims,” at an international conference, 

Countering Violent Extremism: Dialogue, Training and 

Research, in Abu Dhabi, UAE, December 2012. 

“Protecting Rights as a Counterterrorism Tool: The 

Case of American Muslims” listed on SSRN’s Top Ten 

download list for Democratization: Building States & 

Democratic Processes eJournal and Islamic Law & Law 

of the Muslim World eJournal. 

Published “Egypt’s Protracted Revolution” in the 

American University Washington College of Law Human 

Rights Brief (October 2012). 

“Egypt’s Protracted Revolution” listed on SSRN’s Top 

Ten download list for PSN: Regime Transitions (Topic), 

PSN: Social Movements (Topic), Political Behavior: 

Race, Ethnicity & Identity Politics eJournal, and Political 

Institutions: Non-Democratic Regimes eJournal. 

Contributed to the “Ask The Expert” election column in 

the October 2012 issue of The Islamic Monthly magazine. 

Published an op-ed, “Anti-Muslim Extremist Video Calls 

for Counter-narrative by Mainstream Americans,” in 

The Huffington Post, Sept. 20, 2012. 

Published an op-ed article, “What Egypt women want,” 

in The Egypt Monocle, June 27, 2012. 

Co-authored an op-ed article, “As army and Brotherhood 

tussle, Egyptians look to US as guarantor,” in The 

Guardian, June 22, 2012. 

continued on next page…

in 

academia 

Co-authored an op-ed article on immigration reform in 

Truthout, June 21, 2012. 

Published an op-ed article “Selective Counterterrorism 

Practices Threaten Social Mobility of American Muslims” 

published in The American Muslim, June 20, 2012. 

Co-authored an op-ed article “To Stop Corruption, 

Egypt Needs a Freedom of Information Law,” published 

in The Huffington Post, May, 23, 2012. 

Published “From the Oppressed to the Terrorist: 

American Muslim Women Caught in the Crosshairs of 

Intersectionality,” in the Hastings Race and Poverty Law 

Journal (Spring 2012). 

Published “Caught in a Preventive Dragnet: Selective 

Counterterrorism in a Post-9/11 America,” in the 

Gonzaga Law Review (Winter 2011/Spring 2012). 

Activities: Presented Egypt’s draft constitution at the 

conference The Arab Spring and Constitutionalism in 

the Middle East at Fordham Law School, New York City, 

N.Y., Nov. 18, 2012. 

Testified before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights on 

Federal Civil Rights Engagement with Arab and Muslim 

Communities, Washington, D.C., Nov. 9, 2012. 

Presented on a panel, Rule of Law in Egypt: Rhetoric 

or Reality, at the Georgetown University Law Center, 

Oct. 10, 2012. 

Participated in an invitation-only meeting with Egyptian 

President Mohammed Morsi in New York City about 

Egypt’s transition to democracy, Oct. 3, 2012. 

Participated on the panel Targeted Killings Abroad, 

Arrests at Home with Professor Greg McNeal of 

Pepperdine Law School at Texas Wesleyan School of 

Law, Sept. 27, 2012. 

Testified before the U.S. Equal Employment 

Opportunity Commission on Religious Discrimination 

Against Muslims, Arabs, and South Asians Post-9/11, 

Washington, D.C., July 27, 2012. 

Interviewed on Nile TV about current developments in 

Egypt, June 23, 2012. 

Interviewed on RT America in connection with a 

recent lawsuit filed in New Jersey challenging the 

constitutionality of the NYPD’s systematic spying of 

Muslims, Muslim student associations, and Muslim 

owned businesses, June 7, 2012. 

Interviewed at the Brookings Institution U.S. Islamic 

Forum in Doha, Qatar, May 29-31, 2012. 

Attended the Brookings Institution’s U.S. Islamic World 

Forum in Doha, Qatar, where she participated in a 

working group addressing adverse consequences of 

counterterrorism laws on the philanthropic sector in the 

United States and the Middle East, May 29-31, 2012. 

30 

Interviewed on St. Louis radio station WGNU 920 

AM, where she discussed the latest developments in 

Egypt’s presidential elections and counterterrorism 

policy in the United States, May 2012. 

Interviewed on The Marc Steiner Radio Show discussing 

questions about the balance between free speech and 

national security, April 24, 2012. 

Presented “Terror(izing) the Muslim Veil” at Critical 

Discourses on Islamophobia: Symbols, Images and 

Representations, UC Berkeley Boalt Law School, 

Berkeley, Calif., April 20, 2012. 

Presented at the spring conference — After Afghanistan: 

Where To From Here? — at Center on Law, Ethics and 

National Security, Duke Law School, Durham, N.C., 

April 13, 2012. 

Presented on the panel, Intersection and Divergence 

of Interests: Coalition Building Among People of Color 

Communities, at the 2012 Southeast/Southwest People 

of Color Scholarship Conference — Transformative 

Advocacy, Scholarship, and Praxis: Taking Our Pulse 

— at Cumberland School of Law, Samford University, 

Birmingham, Ala., March 29, 2012. 

Interviewed about the murders of Trayvon Martin and 

Shaima Al Awadi for the television news channel Russia 

Today, March 28, 2012. 

Presented on the panel Preparing for Egypt’s Presidential 

Elections and the Transition to Civilian Rule, Georgetown 

University, Washington, D.C., March 26, 2012. 

Interviewed on the television news channel Russia Today 

about the New Jersey attorney general’s investigation 

into the NYPD’s surveillance of Muslims in universities, 

mosques and businesses, March 24, 2012. 

Mark Burge 



Cynthia Alkon, Maxine Harrington and James McGrath, 

participated as a facilitator during the conference 

Reforming and Renewing the Education of Profession: 

An Interactive Vision of Professionalism, which was coorganized 

by the law school, the UNT Texas College 

of Osteopathic Medicine, the TCU Harris College of 

Nursing and Health Sciences, and Brite Divinity School. 

The event was held in Fort Worth, Texas, Oct. 21, 2012. 

Presented “Too Clever by Half: A Cautionary Tale 

in Socio-Legal Legitimacy Starring the Uniform 

Commercial Code” at the Seventh International 

Conference on Contracts, Thomas Jefferson School of 

Law, San Diego, Calif., March 3, 2012.

Megan Carpenter 


Publications: Published “Intellectual Property: A 

Human (Not Corporate) Right,” in The Challenge of 

Human Rights: Past, Present and Future, a book edited 

by David Keane and Yvonne McDermott and published 

by Edward Elgar Publishing, Ltd., October 2012. 

Published Entrepreneurship and Innovation in 

Evolving Economies: The Role of Law (Edward Elgar 

Publishing), July 2012. The book is part of the Law and 

Entrepreneurship Series and contains contributions 

from experts on the role that law can play in supporting 

entrepreneurship and innovation in communities whose 

economies are in transition. This book addresses 

concrete policy issues, including analysis of legal efforts 

to incentivize entrepreneurship, through intellectual 

property law and other areas of law. Professor Frank 

Snyder wrote the foreword of this book. 

Published “Drawing a Line in the Sand: Copyright 

Law and New Museums” in the Vanderbilt Journal 

of Entertainment and Technology Law. The article 

was selected by West as “one of the best law review 

articles published within the last year in the fields of 

entertainment, publishing and the arts,” and will be 

republished in the 2012 edition of the Entertainment, 

Publishing and the Arts Handbook. 

Activities: Organized, planned and moderated 

the Professor Panel at the annual meeting of the 

International Trademark Association on May 7, 2012. 

The panel focused on “Exploring the Outer Limits of 

Trademark Law” and addressed ways that trademark 

protection has expanded to accommodate interests 

potentially unrelated to the core function and purpose 

of trademark law. 

Spoke to the IP Section of the Tarrant County Bar 

Association on “Scandalous and Immoral Trademarks,” 

Fort Worth, Texas, May 2, 2012. 

Presented “Will Play for Tips: 10 Legal Tips for 

Musicians/Artists/Songwriters” at the music 

conference 35 Denton. Other participants included 

Tamera Bennett of the Bennett Law Office P.C./Farm 

to Market Music and Dale Brock of Sonar Management 

and Kirtland Records, Denton, Texas, March 8, 2012. 

Presented CLIP Need-to-Know workshop, “The Art of 

Copyright: How to Protect Your Legal Rights,” at the 

Grapevine Arts Project with 3Ls Paige Ammons and 

Elizabeth Wilhelm Hayes, March 1, 2012. 

Presented “Notes on a Scandal: The 2(a) Bar on 

Scandalous and Immoral Trademarks” as part of the 

faculty exchange program, Texas Tech University 

School of Law, Lubbock, Texas, Feb. 17, 2012. 

Participated in the panel Appropriation Art and 

Copyright Challenges at Drake University Law School, 

Des Moines, Iowa, Jan. 30, 2012. 

31 

Gabriel Eckstein 


in 

academia 

Publications: Accepted an offer to publish “Rethinking 

Transboundary Ground Water Resources Management: 

A Local Approach along the Mexico-U.S. Border,” 

Georgetown International Environmental Law Review, 

Vol. 25(1), pp. ___ (forthcoming January 2013). 

Accepted an offer to publish “Emerging EPA Regulation 

of Pharmaceuticals in the Environment” in The 

Environmental Reporter, Environmental Law Institute 

(forthcoming January 2013). 

Published “Rethinking Transboundary Ground Water 

Resources Management: A Local Approach along 

the Mexico-U.S. Border,” Georgetown International 

Environmental Law Review, Vol. 25(1), pp. ___ 

(forthcoming January 2013). 

Published an essay co-authored with Kavitha Pramod, 

“The Future of Africa’s Water Security,” in Legal 

Developments in Environmental Law newsletter, American 

Bar Association Section of International Law, International 

Environmental Law Committee, May-July 2012. 

Published an op-ed in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram 

discussing the recent Texas Supreme Court ruling that 

states landowners have a constitutional right to the 

water underneath their land, March 11, 2012. 

Reprinted an essay that Professor Eckstein published 

on his blog titled “Nicaragua and Costa Rica Return to 

the International Court of Justice for Third Case over 

the San Juan River” in the newsletter of the ABA Section 

on International Law, International Environmental Law 

Committee, January-April 2012 issue. 

Published an article co-authored with George 

William Sherk of Sullivan & Worcester, “Alternative 

Strategies for Addressing the Presence and Effects of 

Pharmaceutical and Personal Care Products in Fresh 

Water Resources,” in Denver Water Law Review, Vol. 

15(2), pp. 369-445 (2012). 

Published a book chapter co-authored with Dr. Itay 

Fischhendler, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and 

Dr. Aaron Wolf, Oregon State University, “The Role of 

Creative Language in Addressing Political Realities: 

Middle-Eastern Water Agreements,” in Shared Borders, 

Shared Waters: Israeli-Palestinian and Colorado River 

Basin Water Challenges (S. Megdal, S. Eden, & R. 

Varady, Eds., CRC Press/Balkema Taylor & Francis 

Group in cooperation with UNESCO-IHE, Delft (2012). 

Co-authored book review with Kavitha Pramod, 

Transboundary Water Resources Management: A 

Multidisciplinary Approach (J. Ganoulis, et.al., Eds. 

2011), in International Journal of Water Resources 

Development, Vol. 28(4), pp. 693-695 (2012). 

Activities: Received the Texas Wesleyan University 

Board of Trustees 2012 Faculty Scholarship Award. 

continued on next page…

in 

academia 

Organized and moderated a panel on International and 

Interstate Transboundary Water Issues for the American 

Water Summit, Chicago, Ill., Nov. 14-15, 2012. 

Spoke on a panel, The Clean Water Act at 40: 

Under-enforced and Out of Date, at the Society of 

Environmental Journalists’ 22 nd Annual Conference, 

Lubbock, Texas, Oct. 17-21, 2012. 

Spoke at the International Association of Hydrogeologists 

39 th Congress on Confronting Global Change, Niagara 

Falls, Ontario, Canada, Sept. 16-21, 2012: 

• “Managing Hidden Treasures Across Frontiers: 

Emerging International Customary Norms for the 

Management of Transboundary Aquifers.” 

• “Correlating Governance of Transboundary 

Freshwater Resources to Manageable Hydrologic 

Units on the Mexico-U.S. Border” (presented 

with his father, Dr. Yoram Eckstein, professor of 

hydrogeology at Kent State University). 

Presented “Sagebrush Lizards, Prairie Chickens, 

and Humpback Whales, Oh My!: Endangered Species 

Challenges for Oil and Gas Production” at the 25 th Annual 

Energy Law Institute for Attorneys and Landmen, South 

Texas College of Law, Houston, Aug. 29-30, 2012. 

Spoke on the topic “Water Use in Oil & Gas Production” at 

the Seminar/Webinar on Water and the Future of Energy, 

hosted by the Environmental Law Institute and Sullivan & 

Worcester LLP, Washington, D.C., May 30, 2012. 

Interviewed by Embassy Magazine, a Canadian foreign 

policy newspaper, on the human right to water, 

May 24, 2012. 

Received the Frederic White Scholarship Award at the 

law school’s May 12, 2012, graduation ceremony. The 

award is distributed annually to one tenured faculty 

member and one tenure-track faculty member in 

recognition of their outstanding commitment and 

contribution to legal scholarship. 

Interviewed by The Wall Street Journal’s Market Watch 

on water as an essential investment, March 30, 2012. 

Frank Elliott 

Dean Emeritus and Professor of Law 

Publications: Published the 2012 supplements to 

Volumes 9 and 10, West’s Texas Forms: Civil Trial and 

Appellate Practice. 


Jim Hambleton, Cynthia Alkon, Sahar Aziz, Gabriel 

Eckstein, Frank Snyder, Peter Reilly and Huyen 

Pham, hosted Ciaran Martin, director of security 

and intelligence for the United Kingdom, during his 

presentation at the law school about the nexus of 

Constitutional Law and National Security, May 18, 

2012. Martin’s Texas trip was sponsored by the Office 

of International Visitors, Bureau of Educational and 

Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State, and the 

North Texas Council for International Visitors. 

32 

Paul George 


Publications: LexisNexis Publishing used a portion of 

his article on parallel litigation in their casebook, Federal 

Courts: Cases and Materials on Judicial Federalism and 

the Lawyering Process. 

Activities: Organized and hosted (along with three other 

lawyers) a reception for the American Law Institute at 

the City Club of Fort Worth, Nov. 8, 2012. 

Spoke to a business lunch group at The Fort Worth Club 

on the topic, Five Things Business People Should Know 

About Agency Law, Oct. 11, 2012. 

Presented a one-hour CLE on Principal-Agent Tort 

Liability to Whitaker Chalk Swindle & Schwartz, PLLC, 

Sept. 18, 2012. 

Served by invitation as manuscript reviewer for the 

German-based Journal of Institutional and Theoretical 

Economics, reviewing an article titled “Access to 

Justice” by two French economics professors whose 

article was based in part on one Professor George 

wrote looking at similar data in the United States, 

Access to Justice, 54 Am. J. Comp. L. 293 (2006 

Supp.), Summer 2012. 

Presented a lunch-hour CLE on electronic discovery 

to the Dallas law firm Shackleford Melton & McKinley, 

May 9, 2012. 

Delivered the graduation address at the hooding 

ceremony for undergraduate and graduate students 

in the political science department at Oklahoma 

State University and was named the department’s 

distinguished alumnus for 2012, May 4, 2012. 

Michael Z. Green 


Publications: “Against Employer Dumpster Diving 

for E-mail” published in the South Carolina Law 

Review for Volume 64, December 2012. Professor 

Green presented components of this paper at the 

Southeastern Association of Law Schools in Amelia 

Island, Fla., on Aug. 1, 2012, as part of a discussion 

group on Privacy in an Era of Advancing Technology. 

This paper was also noted in a discussion on the 

Workplace Prof Blog on Aug. 21, 2012, and was listed 

on the Social Science Research Network’s Top Ten 

Download List on Aug. 30, 2012, for the Legal Ethics & 

Professional Responsibility eJournal. 

Activities: Invited to speak on an upcoming panel 

regarding the role and duties of a research dean at the 

Association of American Law Schools’ annual meeting 

in New Orleans, La., Jan. 6, 2013.

Presented on a panel to discuss “The Ethics of 

Advertising and Promotion in the 21 st Century” at the 

Sixth Annual ABA Section of Labor and Employment 

Law Conference, Atlanta, Ga., Nov. 2, 2012. 

Presented a paper, “Retaliating Against Employee 

Opposition Through Mandatory Arbitration,” at the Seventh 

Annual Labor and Employment Law Colloquium held at 

Northwestern Law School, Chicago, Ill., Sept. 15, 2012. 

Joined with key employment dispute scholars as part 

of a national conversation in an employment dispute 

roundtable at Penn State Law School in State College, 

Pa., on Sept. 7-8, 2012. 

Spoke at the Seventh Annual Labor and Employment 

Law Colloquium at Northwestern and Loyola Chicago 

law schools in September 2012. 

Presented a commentary at the Third Annual John Mercer 

Langston Writing Workshop hosted by Suffolk University 

Law School in Boston, Mass., on June 28-30, 2012. 

Presented at the AALS Workshop for New Law School 

Teachers, where he was one of the presenters in a 

plenary session on “Nuts and Bolts – Tips and Tricks 

of Scholarship,” Washington, D.C., June 20-22, 2012. 

Presented on the panel, Collective Bargaining 

Responses to Pyett, at New York University’s 65 th 

Annual Conference on Labor: The Challenge for 

Collective Bargaining, New York, N.Y., June 7, 2012. 

Spoke at the New York University 65 th Annual 

Conference on Labor Law held on June 7, 2012, at 

NYU Law School where Professor Green discussed 

further implications from his recently published article, 

“Reading Ricci and Pyett to Deliver Racial Justice 

Through Union Arbitration,” 87 Indiana Law Journal 

367 (2012). Green was also editor of the proceedings 

from the NYU 65 th Annual Conference to be published 

in Kluwer Law International. 

Spoke on “The Negotiation of Collective Bargaining 

Agreements” at the 50 th Annual Course on Labor Law 

and Labor Arbitration at the Center for American and 

International Law, Plano, Texas, May 2, 2012. 

Presented at the ABA Labor and Employment Section 

Committee on Employment Rights and Responsibilities 

Committee Midwinter Meeting in Las Vegas, Nev., 

March 28, 2012. 

Spoke at the ABA Labor and Employment Section 

Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility 

Committee Midwinter Meeting, San Francisco, Calif., 

March 23, 2012. 

33 

James Hambleton 


Activities: Tied with John Murphy for Legal Writing 

Professor of the Year at the annual Barristers’ Ball – for 

the second year in a row, March 30, 2012. 

Terri Helge 


in 

academia 

Publications: Published “Choice of Entity 

Considerations for Charitable Organizations” in the 

Spring 2012 issue of the Texas Tax Lawyer. 

Activities: Invited to present “Cause-Related Marketing” 

at the 30 th Annual Nonprofit Organizations Institute, 

hosted by the University of Texas School of Law, 

Austin, Texas, Jan. 17, 2013. 

Presented “Finding the Treasure Box: Responsible 

Fundraising” at the 2012 Non-Profit Pro Bono Summit, 

hosted by the Tarrant County Bar Association, Fort 

Worth, Texas, Oct. 22, 2012. 

Presented “Nuts and Bolts of Unrelated Business Income 

Tax” at the Governance of Nonprofits Organizations 

Course 2012 in Austin, Texas, Aug. 23, 2012. 

Moderated a panel on The Conflict Between Protection 

of Free Expression and Protection of Human Dignity at 

the Southeastern Association of Law Schools annual 

meeting in Amelia Island, Fla., July 29, 2012. 

Presented “Legal Update: Corporate Governance, 

Fiduciary Investment Duties and Internal Fraud” at the 

LGT & BBVA Compass Nonprofit Organization CPE, 

Dallas, Texas, June 27, 2012. 

Presented “Tax & Legislative Update: Selected Recent 

Developments Affecting Charities and Charitable 

Giving” at the Texas Presbyterian Foundation CFO 

Financial Workshop, Dallas, Texas, June 20, 2012. 

Presented “Reforming the Private Benefit Doctrine” at 

the 2012 International Conference on Law & Society on 

June 6, 2012, and moderated a panel on Democracy, 

Taxes, and Public Policy on June 7, 2012, in which the 

scholars discussed various ways that tax policies can be 

used to bring about political goals, as well as how political 

influences can and should affect the formation of tax laws. 

Interviewed about the tax implications of cause-related 

marketing for an article in Perspectives, the University 

of Illinois College of Business’ magazine, Spring 2012. 

Presented “Legal Issues in Conducting Charitable 

Auctions, Raffles and Poker Tournaments” at the Texas 

Wesleyan School of Law Second Annual All Star Alumni 

CLE, Fort Worth, Texas, March 9, 2012. 

Invited to serve a second term as chairperson of the 

Tax-Exempt Organizations Committee of the State Bar 

of Texas Tax Section.

in 

academia 

H. Brian Holland 


Activities: Presented “Hope, Hitler, or Heresy? The 

Visual Language of a Presidential Campaign” as part 

of the Clarke Forum’s distinguished speakers series at 

the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues at Dickinson 

College, Carlisle, Pa., Oct. 23, 2012. 

Presented “The Art of Protecting Your Art” at Kettle 

Arts, Dallas, Texas, March 8, 2012. 

Elected chair of the Intellectual Property Section of the 

Tarrant County Bar Association for the 2012-2013 term. 

Charlotte Hughart 

Professor of Law and Director of the Law Clinic 

Activities: Along with Karon Rowden, spoke at the first 

free public forum for victims of domestic violence 

at the North Richland Hills (Texas) Library on July 3, 

2012. The forum was sponsored by the North Richland 

Hills Police Department. Professor Hughart expects to 

conduct such forums on a quarterly basis. 

Since mid-June 2012, Professors Hughart and John 

Murphy have been on the Tarrant County Bar Appellate 

Section Committee’s Pro Bono Project for the Second 

Court of Appeals. The Committee reviews pro bono 

applications for pro bono counsel to determine whether 

they qualify for referral to a pro bono attorney. Professor 

Hughart has reviewed cases involving family law issues. 

H. Dennis Kelly 


Activities: Participated in a panel discussion with 

Professor Joe Spurlock titled “The Aggie Former Students 

Professors Panel” at a meeting of the Texas Aggie Legal 

Society, Texas Wesleyan School of Law, Sept. 18, 2012. 

Gary Lucas 


Publications: Accepted an offer to publish his article, 

“Paternalism and Psychic Taxes: The Government’s 

Use of Negative Emotions to Save Us from Ourselves,” 

in the Southern California Interdisciplinary Law Journal, 

a publication of the University of Southern California 

Gould School of Law (forthcoming 2013). 

Activities: Presented his working paper titled 

“Paternalism and Psychic Taxes” at the Southeastern 

Association of Law Schools annual meeting in Amelia 

Island, Fla., Aug. 2, 2012. 

Also presented the paper at the U.C. Hastings School 

of Law as part of the 2012 Junior Tax Scholars 

Conference, May 30, 2012. 

Presented his article, “Paternalistic Sin Taxes and 

Psychic Taxes,” at Texas Tech University School of Law, 

Lubbock, Texas, April 26, 2012. 

34 

Milan Markovic 


Activities: Presented his research concerning attorney 

conflicts of interest at the International Legal Ethics 

Conference, Banff, Alberta, July 12-14, 2012. 

James McGrath 



Cynthia Alkon and Mark Burge, participated as a 

facilitator during the conference Reforming and 

Renewing the Education of Profession: An Interactive 

Vision of Professionalism, which was co-organized by 

the law school, the UNT Texas College of Osteopathic 

Medicine, the TCU Harris College of Nursing and 

Health Sciences, and Brite Divinity School. The event 

was held in Fort Worth, Texas, Oct. 21, 2012. 

Laura McKinnon 

Public Services Librarian 

Activities: Spoke on a panel, Leadership and 

Management from the Perspective of Newer Librarians, 

at the annual meeting of the Southwestern Association of 

Law Libraries, San Antonio, Texas, March 29-31, 2012. 

Timothy Mulvaney 


Publications: Accepted an offer to publish “A 

False Positivism” in the George Mason Law Review 

(forthcoming 2013). 

Published “Exactions for the Future” in the Baylor Law 

Review Vol. 64 (2), pp. 511-568 (2012). 

Activities: Invited to speak on a panel titled A 

Prospective Look at Property Rights as part of a joint 

program hosted by the American Association of Law 

Schools Sections on Property and Natural Resources 

Law at the AALS annual meeting in New Orleans, La., 

Jan. 7, 2013. 

Served as a panelist at the Aspiring Law Professors 

Conference at Arizona State University’s Sandra Day 

O’Connor College of Law, Sept. 15, 2012. 






contribution to legal scholarship.

Participated in the Engaged Scholarship Conference at 

Pace Law School, White Plains, N.Y., May 4, 2012. 

Elected by Texas Wesleyan law students as 1L 

Professor of the Year at the annual Barristers’ Ball, 

March 30, 2012. 

Also presented the paper as part of the faculty speaker 

series at Stetson University College of Law, Gulfport, 

Fla., March 5, 2012. 

Presented his article, “Exactions for the Future,” at the 

Association for Law, Property, and Society Conference 

at Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, 

D.C., March 2-3, 2012. 

John F. Murphy 


Activities: Tied with James Hambleton for Legal Writing 

Professor of the Year at the annual Barristers’ Ball – for 

the second year in a row, March 30, 2012. 

Along with Professor Charlotte Hughart, served on the 

Tarrant County Bar Appellate Section Committee’s Pro 

Bono Project for the Second Court of Appeals. The 

Committee reviews pro bono applications for pro bono 

counsel to determine whether they qualify for referral 

to a pro bono attorney. 

Mary Margaret “Meg” Penrose 


Publications: “Unbreakable Vows: Same-Sex Marriage 

and the Fundamental Right to Divorce” has been 

accepted for publication by the Villanova Law Review 

(forthcoming 2013). 

Activities: Gave a criminal law presentation to four 

Jamaican judges/lawyers visiting Fort Worth through 

the U.S. State Department’s International Visitor 

Leadership Program, Sept. 24, 2012. 

Participated in a Federalist Society/OUTlaw debate on 

the issue of religious liberty and same-sex marriage 

with Professor Robin F. Wilson of Washington and 

Lee University School of Law, held at Texas Wesleyan 

School of Law, Sept. 13, 2012. 

Retained to serve as a Title IX Auditor for a Division I 

Athletics Department, August 2012. 

Participated as defense counsel in a felony jury trial in 

Dallas County in July 2012, where she worked as part 

of the state-appointed counsel team. 

35 

in 

academia 






contribution to legal scholarship. 

Elected by Texas Wesleyan law students as the 

Outstanding Upper Level Professor of the Year at the 

annual Barristers’ Ball, March 30, 2012. 

Interviewed for an article on the upcoming affirmative 

action Supreme Court case, Fisher v. University of 

Texas, TCU 360, Feb. 29, 2012. 

Asked to serve on the UTA Athletics Department 

Strategic Planning Committee. Penrose currently 

serves as a member of the University of Texas at 

Arlington’s Maverick Club Advisory Board to the 

Athletics Department. 

Filed federal briefs in three Texas death penalty cases 

involving the United States Supreme Court’s recent 

decision in Martinez v. Ryan, a right to counsel case. She 

now represents five individuals on Texas Death Row. 

Participated in an editorial debate with Professor 

Sanford Levinson of the University of Texas Law School 

on whether an Article V Constitutional Convention 

should be called. That editorial debate was published 

by the CQ Researcher. 

Produced a video for the American Bar Association 

American Voter project, which is now featured on 

American-Voter.org. 

Huyen Pham 

Associate Dean for Faculty Research & 

Development and Professor of Law 

Activities: Gave a presentation for students and 

faculty at the University of Economics and Law, 

Vietnam National University, June 14, 2012, about 

the requirements for obtaining an LL.M. degree in the 

United States. 

Gave a presentation on teaching advanced immigration 

law courses at the Immigration Law Teachers Workshop, 

Hofstra University, Maurice A. Deane School of Law, 

June 1, 2012. 

Interviewed about the Trayvon Martin case and the 

differences between the laws in Florida and Texas, CBS 

11 News at 5 p.m., March 23, 2012. 

Presented “An Analysis of the Subfederal Immigration 

Climate” at a conference, Border Patrols: The Legal, 

Racial, Social and Economic Implications of United 

States Immigration Policy, St. John’s University School 

of Law, Queens, N.Y., March 16, 2012.

in 

academia 

Lynne Rambo 


Activities: Participated as faculty in the Evidence 

Summit hosted by the Texas Center for the Judiciary, 

South Padre Island, Texas, May 29-31, 2012. 

Was interviewed on: 

• KRLD Radio on June 28 regarding National Federation 

of Independent Businesses v. Sibelius, the challenge 

to the Affordable Care Act 

• KRLD Radio on June 25 regarding United States v. 

Arizona, the challenge to Arizona’s immigration laws 

• NBC affiliate, Channel 5 evening news on June 25 

regarding United States v. Arizona, the challenge to 

Arizona’s immigration laws 

Peter Reilly 


Publications: “Resistance is NOT Futile: Harnessing 

the Power of Counter-Offensive Tactics in Legal 

Persuasion” has been accepted for publication by the 

Hastings Law Journal. 

Activities: Taught a negotiation class for Georgetown 

University’s Center for Public and Nonprofit Leadership 

on June 14, 2012. The class is part of the Center’s 

Nonprofit Management Executive Certificate program, 

which enrolled 46 students from around the world who 

met in Washington, D.C., for one week of course work 

and training. 


Law Library Director and Associate 


Activities: Moderated “Leadership and Management 

from the Perspective of Newer Librarians,” a panel 

presentation at the annual meeting of the Southwestern 

Association of Law Libraries, San Antonio, Texas, 

March 29-31, 2012. 

Malinda Seymore 


Activities: Participated as faculty in the Evidence 

Summit hosted by the Texas Center for the Judiciary, 

South Padre Island, Texas, May 29-31, 2012. 

36 

Frank Snyder 


Publications: Wrote the foreword for Entrepreneurship 

and Innovation in Evolving Economies: The Role of Law, 

a book published by Edward Elgar Publishing and edited 

by Professor Megan Carpenter, July 2012. Please see 

Professor Carpenter’s entry for more information 

about the book. 

With Constance Hall ’10, authored the chapter 

“Contracts and Commercial Law” in The Chief 

Executive Legal Guide (Chief Executive Research 

2012), a comprehensive guide for non-lawyer CEOs to 

understand the possible legal issues their companies 

face and how to avoid them. 

Joe Spurlock II 

Professor of Law and 

Director of the Asian Judicial Institute 

Activities: Participated in a panel discussion with Associate 

Professor Dennis Kelly titled “The Aggie Former Students 

Professors Panel” at a meeting of the Texas Aggie Legal 

Society, Texas Wesleyan School of Law, Sept. 18, 2012. 

Gina Warren 


Publications: Accepted a publication offer from 

Nebraska Law Review: “Hydropower: It’s a Small World 

After All,” (forthcoming 2013). 


Dean and Professor of Law 

Activities: Member of the ABA New Deans Seminar 

Planning Committee. Dean White also served as 

a panelist at the ABA New Deans Workshop and 

Training, Jackson Hole, Wyo., May 27-29, 2012.

ALUMNI 

Dear Alumni and Friends, 

I am very appreciative of the opportunity to serve 

as president of the Texas Wesleyan School of Law 

Alumni Association, especially during this time of 

transition. I am excited about our future. Wesleyan 

alumni have accomplished much, and I am confident 

that we have just begun. 

Each of us serves a critical role in our law school’s 

success, and I want to personally thank each of 

you who have contributed your time and financial 

resources to Texas Wesleyan. I also want to challenge each of you to do more for 

our law school. If each of us simply pledges to do more for our school this year 

than last, our alma mater and alumni association will benefit greatly. 

There are many ways to support Texas Wesleyan School of Law: 

Stay Connected to the Law School. Register with the alumni office and 

notify them when your contact information changes. We also want to hear of 

your accomplishments such as making partner, starting your own law firm, or 

receiving an award. “Like” the alumni association page on Facebook to keep 

abreast of the most current events and law school news. 

Attend Law School and Alumni Association Events. Play in The Greenhill 

Golf Tournament, bring your family to the Alumni Community Crawfish & Shrimp 

Boil, earn CLE credit at our CLE luncheons, and make new friends and reconnect 

with acquaintances at happy hours. You can review the full calendar of events 

here to select the events you will attend this year. 

Volunteer. Serve on an alumni association committee and work with current 

members of the board of directors to plan the alumni association’s annual activities. 

Contribute Financially to the Law School. Any contribution is needed and 

appreciated. Contributions of $500 or more qualify you for special benefits and 

law school event invitations. 

Encourage Your Fellow Alumni to Get Involved. Bring a friend to an event or 

nominate your colleagues and friends for one of our signature awards. 

Again, I am grateful for the opportunity to serve you as president. I have 

enjoyed meeting many of you in the past, and I look forward to meeting many 

more of you this year. 

Best regards, 

Scott E. Lindsey ’02, president 

Texas Wesleyan School of Law Alumni Association 

report 

news from the office of alumni relations & advancement 

37 

Alumni Association 

Calendar of Events 

Spring 2013 

January 

16 HEB Alumni CLE Luncheon 

29 Denton Alumni CLE Luncheon 

February 

21 Law Review Alumni Reception 

22 All Star Faculty CLE for Alumni 

March 

7 Dallas Alumni Happy Hour 

21-22 Law Review Energy Symposium 

April 

19-20 Alumni Weekend 

19 The Greenhill Golf Tournament 

20 Alumni Community Crawfish & 

Shrimp Boil 

May 

20 Washington, D.C., Supreme Court 

Swearing-In Ceremony 

23 Fort Worth Alumni Happy Hour 

Austin Swearing-In Ceremony for 

Bar Passers 

June 

TBD State Bar of Texas Conference 

(Reception, Regional Lunch) 

Save the Date 

Calling all runners! Join us in November 

2013 for Texas Wesleyan School of Law’s 

Brief Run. Fellow alumni, faculty and area 

runners will participate in a 1 mile fun run or 

5K race. More details to come. 

Dates subject to change.

2012-2013 Alumni Association 

Board of Directors 

Executive Committee 

Scott Lindsey ’02 

president 

Katey Powell Stimek ’07 

vice president 

Courtney Richards Leaverton ’11 

secretary 

Hon. Rodney Adams ’94 

treasurer 

Susan Schambacher Ross ’05 

immediate past president 

Board Members 

Lara Aman ’06 

Lori Campbell ’11 

Nikki Chriesman ’09 

Jeff Crook ’05 

DeShun Eubanks ’04 

Leah Frazier ’07 

Michelle Galaviz ’07 

Judy Mattern Hearn ’95 

Michael Huebner ’10 

Dr. Bob Leone ’93 

Katie Harrigan Manchaca ’07 

J.D. Milks ’07 

Hunter Parrish ’09 

Matthew Schoenberger ’10 

Katrina Washington ’05 

New Alumni Association Board Members 

The Texas Wesleyan School of Law Alumni Association is 

proud to announce its newly elected board members. These 

individuals were elected at the annual meeting in the spring to 

serve a three-year term: 

Hon. Rodney Adams ’94 

Michelle Galaviz ’07 


Alumni Association Committee Chairs 

Throughout the 2012-2013 academic year, the following committee chairs will work 

in conjunction with the Office of Alumni Relations & Advancement on the many 

activities of the alumni association. Participation is not limited to board members. All 

alumni are welcome to participate in the various committees. Contact the committee 

chair or the alumni office if you are interested in joining a committee. 

Alumni Community Crawfish & Shrimp Boil: Hunter Parrish ’09 

The Greenhill: Mary-Margaret Spikes Lemons ’07 

Awards & Nominations: Katey Powell Stimek ’07 

Constitution & Bylaws: Katrina Washington ’05 

38 


Courtney Richards 

Leaverton ’11 

Matthew Schoenberger ’10, 

alternate 

Fundraising: Michael Huebner ’10 

Social: Nikki Chriesman ’09 

Brief Run: Alma Hernandez-Blackwell ’04 


Katie Harrigan 

Manchaca ’07, alternate 

Katrina Washington ’05

Current employment: Law Offices of Audrey Moorehead 

in Dallas, Texas 

Alumni Profile: 

Audrey Moorehead ’06 

Practice areas: Criminal defense, domestic relations, wills, 

trusts and probate 

Education: BBA from Huston-Tillotson University; J.D. from Texas 

Wesleyan School of Law; MBA from Dallas Baptist University; and 

a master’s of clinical gerontology from Baylor University 

Community activities: Audrey currently serves as the co-chair 

for the council of chairs of the State Bar of Texas and as cochair 

of the Dallas Bar Association Mentoring Committee. 

Committed to serving the senior community, Audrey is one 

of three co-chairs of the DAYL Elder Law Committee. She 

has served as the Region V secretary of the National Bar 

Association and chair of the African American Lawyer’s 

Section for the State Bar of Texas. She serves on the Texas 

Criminal Defense Lawyers Association CDLP committee and is 

a frequent speaker for the James Baker Ethics Series. Audrey 

serves on several committees for J.L. Turner Legal Association 

and is an active member of many additional nonprofit and 

professional service organizations, including the Association 

of Conflict Resolution; United Way of Metropolitan Dallas; 

Top Ladies of Distinction, Inc.; National Association of Negro 

Business and Professional Women’s Clubs, Inc.; Alpha Kappa 

Alpha Sorority, Inc.; and Dallas Blueprint for Leadership. 

What are you most proud of professionally 

and/or personally? 

I am most proud of being selected as a panelist for the Texas 

Center for Legal Ethics’ Justice James A. Baker Guide to the 

Basics of Law Practice. This is the required course for every 

newly licensed Texas lawyer. I am featured on the video and 

speak at the live CLE events throughout the state. This has 

allowed me the opportunity to connect with attorneys all over 

39 

Texas. I am passionately proud of my profession and I enjoy 

mentoring and encouraging young attorneys to embark on 

this legal journey with pride, passion and purpose. 

Why did you choose Texas Wesleyan? 

Location. Location. Location. It is located in the Dallas/ 

Fort Worth area, so I could continue to be a caregiver for 

my parents. It is located in the hearts of the alumni; many 

wonderfully talented attorneys encouraged me to attend 

their alma mater. Finally, Texas Wesleyan encourages 

students to locate in areas of public service. The law 

school’s commitment to community service was a key 

factor in my choosing Texas Wesleyan. 

What do you like best about being a lawyer? 

I am fond of saying that I am addicted to community service 

and being a lawyer helps me to support my habit. The legal 

profession encourages pro bono service. The State Bar of 

Texas even created the Pro Bono College to encourage and 

recognize attorneys that exceed the state bar’s aspirational 

goals of serving the vast unmet needs of the poor. The 

money’s not bad, either. 

Who is your favorite professor 

or mentor and why? 

alumni 

report 

Dean Patti Gearhart Turner was my favorite. Law school can 

feel isolating − it’s just you and the curve. Dean Turner was 

always encouraging. I believe the “wellness room” was initially 

created for me to have anxiety attacks somewhere other than 

her office. Now it’s for lactating moms....go figure. 

Tell us a fun/random fact about yourself. 

My first job was playing the piano for church service when I 

was in the third grade. I made $25 every Sunday. I was the 

only kid in my elementary school with a checkbook. 

ALUMNI PROFILE

alumni 

report 

Alumni 

Events 

Jack Strickland, Mary-Margaret Spikes Lemons ’07, Ann Diamond 

and David Godsey ’04 

Alumni Association Board of 

Directors End of Year Dinner 

May 2, 2012, Joe T. Garcia’s, Fort Worth 

Photos by Regan McDonald 

Alumni Awards Dinner 

Nov. 9, 2012, Billy Bob’s Texas, Fort Worth 

Photos by Sara Rogers 

Members of the law school community gathered at Billy Bob’s 

to recognize four outstanding individuals and their service, 

commitment and leadership to the law school. 

2012 Award Winners: 

Distinguished Alumnus Award – David Godsey ’04 

Alumna of the Year – Mary-Margaret Spikes Lemons ’07 

Richard Gershon Leadership Award – Jack Strickland 

Steve Chaney Friend of the Law School – Ann Diamond 

40 

Eric Lemons and 

Mary-Margaret Spikes Lemons ’07 

Candace Labron ’12 and Donnie Miller ’09 

Katey Powell Stimek ’07 and 

Alma Hernandez-Blackwell ’04 

Katie Manchaca ’07, Michelle Galaviz ’07, Katey Powell Stimek ’07 and 

Casey Dyer Oliver ’06, director of alumni relations and external affairs

Dean Frederic White, Rick Kubes, Nermin Salkic, 3L Nadin-Sarah Salkic, Mary Kubes, 

Greg Kubes and Casey Dyer Oliver ’06, director of alumni relations and external affairs 

Dean Frederic White, 3L Kristin Brown, 

Alma Hernandez-Blackwell ’04 and adjunct 

professor Ronnie Blackwell ’04 

Justin Bragiel ’07, Michelle Galaviz ’07, John Medlock ’07 and Jameson Medlock 

Barristers Society Donor and 

Scholarship Recognition Dinner 

Aug. 23, 2012, Ashton Depot, Fort Worth 

Photos by Sarge Hill 

Alumni, faculty and law school friends recognized individuals and 

organizations that have made generous contributions to the law 

school as well as the recipients of named law school scholarships 

at the 2012 Donor and Scholarship Recognition Dinner. 

2012 Scholarship Recipients: 

Blackwell Scholarship Award: 3L Kristin Brown 

Jeff Kubes ’03 Memorial Endowed Scholarship: 3L Nadin-Sarah Salkic 

Chief Justice Joe Greenhill Endowed Scholarship: 3L Rhett Warren 

41 

Bill and Ann Greenhill, 3L Rhett Warren and Dean Frederic White 

Austin Alumni Happy Hour 

May 13, 2012, The Driskill 

Photos by Deborah Barnett 

Karla Valdez ’11 and Carol Longoria ’11

alumni 

report 

Rodney Adams ’94; CLE presenter Mike Regitz, president of 

Texas Aggie Bar Association; Casey Dyer Oliver ’06, director 

of alumni relations and external affairs; and Scott Lindsey ’02, 

president of the alumni association board of directors 

Ruben DeHoyos ’01 and Aidan DeHoyos 

Wesleyan Law Night 

at Rangers Ballpark 

Sept. 28, 2012, Arlington 


Addie Altemose, Jonathan Simpson and Amber Altemose ’10 

Brooke Mixon ’08 and Ronnie Hall ’07 

Fort Worth CLE 

Aug. 15, 2012, The Fort Worth Club 

Photos by Sara Rogers 

Mark Bohon ’06, Elizabeth Smith ’06 and 

Casey Dyer Oliver ’06, director of alumni 

relations and external affairs 

42 

Fort Worth Happy Hour 

May 17, 2012, The Woodshed Smokehouse 


Allison Flannigan ’12, Rick Walker ’12, Alysee Pelletier ’12 

and Donnie Miller ’09 

Dr. Bob Leone ’93 and Shelly Skeen ’98 


Reception at the SBOT Annual Meeting 

June 14, 2012, Hilton Americas, Houston 

Photos by Regan McDonald

The Texas Wesleyan School of Law Alumni Association 

congratulates the following alumni and 3L students 

who passed the July 2012 State Bar of Texas Exam: 

Adam Alexander 

Antonio Allen 

Patrick Almand 

Paige Ammons 

Christopher Austria 

Hannah Bell 

Daniel Blanchard 

Maxwell Branham 

Noelle Bray 

Casey Brown 

Bryan Bubis 

Robert Bunker 

Christopher Campbell 

John Chay 

Ryan Clay 

Dustin Coates 

Hilary Cochrane 

Jennifer Connell 

Laura Conway 

Emily Curtis 

Paul Daly 

Justin Davis 

Jessica DeWitt 

Cesar Diaz 

Amanda Dorman 

Kate Echols 

Larry Fadler 

Joseph Farah 

Allison Flanagan 

Amy Ford 

Cheryl Foreman 

Martin Garcia 

Ofilia Garza 

Carlie Gause 

Ommid Ghaemmaghami 

Lisa Grissom 

Ashley Groom 

Nora Hammonds 

Casey Hartle 

Sara Hawkins 

Elizabeth Hearn 

Jordan Hesse 

Charles Hill 

Keena Hilliard 

Jordan Hix 

Enrique Holguin 

Marshay Howard 

Nicholas Howard 

Daniel Ippolito 

DeAndrea Jackson 

Jonathan James 

Eugene Johnson 

Thomas Jump 

Samantha Junker 

Corey Kellam 

Maya Koyfman 

Rachel Kulhavy 

Brandon Lange 

John Lanzillo 

Melanie Lee 

Justin Lewis 

Yimeng Li 

Carol Longoria 

Trey Looney 

Carlos Lopez 

Brittani Luecke 

David Maldonado 

Nathan Martin 

James Mathew 

Wade Mathis 

Edward McDonald 

Chad McLain 

43 

Chelsi McLarty 

Jackson McMinn 

Lauren McPherson 

Sheldon Metz 

Jerold Mitchell 

Daniel Monte 

Shae Moore 

Daniel Moran 

Christopher Morrell 

Thomas Murphree 

Mahrosh Nawaz 

C.J. Netting 

Lyndsay Newell 

Debrah Ochoa 

Michael Pace 

Kelsey Paul 

Alysee Pelletier 

Scott Phillips 

Samuel Piassick 

Jesus Ponce 

Julie Prentice 

William Privette 

Anahid Rahmani 

Chris Reedy 

Matthew Richwine 

Justin Roberts 

Cody Robinette 

Courtney Robinson 

Timothy Robinson 

Tristan Robinson 

Luis Rodriguez 

Rusty Roeger 

Amanda Sanchez 

Joseph Sauncy 

Francesca Scanio 

Daniel Schlatter 

alumni 

report 

Flint Schneider 

Emily Schneider 

Abby Schroeder 

Calvin Trey Scott 

Kati Shelton 

Kassie Shepherd 

Anna Smith 

Jesse Snyder 

Lauren Stamper 

John Stathas 

Sarah Steen 

Charles Mark Styron 

Jennifer Suarez 

Scott Surles 

Megan Szinyei 

Wayne Taylor 

Ross Tew 

Tyler Thomas 

Paige Thompson 

Scott Thompson 

Charles Tibbels 

Huy Tran 

Marc Traynor 

Lisa Turner 

Kristen vanBolden 

Adam Villanueva 

Rick Walker 

Marissa Warms 

Bryan Weaver 

Teal Jordan White 

Elizabeth Wilhelm 

Doak Worley 

Jason Wright 

Clinton Zettle

DONOR SPOTLIGHT 

ADVANCEMENT 

Donor Spotlight: 

Barbara Tsirigotis 

Faculty and staff, as well as alumni, are generous supporters of Texas Wesleyan 

School of Law. Learn more about why We Believe in the law school. 

Barb Tsirigotis is in her 17th year at Texas Wesleyan School of Law and currently 

serves as the administrative assistant in the Office of Student Affairs. She says that the best part of 

her job is the student contact. According to Barb, “There’s never a dull moment and I love it!” In her 

spare time Barb enjoys painting, studying genealogy, gardening, travel, and all activities connected 

to American history. 

Why do you give to the Annual Fund? For the past 17+ years Texas Wesleyan School of Law has 

been a big part of my life. I’ve seen some amazing changes in the law school during those years. I even 

survived the move from Irving to Fort Worth. Although I’m retiring in January, I want to do whatever I 

can to ensure that the law school keeps growing and prospering through the coming years. 

What do you like best about Texas Wesleyan? The family atmosphere. I’ve known students who 

transferred to another area law school simply for the name recognition. Those same students later 

told me they had no idea they were leaving behind a ‘family,’ for they did not find that same family 

atmosphere, the one-on-one attention at their new law school. 

Dear Fellow Alumni and Friends, 

Through the generosity of more than 400 alumni, students, faculty, staff and friends 

who made a contribution last year, Texas Wesleyan School of Law is able to make a 

difference in our communities and impact the lives of our students. As you read through 

this edition of the Texas Wesleyan Lawyer, I hope you will see the difference you have 

made. More importantly, I hope you take pride in our accomplishments, as your support 

is what has enabled us to achieve greater things both individually and collectively. 

As we move forward with further negotiations with Texas A&M University in our strategic partnership, 

we are reminded of what makes us unique – a community with a unified purpose. A community of 

students, alumni, faculty, staff, parents and friends who have supported our law school from our humble 

beginnings in Irving, to our Texas Wesleyan University acquisition and move to downtown Fort Worth, to 

our current position of potentially being purchased by one of the nation’s finest universities, Texas A&M 

(and I’m not just saying that because I’m an Aggie!). 

To illustrate the strength and value of our Wesleyan law school network of more than 4,000 

individuals, we chose to recognize Barb Tsirigotis, a dedicated staff member and generous donor, 

in this edition. Barb has made the law school a priority, not only by serving the student body 

in her position as administrative assistant in the Office of Student Affairs, but also by making 

a contribution each month to support the Wesleyan law school community. Why? It’s simple --because 

she believes in us, just like so many of you do. 

In this time of transition for the law school, I encourage each of you to remember where we came from, 

celebrate where we are today and what we have accomplished, and look to the future with great hope 

and enthusiasm. We have much to be thankful for, and on behalf of my office and the law school, I’d like 

to extend our sincerest gratitude to you. 

I wish you and your families a safe and happy holiday. May you remember the past, celebrate the present 

and rejoice in the future, and may 2013 be the best year yet! 

Sincerely, 

Casey Dyer Oliver ’06 

Director of Alumni Relations & External Affairs 

44 

report 

Your Dollars 

at Work! 

$50 

Provides resources for 

student organizations. 

$100 

Supports networking 

opportunities for alumni 

and students. 

$250 

Supports community 

outreach initiatives 

such as the WIP. 

$500 

Brings distinguished 

guest lecturers and 

speakers to campus. 

$1,000 

Sends our award-winning 

advocacy teams to 

competitions. 

Make your gift online today at 

lawalumni.txwes.edu/giving 

*gifts may be paid in installments

The Honor Campaign is a special initiative recognizing those individuals that have helped us along 

the way: an encouraging word from your spouse; a vote of confidence from a professor; or a piece 

of advice from a longtime friend or family member. The Honor Campaign is a small way for you 

to express your gratitude. 

We encourage you to take a moment to thank that person who has helped you in your journey. With 

each gift, we will send your honoree a personalized note of admiration and gratitude on your behalf. Visit 

lawalumni.txwes.edu/honorcampaign to make your gift today. 

Thank you to everyone that made a contribution to the Honor Campaign in FY 2012. 

Donor Honoree 

Lara Aman ’06 Barbara and Charles Aman 

Mark Bohon ’06 Everett Chambers ’03 

Holly White Turner ’07 

Dan Brothers Fran Brothers 

Eboney Cobb ’04 Gail Lewis 

Janeth Cornelious ’04 Eddie Cornelious 

Elizabeth Cortright ’09 Cynthia Cortright 

Robert A. Cortright 

Peg Demers in memory of Joan Pallof 

Angela Adkins Downes ’98 Judge Nancy Berger ’94 

Dr. and Mrs. Charles E. Dyer III J. Henry Oliver 

Charles E. Dyer V 

Autumn N. Dyer 

Gloria Hallan Lynette Morones 

Roland K. Johnson the students 

Amy Kubes in memory of Jeff Kubes ’03 

Katie Lewis ’05 Bobby Lewis 

Ann Mirabito and Frank Snyder Mr. and Mrs. Francis Mirabito 

Casey Dyer Oliver ’06 Alma Hernandez-Blackwell ’04 

Susan Schambacher Ross ’05 

Cynthia Smith, Girl Scouts 

Jan Titsworth, Leadership Fort Worth 

Harriet Harral, Leadership Fort Worth 

45 

advancement 

report 

Donor Honoree 

Casey Dyer Oliver ’06 (cont’d) Christi Stinson, 

Funding Information Center 

Leah King, Chesapeake 

Mary Schlegel, 

Fort Worth Business Press 

John Pierce ’98 Randy Scoggin 

Dr. Fred Minton 

Dee Alred 

David McLemore 

Joe Baxter 

Clay Oakley 

Dottie and Tom Swift III 

Beverly Pierce 

Lynette Pierce 

Patrick H. Rose IV ’11 Debbie and Bud Dawson 

Dan Settle, Jr. Dee J. Kelly, Sr. 

Thomas A. Sexton ’11 Anne L. Sexton 

Katy Sheppard ’09 Derek Sheppard 

Katey Powell Stimek ’07 Dewey Powell 

Dwight Thompson ’94 James H. Koehn, Esq. 

Jackie Lynn Edwards Ward ’03 Charles Ward 

E. James Willrich ’94 Mrs. Dorothy Grubb 

*$25 minimum gift per honoree

Honor Roll of Donors 

Our annual Honor Roll of Donors celebrates and acknowledges the wonderful community within which Texas Wesleyan School 

of Law operates. It is your generosity that enables us to live up to our commitment to excellence year after year. The law 

school sincerely thanks the following alumni, friends, faculty and staff, law firms, corporations and foundations who have made 

generous gifts or pledge payments to the school during our 2012 fiscal year. 

Dean’s Council 

$10,000+ 

Tarrant County Criminal Defense Lawyers Association 

Bernie Schuchmann ’07 

XTO Energy 

Partner’s Circle 

$5,000-$9,999 

Dallas Bar Association - Employment Law Section 

Steven C. Laird 

Judy ’94 and Stephen Alton 

Cantey Hanger LLP 

The Catherine Terrell McCartney Foundation 

Celestina L. Contreras 

Richard De Los Santos ’94 

Dr. and Mrs. Charles E. Dyer III 

Kay and Frank Elliott 

Falcon Document Solutions 

Nancy and Dr. Gary Edd Fish ’95 

Alex and Dane Hardy ’06 

Charlotte Hughart 

Judd & Jacks, P.L.L.C. 

H. Dennis Kelly 

Kelly and Dr. Robert Leone ’93 

Chris ’04 and Cliff Long 

Sharon K. Lowry ’09 

- Barristers Club - 

League of Scholars 

$1,000-$2,499 

46 

Society of Advocates 

$2,500-$4,999 

American Corporate Council Association, DFW Chapter 

Bracewell & Giuliani LLP 

The Godsey Law Firm, P.C., David L. Godsey ’04 

Haynes and Boone, LLP 

MT Roe Foundation, Maudi Fleming 

Schneider Law Firm, P.C., Mike Schneider ’06 

Phyllis and Frederic White 

Nancy and Stephen Mosher ’95 

Casey Dyer Oliver ’06 and Mark Oliver 

Omni American Bank 

Parker McDonald Law, Dan McDonald 

Caroline K. Akers Peterson ’04 and Ben Peterson 

Abby ’05 and Chris Ryan 

Thomas Aloysius Sexton ’11 

State Bar of Texas Criminal Justice Section 

Donald E. Tiller ’08 

The Washington Firm, P.C., Katrina Washington ’05 

The Westport Fund, Lara Green 

Heidi Whitaker ’06 

Whitaker Chalk Swindle & Schwartz, PLLC 

Andy and Matthew Wright ’08 

Yoshito Yamamoto ’05

Gold Donors 

$500-$999 

Wayne Barnes 

Alma Hernandez-Blackwell ’04 and 

Ronnie D. Blackwell ’04 

Catherine Borum ’06 

Everett Chambers ’03 

Jennifer Ellis ’05 

Jackie and Capt. DeShun Eubanks ’04, 

Enterprise Home Health Solutions 

ExxonMobil Foundation 

Michael Z. Green 

Clint Hailey ’01 

Maxine Harrington 

Judy Mattern Hearn ’95 

Cynthia and Roland Johnson 

Kaplan 

The Lanier Law Firm, P.C. 

Law, Snakard & Gambill, P.C. 

Looper Reed & McGraw, P.C. 

Malone’s Pub 

Trent Marshall ’07 

Belynda Ortiz 

Ellyn Ponton ’95 

Lynne Rambo 

Jack Rochelle ’94 

Susan Schambacher Ross ’05 and 

Tony Ross ’05, Ross Law Offices, P.C. 

Dan Settle, Jr. 

The Honorable Joe Spurlock II 

Lurese A. Terrell ’98 

Patti Gearhart Turner ’94 

Silver Donors 

$100-$499 

Elizabeth Adcock ’07 

Cynthia Alkon 

Antonio Allen ’12 

Amber Altemose ’10 

Lara Aman ’06 

Susan Ayres 

Sahar Aziz 

Bank of America 

BarBri 

Deborah Barnett 

Erin Barta ’01 

Christopher Baumann ’08 

Norma Bazán ’01 

Cecily Becker 

The Honorable Nancy L. Berger ’94 

Bobbie Edmonds Law Office 

Mark Bohon ’06 

Braxton Bragg 

- Counselors Club - 

Lydia and Bobby Brown ’11 

Mark Burge 

Tiffany Burns ’00 

Zach Burt ’09 

Kamryn Caldwell ’11 


Joan Canty 

Wayne Cavalier ’11, CavLaw, PLLC 

Sharmila Chandran ’98 

Mark Childress ’06 

Eboney Cobb ’04 

Theresa Copeland ’04 

Richard Cree ’09 

Jeff Crook ’05 

Christina M. Davis ’07 

Rachel ’07 and Robert ’07 Davis 

Michael J. Dawson ’09 

Donald DeDitius ’07 

The Depot, Jake Werner 

The Douglas Greene Law Firm, P.C. 

Peggy Dresbach 

Donald Feare ’96 

Wendy Flanigan ’06 

Angela Gaither ’09 

Gardner Aldrich, LLP 

Jessica ’04 and Nathan ’08 Graham 

Mrs. Joe R. Greenhill 

Colby Gunnels ’09 

Douglas Hafer 

Clark Hampe ’07 

Brenda Hard-Wilson ’07 

Harris Cook, LLP 

Kevin G. Herd ’00 

Damon Hickman ’10 

Cathy Hirt 

Michael Huebner ’10 

Neil Irwin ’10 

Barbara and Mark Janicki ’94 

Johnson, Vaughn & Heiskell 

Chris Knox ’08 

Law Office of Amar S. Dhillon ’98 

Law Office of Harmony M. Schuerman ’07 

Law Office of Luis R. DeLuna ’97, PLLC 

Law Office of Nancy A. Gordon ’04, P.C. 

Law Office of Nikki L. Chriesman ’09 

Law Office of Steven K. Hayes 

Christine Lindsey ’03 

Scott Lindsey ’02 

Rebecca Locke ’04 

Lockheed Martin Gift Program, 

The Scholarship Foundation 

Denise and Frank McDonald 

Regan McDonald 

Menes Law Firm 

47 

J.D. Milks ’07 

Amy ’04 and Jason ’00 Mills 

Ann Mirabito and Frank Snyder 

Mike Moan ’08 

Ed Moore ’04 

Morgan Stanley 

John F. Murphy 

Forest Naylor ’01 

Rita O’Donald Noel 

Renea Overstreet ’08, 

in memory of Matthew Dunn 

Christopher Parham ’05 


David Patton ’98 

Matthew S. Pellegrino 

Mary Margaret “Meg” Penrose 

Huyen T. Pham 

Pie 5 Restaurants Inc. 

John Pierce ’98 

Tanya Pierce 

Pope, Hardwicke, Christie, Schell, 

Kelly & Ray, LLP 

Lantis Roberts ’09 

Christina Rodriguez 

Karon Rowden ’01, in memory of 

Jim Bearden ’01 

Amy Schroer 

Gail Scott ’03 

Robert J. Scott 

Katy Sheppard ’09 

Sherry Shipman ’99 

Aric Short 

Justin Sisemore ’06 

Sisemore, Childress & Associates 

Brian Smith ’11 

Neil L. Sobol 

Katey Powell Stimek ’07 

Storm Master, Inc. 

The Honorable Ralph Swearingin, Jr. ’93 

Tarrant County Bar Association 

Carlson B. Thompson 

Dennis V. Thompson, Trial Lab, LLC 

Sandy R. Tomlinson 

Barbara Tsirigotis 

Justin H. Vaughan ’07 

Lillian Velez 

Stephen Viña ’02 

Vural Law Firm, PLLC 

William D. Wallace 

Jackie Lynn Edwards Ward ’03 

Lisa Waters ’11 

Wilson, Robertson & Cornelius, P.C. 

Sherry Zimmerman-Bittle

Bronze Donors 

$99 AND BELOW 

Jomana Abouekde 

Katharine Adams ’10 

The Honorable Rodney Adams ’94 

Stuart Adrian 

Doug Akins 

Linda Aleckner ’10 

Amanda Altom ’09 

Rick Avery 

Roxanne Ballard ’94 

Brian Barnard 

Rehji Barrett ’07 

Amy Batheja 

Todd Baughman ’07 

Allison Bedore ’10 

Cheyenne Robertson Bell ’06 

Tom Bellows 

Theresa Berend ’04 

Kristina Berry ’07 

Janis Betts 

Sonya J. Bible ’06 

The Honorable Wade Birdwell 

Adam Blythe ’07 

Christopher Bowlin ’10 

Martin Boyd ’03 

Neal Bridges ’05 

Landon Brim 

Joshua Brinkley ’08 

Dan Brothers 

Bryan Brown 

Joe Brown 

Montel D. Brown 

Cassie Bruner 

Kyle Bryan 

Lynnda Caballero ’99 

Barrett Campbell ’10 

Megan M. Carpenter 

Justin R. Cary 

John H. Cayce, Jr. 

Ryan Clay ’12 

David Clem ’05 

Candace Collins ’02 

Nicki Vance Compary ’10 

Tom Corbin ’97 

Janeth Cornelious ’04 

Elizabeth Cortright ’09 

Cynthia Dashiell ’03 

Stephanie Davis ’01 

Andrew Decker 

Margaret Demers 

David Dodson 

Pamela Donnelly ’97 

Brad Dowell 

Angela Adkins Downes ’98 

Bentley Durant ’08 

Deborah Edmunds ’05 

Julie Edwards 


Kirsten Evans and Peter Briggs 

Justen Farley 

Trent Farrell ’97 

Rashelle Fetty 

Emily Finbow 

Jeffry Foust ’02 

Elisa Fox ’08 


Deni Garcia ’00 

Ian Ghrist 

Matthew Giadrosich ’10 

Kimberly Gilkinson ’09 

Atticus Gill ’04 

Stephanie Gilmore ’06 

Timothy Gilpin ’02 

Dr. Gerald N. Glickman ’94 

Julie Glover ’09 

Damian Gomez ’10 

Joe A. Gonzalez ’06 

Lucila Green 

Ann and Bill Greenhill 

Rebecca A. Greenman 

Rachel Hale ’11 

Gloria Hallan 

Vana Hammond-Powell ’10 

Frank Harber 

Ryan Harris 

Caroline Harrison ’04 

Terri Helge 

The Honorable Jerome Hennigan 

Dora Herran ’09 

Corey Herrick ’07 

Cody Hixon 

Amy Hochberger ’09 

Fred Howey ’09 

Tammy Hubbard 

Austin Jarvis ’10 

Sharon Jefferson 

Lora Johnson 

Sha’Branddon Johnson ’10 

Matthew Jones ’10 

Nick Karanges 

Geoffrey Keller ’04 

Cody R. Kerr 

Becky Key 

Tom Kidd 

Brian Kirkpatrick ’09 

Blayne A. Knapp 

Ronald Kovach ’06 

Amy Kubes, in memory of Jeff Kubes ’03 

Michael Kurmes ’94 

Katie Lackey ’05 

Jacob LaCombe ’09 

Maria Lamas ’10 

Chad Lampe ’07 

Wendy Law ’03 

The Law Office of Cliff Williams, PLLC, 

Bobby Williams ’10 

Law Offices of Loren C. Green, P.C. 

Law Office of Tony C. Lin ’11, PLLC 

Courtney ’11 and Jeff ’11 Leaverton 

Mary-Margaret Spikes Lemons ’07 

Glenn O. Lewis 

Katie Lewis ’05 

Ralph Lillard 

Diondra Lindquist 

Camesha Little 

David E. Littman 

Chanda Long 

Paul Lopez ’10 

Roddy Ann Lopez ’10 

Lisa Lovett ’04 

Ruel Macaraeg ’10 

Katie Manchaca ’07 

Michael Maxvill ’08 

Larisa Maxwell 

Gavin McBryde ’07 

Tom McKenzie ’94 

Robyn McWilliams ’07 

Justice William C. Meier 

Allen Mihecoby 

Larry Mike ’11 

Donnie Miller ’09 

Marta Miller ’06 

Lisa Newton Millman ’05 

Maria Moman ’06 

Caleb Moore ’08 

The Honorable Lin Morrisett ’94 

Timothy M. Mulvaney 

Amanda Murphy ’05 

Shivani Naicker ’10 

Neal F. Newman 

Vickie Newman 

Katherine Nguyen ’10 

Ronnie Nordlin 

Cristina Noriega 

James Nuttall ’05 

Dave Olivas ’12 

Casey O’Neill 

Heather Ozuna ’11 

Perry Pack ’08 

RJ Pack 

Benjamin Palatiere ’08 

Mary Panzu 

Rick Park 

Letetia ’10 and David ’10 Patin 

Stephen M. Pezanosky 

The Honorable Don Pierson 

John Podvin 

Krista Potter ’05 

The Honorable Beth Poulos 

Cheryl Rauscher ’01 

Lenora Mathis Reece ’11 

Ashleigh Renfro 

Justice Martin E. Richter 


Alberto Rincones ’95 

Roxanna M. Robertson ’10 

48 

Patrick H. Rose IV ’11 

Pete Rowe ’09 

Martin Rueda ’09 

The Honorable Wayne Salvant 

Jessica Sangsvang ’08 

Roman Sarabia ’10 

Amanda Sarp ’10 

Tracey Schlake ’07 

Matthew Schoenberger ’10 

Jac Schuster ’08 

Kevin Schutte 

The Honorable Al Scoggins 

Rik Sehgal ’07 

Arti Sharma ’10 

Doug Shaw 

Kati Shelton ’12 

Sarah Sherman 

Cristina Silva 

The Honorable Michael Sinha 

Elizabeth Smith ’06 

Kent Smith 

Lisa Smith 

Ruth Smith 

Faith Sorenson ’11 

Quentin Spitzer ’06 

William Stevens ’08 

Joan Stringfellow 

Karin Strohbeck 

Jennifer Suarez 

Cara Sulsar 

Aubry Talkington 

Etan Tepperman 

Christopher Terry ’11 

Justin Tervooren ’08 

Bryan Thomas 

Casey Thompson ’00 

Dwight Thompson ’94 

Doug Thurman 

Ebony Todd ’11 

Mireya Torres ’11 

Traci D. Wilkinson ’00, P.C. 

Nick Tsumpis 

Rajan Vasani ’10 

Gavin Wallace 

Gina Warren 

Bob Washington 

Michael A. Webb 

Laurie Weir 

Sherry L. Whiteman 

Sharon Wilkins ’05 

Lindsay Williams ’10 

Sam Williams ’01 

E. James Willrich ’94 

Elisse Woelfel ’06 

Darren Wolf ’09 

Christina Wood ’01 

Wordyisms, Inc. 

Geri Wyatt ’10 

Jenna Zebrowski

ALUMNI 

1997 

Byron K. Henry was elected president 

of the Collin County Bar Association for 

2012-2013. 

1998 

Gloria Abanaka is pleased to 

announce the marriage of her son to 

Courtney Scipio. The couple was married 

on March 31, 2012, in San Antonio. Both 

are employed by Bexar County. 

1999 

Darrell Calvin has opened his own 

firm, The Calvin Law Firm, PLLC, 

located in Dallas. 

Regine Zimmer Gordon and her 

husband of 31 years, Jeffrey S. Gordon, 

of Tampa, Fla., sadly announce the 

death of their beautiful daughter, 

Regine “Marie” Gordon, age 25. Marie 

is survived by her parents, and two 

brothers, Scott, 28, and David, age 9. 

Marie was a 2008 graduate of Duke 

University and director of marketing for 

ExcelaCom, Inc. Marie owned her own 

home in Tampa near her parents and 

was an avid marathon runner with a 

time of 3:23 in the 2011 Marine Corps 

Marathon. Regine and Jeff ask for your 

prayers. Regine has a small general law 

practice and Jeff is CEO of Syniverse 

Technologies, Inc. 

2001 

news & notes 

Nicole Collier was elected to 

represent Texas House District 95 in the 

November general election. District 95 

includes downtown Fort Worth, Forest 

Hill, Everman and Edgecliff Village. 

2003 

Jackie Edwards Ward was sworn 

into the State Bar of North Dakota on 

May 16, 2012. Jackie is an associate at 

the Vural Law Firm, PLLC, concentrating 

her practice in oil and gas title and real 

estate law. 

After winning the May 29 primary, 

Paige Williams ran unopposed in the 

November general election for the 97 th 

District general attorney. She will take 

office Jan. 1, 2013. 

2004 

Caroline Akers Peterson recently 

opened her own practice focusing on 

estate planning and probate. She is also 

pursuing a Master of Laws in estate 

planning and elder law. 

On Aug. 6, 2012, Lee Ann Rimer was 

hired as the police legal advisor for the 

Odessa Police Department. 

2005 

After winning the May 29 primary, 

Lori Kaspar ran unopposed in the 

November general election for Hood 

County attorney. She will take office 

Jan. 1, 2013. 

49 

Brooke Ulrickson 

Allen, an attorney with 

Brown, Dean, Wiseman, 

Proctor, Hart & Howell, 

LLP, received the 

President’s Award from 

the Texas Young Lawyers Association 

on Friday, June 15, 2012, at the TYLA 

annual meeting. The President’s Award 

is given at the discretion of the TYLA’s 

president based on outstanding service 

to TYLA by its directors, committee 

chairs, committee members, or 

other individuals that play a vital role 

in furthering the objectives of the 

association. Brooke was recognized by 

TYLA President Natalie Cobb Kohler for 

her outstanding work in coordinating 

and launching The Unconscious Truth: 

the Legal and Physical Effects of 

Underage Binge Drinking, a multimedia 

project created to educate students 

and parents on the signs of alcohol 

poisoning and the legal and physical 

consequences associated with 

binge drinking. When presenting the 

award, Kohler stated, “Brooke is an 

authoritative and organized leader” 

and said Brooke was an easy choice 

to lead this project. Kohler continued 

by recognizing Brooke’s contributions 

as an editor of TYLA’s eNews, student 

presentations of R U Safe? and her 

work with TYLA’s local affiliate, the 

Fort Worth-Tarrant County Young 

Lawyers Association. In addition, Kohler 

commented on Brooke’s commitment to 

her clients in a busy litigation practice. 

She focuses her practice on general 

litigation in state and federal courts. Her 

experience includes insurance defense 

and subrogation, personal injury liability, 

business and commercial litigation, and 

construction law.

alumni 

news & notes 

2006 

Audrey Moorehead was appointed 

to the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyer’s 

Project Committee. She was also 

appointed to the Dallas County Child 

Welfare board by the Dallas County 

Commissioner’s Court. Audrey was 

excited to be elected by the board of 

the State Bar of Texas to serve as cochair 

for the Council of Chairs for the 

2011-2013 bar year. 

Casey Dyer Oliver was named to the 

Fort Worth Business Press’ 40 under 40 

list, which honors young professionals 

who are “striving to make Fort Worth a 

better place to live, work or play.” 

Connie Pyatt-Dryden has been 

selected as the managing assistant 

attorney general of the Arlington Field 

Office, the second largest in Region 9. 

Connie began her employment on July 

16, 2012. Her office encompasses 37 

employees and covers cases in Tarrant 

and Johnson counties. 

2008 

Sharesa Alexander played a part in 

this year’s ABA national campaign. The 

campaign’s focus for this year was on 

voting. The American Voter program 

launched in August 2012, and Sharesa 

recruited Texas Wesleyan School of Law 

Professor Megan Penrose and former 

Interim Dean Cynthia Fountaine to 

participate. They each were instrumental 

in filming educational videos focused 

on voting history. She is also working 

with the Texas Young Lawyers 

Association’s national campaign. This 

year the campaign is focused on Human 

Trafficking Awareness and is producing 

an informational video and pamphlets 

called “Slavery Out of the Shadows: 

Spotlight on Human Trafficking.” 

Chip Cannon has 

accepted a position 

as corporate counsel 

at NORMA Group with 

responsibility for legal 

affairs in the Americas. 

NORMA Group is a 

global market and technology leader 

in engineered joining technologies, 

headquartered in Maintal, Germany, 

and publically traded on Deutsche 

Börse’s XETRA. Chip will be located 

at the Americas regional offices in 

Auburn Hills, Mich. 

Emily Moak was recently promoted 

to executive regional director of Kaplan 

Bar Review. 

2009 

Keith F. Houston recently accepted 

a position as assistant criminal district 

attorney at the Randall County criminal 

district attorney’s office in Canyon, 

Texas. He was previously employed with 

the Potter County attorney’s office in 

Amarillo, Texas. 

2010 

Amber Altemose has been elected 

to her third term as a member of the 

board of directors for the Tarrant County 

Young Lawyers Association. She has 

also been elected as chair-elect of the 

Tarrant County Bar Association’s Peer 

Assistance Committee and selected as 

an associate of the Mahon Inn of Court 

for the 2012-2014 term. 

2011 

Courtney Richards Leaverton is now 

the assistant development director-annual 

giving at UNT Health Science Center. 

50 

Lexie Whiteley 

recently joined 

the Austin office of 

Shannon, Gracey, 

Ratliff & Miller, LLP, 

as an attorney in the 

Litigation Section and 

Real Estate Group. Before passing the 

bar, Lexie worked as a law clerk at the 

firm, participating in civil litigation 

proceedings including depositions, two 

jury trials, and a deposition; conducting 

research on legal topics regarding 

litigation and corporate issues; drafting 

pleadings, discovery and settlement 

documents; and preparing documents 

utilized in depositions, pretrial 

hearings, mediations and trial. She 

also has experience preparing natural 

gas leases and assembling title work 

for legal review.. 

In Memoriam 

The Texas Wesleyan School 

of Law community expresses 

deepest sympathy to the family, 

friends and classmates 

of our alumni who have 

recently passed away. 

John Lewis Stripling, Jr. ’94 

Alex Zocchi ’94 

Elizabeth Babcock ’01 

Janet A. Lane ’03 

These are the obituary notices that 

the Office of Alumni Relations was 

made aware of. 

Please send obituary notices to 

Regan McDonald 



Fort Worth, Texas 76102 or via email 

to rlmcdonald@law.txwes.edu.

Current employment: Tarrant County district attorney’s office, 

prosecutor/U.S. Army Reserves, JAG officer 

Practice areas: Assistant criminal district attorney, criminal 

law/Army, operational law 

Education: B. A. in political science from University of Texas at 

Arlington, J.D. from Texas Wesleyan School of Law 

Community activities: Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.; Tarrant 

County Bar Association; L. Clifford Davis Legal Association 

What is your favorite memory of 

Texas Wesleyan School of Law? 

During my 2L year, I had the chance to compete in the Black 

Law Students Association Frederick Douglass Moot Court 

Competition. My partner and I put in a lot of work during the 

semester preparing for the various stages of the competition 

and subjected ourselves to various coaching techniques 

from a few professors who were very demanding (Professor 

Rambo). Well, the hard work paid off as we placed first at the 

regional competition that was held in San Antonio and later 

advanced to the finals in Washington, D.C. We didn’t win, but 

overall our showing brought some good exposure to the Texas 

Wesleyan program. 

Why do you give to Texas Wesleyan 

School of Law? 

Donor Spotlight: 

Samuel G. Williams ’01 

After entering the legal profession, it became evident that 

people at first appearance judged you from your degree. I am 

grateful for the education that I received from Texas Wesleyan 

and wanted to lend support to make it an even better school 

for future students. 

What do you like best about being a lawyer? 

Attorneys are one of the most respected professions in the 

world. Although there are jokes about lawyers and people 

associated with the legal profession, we provide a crucial 

service to assist people in all phases of their lives. 

51 

alumni 

news & notes DONOR SPOTLIGHT 

What makes Texas Wesleyan law school 

stand out from other legal educational 

institutions? 

As a student that worked my way through law school, the parttime 

program allowed me to continue my employment while 

still achieving my goal to become an attorney. The fact that 

Texas Wesleyan School of Law puts an emphasis on the parttime 

program makes it invaluable to the DFW community. 

Who is your favorite professor or 

mentor and why? 

There were several that I really liked, but Dean Frank Elliott 

was probably the one that I admired the most. I worked as 

a police officer while I was attending law school and had 

pretty much decided that I eventually wanted to become a 

prosecutor. Because criminal law was my primary interest, I 

concentrated most of my electives on classes to prepare me 

for the criminal justice field, and Dean Elliott taught a lot of 

those classes so I gravitated toward him. The fact that he also 

was a judge advocate general was also beneficial in giving me 

insight into my future assignments as a military JAG officer. 

Tell us a fun/random fact about yourself. 

I have been in the military for more than 20 years and have 

been deployed to both Iraq and Afghanistan as a JAG officer. 

During my tour in Iraq, I was awarded the Bronze Star for 

my service as a trial defense counsel representing soldiers 

charged with various crimes while deployed in support of 

Operation Iraqi Freedom.

CAREER 

Texas Student Loan Repayment 

Assistance program 

The focus of this article is to offer a brief overview and provide general 

information about the Texas Student Loan Repayment Assistance 

Program (SLRAP). 

In 2003, the Texas Access to Justice Commission (TATJC) created the 

SLRAP to “encourage and enable recent law school graduates to work for 

Texas legal aid organizations and assist legal aid programs in retaining 

experienced attorneys.” i The SLRAP is currently funded by the State Bar of 

Texas (SBOT) and is administered by the Texas Access to Justice Foundation 

(TAJF). The program is structured as a loan that may be forgiven in the 

future, rather than a grant. 

ELIGIBILITY 

Attorneys are eligible for loan repayment assistance if they work full-time for 

any Texas program that is: 

1. A recipient of TAJF funds, 

2. A recipient of Legal Services Corporation funds, or 

3. A Texas nonprofit that provides civil legal services if at least 50 percent 

of the services provided are free to Texans whose income is 200 percent 

of federal poverty guidelines or less. 

Applicants must meet the following eligibility requirements: 

1. Submit the application form and supporting materials as requested 

by the TAJF. 

2. Individuals who are eligible for loan repayment funds from other sources 

must apply to those programs for assistance. All sources are payors of 

first resort other than employers and law schools participating in TAJF’s 

SLRAP matching program. 

3. Applicants must document full-time employment with an eligible 

organization. Full-time is defined as 35 hours or more per week. 

4. Applicant must be a graduate of an ABA-accredited law school within 

the last 10 years and must have graduated by the time of his or her first 

SLRAP loan payment. 

5. Applicants must be: 

a. Licensed to practice law in Texas and be a member in good standing 

of the SBOT prior to receiving his or her first SLRAP loan payment and 

at all times during the SLRAP payment period, or 

b. Licensed to practice law in a state or territory of the United States, be 

in good standing in the jurisdiction where licensed, and be employed 

as an immigration attorney by a TAJF-funded immigration legal 

services program in Texas prior to receiving his or her first SLRAP 

loan payment and at all times during the SLRAP payment period. 

i. If a recipient qualifies for the SLRAP under 5(b), and during 

the loan period becomes licensed to practice law in Texas, 

and subsequently changes employment to a qualifying nonimmigration 

program, the recipient will be presumed to have 

qualified for the SLRAP under 5(a). 

6. An applicant’s household income will be considered in relation to the total 

amount of the applicant’s student loan debt incurred. 

services 

52 

EduCATIonAL dEBT 

An applicant’s undergraduate and law school debt, and debt incurred in 

joint degree programs where one degree is a juris doctor, may be covered 

under the program. All institutional loans used for educational expenses 

may be covered. Loans from family and other private sources are not 

eligible. An applicant who is in default, forbearance, and/or deferment on 

a loan is eligible to apply but must remedy the default and/or remove the 

forbearance and/or deferment prior to receiving any SLRAP payment. 

InComE CALCuLATIon & RAnk oRdER oF nEEd 

All resources available to applicants, including applicant’s income and 

spouse/domestic partner earnings, will be included in the calculation of 

SLRAP income. Candidates will be rank ordered from highest need to lowest 

need based on the calculated student debt-to-income ratio. 

TAxABILITY 

The Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 ii permitted qualified organizations to 

develop loan repayment programs so that loan forgiveness based on public 

service employment is not considered taxable income to the recipient in 

certain circumstances. iii Under 26 USC 108(f), as amended by the Taxpayer 

Relief Act of 1997, student loans canceled after Aug. 5, 1997, in exchange 

for public service employment generally do not cause the borrower to have 

taxable income provided that certain requirements are met. iv 

AppLICATIon pRoCEduRES 

Applicants must submit the following: 

1. A completed application 

2. Employment Certification Form(s) 

3. Lender Certification Form(s) 

4. Law School Certification Form 

5. Resumé 

6. Tax return from the year prior to the current year 

7. A signed copy of the SLRAP Guidelines 

For complete eligibility information and to apply online, please visit 

http://grants.tajf.org. The midyear application deadline for SLRAP support 

between December and May is generally in October. The regular application 

process for a full year of SLRAP support opens in March of each year. 

Arturo Errisuriz, Acting Assistant Dean of Admissions, 

Scholarships & Career Services 

aerrisuriz@law.txwes.edu 

i. Texas Student Loan Repayment Assistance Program, Program Guidelines at http://www.texasbar. 

com/Content/NavigationMenu/LawyersGivingBack/StudentLoanRepayment/SLRAP-Guidelines.pdf. 

ii. Pub. L. 105-34 (1997). 

iii. 26 U.S.C. 108 (f). 

iv. Id. 

Texas Wesleyan School of Law Office of Career Services 

1515 Commerce Street | Fort Worth, Texas 76102 

817-212-4050 | 817-212-4059 fax | www.law.txwes.edu

Save the Date! 

Join your fellow alumni and friends at 

2013 Alumni Weekend 

April 19 

The Greenhill 

Sky Creek Ranch Golf Club 

April 20 

Community Crawfish 

& Shrimp Boil 

Law School Parking Lot 

Visit lawalumni.txwes.edu 

for sponsorship opportunities 

starting at $250!

Texas Wesleyan University 

SChOOL OF LAW 

1515 Commerce St. | Fort Worth, Texas 76102 

2012-2013 commemorative coin can be 

yours with a gift of $100 or more. 

Your gift to the 

Annual Fund supports: 

Nonprofit Org. 

US Postage 

PAID 

Fort Worth, Texas 

Permit No. 3310 

Wesleyan Law School Annual Fund… 

be a part of the tradition. 

• Student Scholarships 

• Faculty Development 

• Community Outreach Initiatives 

• Alumni Activities and Resources 

Make your gift today! 

lawalumni.txwes.edu/giving

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