2014 ANNUAL REPORT
UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON LAW CENTER 1
2 CENTER FOR U.S. AND MEXICAN LAW 2014 ANNUAL REPORT
ANNUAL REPORT TO
THE ADVISORY BOARD
2014
Tuesday, January 13 , 2015
8:00 A.M.
Restaurante Matisse Polanco, Mexico City
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
5:30 P.M.
Offices of Locke Lord LLP, Chase Tower, 28th floor, Houston, Texas
Cover image: Joel Salcido (Austin, TX) Atotonilco El Alto, 2012/2013,
From the series Aliento A Tequila. Inkjet print. Courtesy of the artist.
UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON LAW CENTER 3
The Center for U.S. and Mexican Law thanks
the following companies and firms for their support
UNDERWRITERS
The Buzbee Law Firm
Baker Hughes
Weatherford International
SPONSORS
Andrews Kurth
Baker Botts
Chadbourne Parke
Entra Consulting
Gardere Wynne Sewell
Goodrich Riquelme
Haynes & Boone
Holland & Knight
Locke Lord
López Velarde, Heftye y Soria
Mayer Brown
McGinnis, Lochridge & Kilgore
Norton Rose Fulbright
Sidley Austin
Vinson & Elkins
4 CENTER FOR U.S. AND MEXICAN LAW 2014 ANNUAL REPORT
TABLE OF CONTENTS
DIRECTOR'S REPORT
Stephen Zamora, Executive Director
CENTER PROJECTS:
NEW INITIATIVES
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Regulation of Hydrocarbons: An Advanced Training Course for Mexican Professionals
The Rule of Law and Mexico’s Energy Reform
Texas OneGulf Consortium
LONG TERM RESEARCH PROJECTS
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Gulf of Mexico Project
Cross-Border Legal Services Project
STUDENT PROGRAMS
MÉXICO BRIEFINGS AND OTHER ACTIVITIES
VISITING SCHOLARS
CENTER APPOINTMENTS
CENTER LEADERSHIP
BECOMING A CENTER SPONSOR OR UNDERWRITER
UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON LAW CENTER 5
6 CENTER FOR U.S. AND MEXICAN LAW 2014 ANNUAL REPORT
DIRECTOR'S REPORT
To the Underwriters, Sponsors, Advisors, Collaborating Scholars, and
Friends of the Center for U.S. and Mexican Law
The Center for U.S. and Mexican Law, launched in 2012, is in the midst of its
third full academic year. This 2014 Annual Report details our activities during the past
calendar year, as well as the challenges and opportunities we encounter in fulfilling our
mission to contribute to U.S. - Mexico understanding. As the only research center in the
United States devoted to the general study of Mexican law and to legal aspects of U.S. Mexico relations, we continue to engage outstanding lawyers, legal scholars, and other
professionals in Mexico and the United States to focus attention on key issues that affect
Mexican society and U.S. - Mexico relations.
The Center’s multi-year research projects - Transboundary Hydrocarbon Resources in the Gulf of Mexico
(GOM), and Cross-Border Legal Services (CBLS) - continue to be our most important, and most challenging, activities.
The GOM project is nearing completion of its Phase One report, to be distributed in the Spring for wide comment; CBLS
continues under a new structure for research that will draw from a new group of Mexican and U.S. advisers, who will add
expertise and depth to the project.
Important new initiatives of the Center highlight the collaboration with institutions in Mexico and the United States
that is a hallmark of the Center’s modus operandi. As noted below, we have launched an important new feature, by working
with faculty at Mexico City’s ITAM University to provide training programs for Mexican professionals in need of
developing the expertise in oil and gas law that will be needed to administer Mexico’s new energy reform. In addition, the
Center has joined with the Mexico Center of Rice University’s Baker Institute to commission a study of the challenges that
Mexican energy reforms will pose for continued development of the rule of law in Mexico. The study, to be conducted by
prominent Mexican experts in law, economics, political science and related fields, will be distributed in the summer of 2015. The
Center has also joined the Texas OneGulf Consortium, a federally funded research program led by the Harte Research Institute of
Texas A & M (Corpus Christi) to promote environmental sustainability of the Gulf of Mexico.
University of Houston law students participate prominently in the Center’s programs. Both JD and LLM candidates serve as research assistants for the Center’s research projects. In addition, the Center for U.S. and Mexican Law continues a program that places University of Houston law students as summer legal externs in key Mexican agencies in
Mexico City. In 2014, nine UH law students served as legal externs, at the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs; at the
headquarters of Pemex, the government-owned oil company; and at the National Hydrocarbons Commission, which regulates
upstream oil and gas development in Mexico. We will continue to seek ways to involve students in the Center’s programs that
build bridges between Mexico and the United States.
We continue to be grateful to all those persons and institutions that have lent support to our efforts to improve U.S. Mexico understanding. While the University of Houston provides limited administrative support, the Center’s activities depend
on the generosity of our sponsors and donors.
We are particularly grateful to the P-21 Foundation, established by Joe Ryan and Yolanda Villarreal Ryan, to support
the CBLS Project. We have welcomed new Sponsors in 2014, and we will continue to solicit new sources of funding to build
on the Center’s valuable work.
Stephen Zamora
University of Houston Law Center
Executive Director, Center for U.S. and Mexican Law
Director, North American Consortium on Legal Education (NACLE)
szamora@uh.edu
UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON LAW CENTER 7
NEW INITIATIVES
ADVANCED TRAINING COURSES IN ENERGY LAW FOR MEXICAN PROFESSIONALS
Mexico’s momentous energy reforms have stirred the oil and gas
industry in the U.S. and elsewhere, creating great interest and excitement in
lucrative opportunities for foreign investment. Overlooked is the need of
educating and training Mexican attorneys and other professionals to administer
the new system. The Center for U.S. and Mexican Law, based in the energy
capital of the world and having at its disposal leading experts in energy law
and energy regulation, has partnered with ITAM’s Center for Energy and
Natural Resources (Centro de Energia y Recursos Naturales) and with the University of Houston’s Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Center
(EENR) to begin offering training courses for Mexican professionals in private
and public sectors pursuing a better understanding of the oil and gas industry,
petroleum economics, the energy reform in Mexico, and key subjects of
regulation. The first such course, Regulation of Hydrocarbons: An
Advanced Training Course for Mexican Professionals, was held in
November 2014 at the Mexico City campus of ITAM University, and was
organized by Dr. Josefina Cortés Campos and Paolo Salerno, professors of law
from ITAM; Jacqueline Weaver, director of EENR; and Stephen Zamora,
director of the Center for U.S. and Mexican Law. Faculty included professionals from Wood Mackenzie, a respected advisor in the energy industry,
professors from ITAM’s Center for Energy and Natural Resources, and
visiting faculty from the University of Houston’s EENR Center. The course,
limited to 31 professionals, included 16 lawyers, 9 engineers, 5 economists,
two political scientists and one legislator. A majority of the participants were
high-level professionals from Pemex, SEMARNAT (Mexico’s environmental
agency), and Mexico’s Antitrust Commission, as well as private sector professionals. Evaluations of this four-week, fifty-hour course - the first such course
of this nature presented in Mexico - were extremely positive.
The course’s four modules were designed to provide professionals the
technical and conceptual elements of economic regulation applied to energy
infrastructure; to examine the technical and economic constraints facing the
hydrocarbons industry; and to analyze the best international practices in the
regulation of hydrocarbons (investment, oil transactions, and contracts). The
training also presented the new constitutional and legal framework of the energy sector in Mexico, with an emphasis on hydrocarbons; formulated a diagnostic status of the regulation of the hydrocarbons sector in Mexico; and provided
an analytical framework applicable to public sector policies.
Participants of the 2014 November/
December Regulation of
Hydrocarbons advanced training
course in Mexico.
We expect this collaboration between the Center and ITAM to be a
first step in a long-term process of binational education and research initiatives
dealing with US-Mexico energy integration.
8 CENTER FOR U.S. AND MEXICAN LAW 2014 ANNUAL REPORT
NEW INITIATIVES (CONTINUED)
THE RULE OF LAW AND MEXICO’S ENERGY REFORM: A COLLABORATION WITH THE BAKER
INSTITUTE’S MEXICO CENTER
Mexico’s legal reforms in the last two decades have been significant, but there is still a broad perception of
the need to bolster respect for the necessity for rule of law in Mexican society. The unprecedented opening of
Mexico’s energy sector to foreign investment in 2014 will create opportunities, but also will present challenges to
Mexico’s adherence to the rule of law in carrying out the reforms.
The Center for U.S. and Mexican Law and the Mexico Center at Rice University's Baker Institute have
convened a group of eminent experts to address the specific challenges that will arise in this dynamic new arena as
Mexico’s public - and private - sector actors being to operate in a new, competitive environment. Subjects to be
addressed include the rule of law and its meaning in Mexican social and political contexts; the importance of rule of
law for foreign investment in energy; Mexico’s legislative reform process and its implications for the future of the
energy industry in Mexico; the structural design of the Mexican energy sector, both for hydrocarbons and electricity;
regulating competition in the energy sector, a previously unchallenged market; transparency and accountability;
security issues and challenges of corruption; investor protection; and other key issues.
Carefully selected experts in each area will address the key issues in each subject, in a series of essays that
will be published in a white paper to be presented at conferences in both Mexico and the United States, beginning early fall 2015. Joining the Center for U.S. and Mexican Law and the Baker Institute’s Mexico Center in this project are
the Baker Institute Center for Energy Studies, the School of Government and Public Transformation of the Instituto
Tecnológico de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM), the Centro de Investigación para el Desarrollo A.C.
(CIDAC), and the Universidad A utónoma de Nuevo León (UANL).
Thunder Horse semi-submersible platform located in the Gulf of Mexico. Courtesy of Andyminicooper, Wikimedia Commons.
UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON LAW CENTER 9
NEW INITIATIVES (CONTINUED)
CENTER JOINS TEXAS ONEGULF CONSORTIUM LEADERSHIP
In April of 2010, the Macondo blowout and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig released oil into the
Gulf of Mexico, which continued unabated for three months, producing the largest oil spill in U.S. history. In
response, in 2012 the U.S. Congress passed the RESTORE Act, creating a trust fund that, among other things,
authorizes the designation of a limited number of “Centers of Excellence” that will be carry out projects designed
to protect the health and sustainability of the Gulf of Mexico. We are pleased to announce that the Center for U.S.
and Mexican Law has joined with eight other Texas academic partners to form the Texas OneGulf Center of
Excellence, which has recently been designated as a Center of Excellence in Texas to administer research funding
under the RESTORE Act. Led by the Harte Research Institute of Texas A&M University System (Corpus Christi),
the Texas OneGulf Center of Excellence will advance research and observing capabilities to help guide restoration
and maintain the health of the Gulf of Mexico and its natural resource-dependent communities.
Texas OneGulf will be physically based at the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies in
Corpus Christi, which will work closely with the Consortium in the designation and implementation of projects.
The Harte Research Institute has broad experience in generating and disseminating knowledge about the Gulf of
Mexico ecosystem and its critical role in the economies of the North American region. The role of the Center for
U.S. and Mexican Law will be to enlist Law Center faculty and students to contribute to the study of legal and
policy issues related to the sustainability of the Gulf of Mexico. Since the Gulf of Mexico is a shared resource, the
Center will also identify and enlist collaboration with Mexican institutions that share the goals of the Consortium.
Texas OneGulf will help Texas leaders address issues as diverse as establishing sound policy for coastal
wind storm insurance; anticipating disease outbreaks in both humans and animals; assuring water for economic
development and the environment; planning for future energy sources; ensuring healthy, sustainable ecosystems,
including food sources; and, responding effectively to both manmade and natural disasters like oil spills and
hurricanes. Texas OneGulf can be the means to serve these needs by harnessing the best of Texas to the rest of the
Gulf and nation through its inimitable multi-disciplinary, science based and solutions driven process.
TEXAS ONEGULF CONSORTIUM LEADERSHIP MEMBERS
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Lead Institution: Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies,
Texas A&M University (Corpus Christi)
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Center for U.S. and Mexican Law at the University of Houston
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Center for Translational Environmental Health Research, Texas A&M
Medical Center
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Geochemical and Environmental Research Group (GERG), Texas A& M
University
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Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing System (GCOOS)
Center for Environmental Toxicology at the University of Texas Medical
Branch
Meadows Center for Water and Environment of Texas State University
Texas A&M University at Galveston
University of Texas Brownsville (Rio Grande Valley)
10 CENTER FOR U.S. AND MEXICAN LAW 2014 ANNUAL REPORT
LONG TERM RESEARCH PROJECTS
In 2012, the Center launched two binational research projects, which are being carried out in phases as multi
-year projects. We are pleased to present a status report on both projects.
GULF OF MEXICO PROJECT: A BINATIONAL STUDY OF U.S. – MEXICO EXPLORATION OF OFFSHORE
TRANSBOUNDARY HYDROCARBONS
We have made significant progress towards completing the first phase of our project on U.S. - Mexico
transboundary resources in the Gulf of Mexico. The objective of the Gulf of Mexico Hydrocarbon Development Project
(GOM Project) is to undertake a comprehensive review of the issues associated with equitable and sustainable development of offshore hydrocarbon resources in the Gulf of Mexico. We are pleased that the project directors are in the final
stages of completing the first phase of this multi-year project, which deals with rights to exploration and production of
oil and gas in the Gulf of Mexico - resources that are significant to the public interests of both Mexico and the United
States. Mexico and the United States have concluded a Transboundary Resources Agreement to deal with basic
boundary issues, but the 2012 Agreement left unsettled the specific rules involving exploitation of oil and gas in the
Gulf. Scientific evidence shows that oil and gas fields span the maritime borders, raising issues about equitable
development between U.S. and Mexican interests. The research paper produced in phase one identifies principles for
exploitation of transboundary resources that are under international and domestic law, and recommends viable solutions to insure that exploitation of the resources will not generate conflict between the two countries, given the existing
differences in regulatory cultures between the two nations. In future phases, this project will explore the potential for
U.S - Mexican coordination of operational, safety and environmental policies for offshore hydrocarbon development.
The draft report of the first phase of the Gulf of Mexico project will be submitted to external experts for
comment, and then will be widely distributed and published. In addition, the Center will sponsor public seminars in
both Mexico and the United States, to discuss the report’s findings, events to disseminate the results of the study that
will promote binational cooperation on offshore hydrocarbon policies, and will recommend the most effective steps
needed to implement the Transboundary Treaty and to improve energy development and environmental protection in
the Gulf of Mexico. A bi-national effort, the GOM Project is led by a U.S. Co-Director, Dr. Richard McLaughlin, and a
Mexican Co-Director, Guillermo J. Garcia Sánchez, each of whom leads a team of researchers.
PROJECT LEADERSHIP
Center for U.S. and Mexican Law’s Gulf of Mexico Hydrocarbon Resources Project co-directors, Dr. Richard McLaughlin,
and Guillermo J. Garcia Sánchez, share their expertise in Mexico and New York.
Dr. Richard McLaughlin
Project Co-Director, U.S.A.
Guillermo J. Garcia Sánchez
Project Co-Director, Mexico
Richard McLaughlin holds the Endowed Chair for Marine Law and Policy at the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of
Mexico Studies at Texas A & M – Corpus Christi. In June, 2014, Dr. McLaughlin was an invited speaker at the Sixth Annual
Celebration of the Day of the Oceans held in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. Dr. McLaughlin’s presentation, entitled “The Future of
Transboundary Hydrocarbon Development in the Gulf of Mexico”, examined the legal and policy implications of deep-water
drilling near the U.S./Mexico maritime boundary area in the Gulf of Mexico and how these activities will likely be affected by
Mexican energy reforms. The event, which included individual presentations and panel discussions by over thirty-five of
Mexico’s leading marine scientists, government officials, and military leaders, was sponsored by the Consorcio de Instituciones
de Investigación Marina del Golfo de Mexico y del Caribe (CIIMAR), a consortium of academic marine institutions in Mexico that
encourages collaborative marine scientific research in the region.
Guillermo J. Garcia Sánchez, who leads the project’s Mexico research, is completing his doctorate in law at Harvard
University. In October, 2014, was an invited panelist at the U.S.-Mexico Chamber of Commerce Energy Reform Conference held
in New York City. Garcia Sánchez participated in the panel discussion entitled “New Regulatory Framework and Business Opportunities in the Mexican Energy Sector,” where he spoke about the Center’s GOM project, commenting on how the Agreement
Concerning Transboundary Hydrocarbon Reservoirs in the Gulf of Mexico, signed by the U.S. and Mexico in February, 2102,
interacts with the newly adopted energy legislation. The event, which included panel discussions by 14 panelists, also discussed
business operations under the new energy regulatory framework as well as investments and financing in energy projects in
Mexico.
UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON LAW CENTER 11
LONG TERM RESEARCH PROJECTS (CONTINUED)
CROSS-BORDER LEGAL SERVICES PROJECT
The Cross Border Legal Services (CBLS) Project, also launched in
2012, represents the first serious attempt to research the ways in which
cross–border legal services are being conducted between U.S. and Mexican
lawyers and their clients, and the problems that arise in the provision of
such services and the governance of lawyers. The CBLS Project is a joint
research initiative of the Center for U.S. and Mexican Law and the Centro
de Estudios Sobre la Enseñanza y el Aprendizaje del Derecho (CEEAD), a
Mexican nonprofit research center dedicated to improving the legal profession and legal education in Mexico. Led by Directors Ignacio Pinto-León,
Assistant Director of the Center for U.S. and Mexican Law, and Luis
Fernando Pérez Hurtado, Director of CEEAD, this project is designed to
analyze the effects of increased social and economic integration between the
From left, Robert Lutz, Professor of Law
at Southwestern Law School in Los
United States and Mexico on the delivery of cross-border legal services
Angeles, and Alejandro Posadas, Senior
between the United States and Mexico. Phase One, an exploratory phase,
Scholar at Centro de Estudios sobre la
Enseñanza y el Aprendizaje del Derecho,
analyzes the status of cross–border legal services (CBLS) between Mexico
A.C. (CEEAD) in Mexico, after meeting
and the United States; defines what constitutes cross-border legal services
with Cross Border Legal Services project
between Mexico and the United States; examines the regulatory framework
directors Ignacio Pinto-León and Amalia
Mena in Houston.
for the practice of law in both countries, including the roles of bar associations and procedures for enforcing professional responsibility; explores the
role of foreign legal consultants in the United States in Mexico; and
canvasses the reach and limitations of the practice of law by attorneys licensed in each country.
The ground-breaking nature of the CBLS Project has posed challenging obstacles during Phase One of the
study. Empirical data and assessments of particular legal practices in both Mexico and the United States are not
readily available, as there is no central agency in either country that collects such information. To confront problems
in the research design, the Center convened a meeting of experts in May, 2014, to review Phase One’s initial rough
draft and to suggest improvements in the design of the project. Dr. Robert Lutz, a distinguished Professor of International Law at Southwestern Law School, met with Dr. Alejandro Posadas, a senior scholar at CEEAD, Dr. Amalia
Mena-Mora, Affiliate Scholar of the Center, and Professor Ignacio Pinto-León. In the Spring of 2015, the Center
will convene a further meeting of experts - including leaders of U.S. and Mexican Bar Associations - to assess the
current status of the Phase One research and to enlist the support of potential collaborating agencies in Mexico and
the United States.
THE P-TWENTY ONE FOUNDATION
The Center for U.S. and Mexican Law has received a second $20,000 grant from the
P-Twenty One Foundation, a Houston-based charitable organization established by Houston
attorneys Joe Ryan and Yolanda Villarreal Ryan '86.
The grant is specifically to support the Center's Cross Border Legal Services research
project examining whether the provision of legal services and the licensing regulations that govern lawyers have kept up with dramatic increases in trade
and social interaction between the United States and Mexico. The Center first received a grant from the P-Twenty One Foundation in December, 2012.
12 CENTER FOR U.S. AND MEXICAN LAW 2014 ANNUAL REPORT
STUDENT PROGRAMS
SUMMER EXTERNSHIPS IN MEXICO
For more than a decade, the University of Houston Law Center (UHLC) has been sending students to
Mexico City to work as summer externs as part of a series of Mutual Cooperation Agreements between the school
and prestigious Mexican institutions. The Center for U.S. and Mexican Law assists students in participating in this
unique program.
During the summer of 2013, eight UH law students
immersed themselves in the Mexican culture and externed
with the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Secretaría de
Relaciones Exteriores or SRE), with Petróleos Mexicanos
(Pemex), and with Mexico’s National Hydrocarbons Commission (Comisión Nacional de Hidrocarburos, or CNH).
In 2014, after Mexico’s Presidential approval of the
secondary laws for the energy reform, our program arranged
for nine students, our largest group to date, to work as legal
externs at the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and at the
Mexico City headquarters of Pemex and CNH.
2013 Summer externs Lauren “Addie” Fisher and Albrecht Riepen in the office of Ambassador Diener, the
Legal Advisor of the Mexican Foreign Ministry. Left to
right, counsellors Carlos Quesnel and Gerardo Guerrero
(LLM 19); Ambassador Diener; Prof. Stephen Zamora;
Addie Fisher and Albrecht Riepen.
UHLC Student Alan Garcia, left, and colleague Sebastian
Martinez at the Pemex refinery in Hidalgo, Mexico.
Katherine Chapman, a second-year JD candidate,
worked under the direct supervision of the Mexican Ministry
of Foreign Affairs’ Deputy Legal Adviser , Car los QuesnelMelendez, and was asked to explore how the Bureau of Ocean
Energy Management (BOEM) and the Bureau of Safety &
Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) approve, sell, appraise
and operate U.S. oil and gas reserves offshore. Chapman’s
extensive research was used to create a presentation for a
meeting between U.S. and Mexican government officials and
the countries’ embassies in preparation of the entering into
force of a revolutionary treaty between Mexico and the U.S.
“I could never have dreamed I’d get to work for a
foreign government and get to experience the kindness,
diligence, professionalism and warmth I was immediately
shown. I was given meaningful work and invited to high-level
meetings. I was trusted, guided and treated like a special
friend,” said Chapman of her experience working at SRE.
Jorge Jasso, also a second-year JD student, spent the summer
of 2014 externing at SRE.
UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON LAW CENTER 13
STUDENT PROGRAMS (CONTINUED)
SUMMER EXTERNSHIPS IN MEXICO
At Pemex, second-year students Alan Garcia and Michael Ventocilla and Foreign LLM student Aura
Figuera worked with Olga A. Zorrilla Ruvalcaba, Counsel of the International Legal Department and herself a
University of Houston law graduate (LLM). Garcia was assigned to research maritime law and other areas of law,
and to write and translate various briefing opinions to assist in the development of the new constitutional
amendments to the Mexican Constitution of Hydrocarbons. Through his placement, Garcia also contributed to
current cases handled by Pemex’s international affairs legal department. Ventocilla was present at Pemex’s
headquarters when the new energy reform in Mexico was being enacted. One of his chief responsibilities was to
prepare presentations for foreign investors seeking to participate in cooperative agreements with Pemex. This
included explaining the implications of the reform and the new practices that would be implemented to ensure
security in investing activities. Garcia and Ventocilla also participated in Pemex’s weekend long office retreat to
Huatusco, Veracruz, where they met with Mexican attorneys and other externs to discuss Mexican energy reforms.
At Mexico’s National Hydrocarbons Commission (CNH), Shanisha Smith, Kyle Doherty, Ariana Guerrero Hamilton, and Ben Wallen were assigned to the legal department, where they worked on projects related to
the historic opening of Mexico’s energy sector to competition and foreign investment. The Center is in the final
stages of signing a Mutual Cooperation Agreement with CNH, as noted below.
FUTURE MUTUAL COOPERATION AGREEMENT WITH MEXICO’S CNH
The Center continues to collaborate with Mexico’s National Hydrocarbons Commission (CNH) to finalize a Mutual
Cooperation Agreement that will provide opportunities for CNH’s staff attorneys and UHLC law students to receive valuable
training.
During the summer of 2014, LLM student Shanisha Smith worked with Legal Advisors to the Commissioners under the
direction of Azhanty Jheman, CNH Deputy Director General for Contracts and Tender. Smith was present at the CNH offices
when the Mexican President announced the approval of the secondary laws for the energy reform, and researched the legal
issues that arose after the secondary legislation was passed. CNH was so impressed with Smith that they have invited to repeat
her externship in 2015.
Kyle Doherty, a second-year law student at UH noted:
“My experience working for the National Hydrocarbon Commission in Mexico City gave me a special insight into an economy
that is on the brink of fundamental changes that go to the heart
of Mexico’s history as a nation, and which have huge
importance to the American economy. Having an Englishspeaking student of American law was valuable to the attorneys
at CNH.
UHL students Katherine Chapman, left, and Kyle Doherty
sightseeing at Mexico’s pyramids during their 2014 placements
in SRE and CNH.
14 CENTER FOR U.S. AND MEXICAN LAW 2014 ANNUAL REPORT
At one point, they asked me to explain the concept of “willful
misconduct” in the context of American contract law. At first I
thought it was a straightforward question, but the more I
delved into it, the more I found that it was actually a thorny
issue with marked differences of opinion from jurisdiction to
jurisdiction. I wrote at modest length about the disagreement
and compared it to the somewhat equivalent Mexican system of
tiered culpability.”
MEXICO BRIEFINGS AND OTHER ACTIVITIES
PROSPECTS FOR U.S. – MEXICO TRADE
Courtesy of the University of Houston Law Center.
The Center continues to provide exclusive opportunities for friends of the Center to meet with
leading experts on Mexican law and on U.S. - Mexico relations, to engage in private discussions of issues
of current importance through its Mexico Briefings speaker series.
On April 21, 2014 the Center for U.S. and Mexican Law and the Mexico Center of Rice
University’s Baker Institute co-hosted a Mexico Briefing presentation featuring Professor David Gantz.
Professor Gantz’s talk, “Prospects for U.S. - Mexico Trade: Will the Proposed Free Trade
Agreements in the Pacific (TPP) and with Europe (TTIP) Enhance or Undermine the NAFTA
Partnership?,” analyzed the tr ade agr eements that the United States, Canada and Mexico ar e negotiating with Pacific Rim countries, and with trading partners in Europe. If adopted, these agreements will
offer opportunities for U.S. and Mexican businesses, but they will also complicate our trade relations under
NAFTA.
The program took place at the law offices of Andrews Kurth LLP, which generously
sponsored this event.
Videos of Prof. Gantz’s lecture, in addition to videos of other Mexico Briefings, are available on
the Center’s website at: http://law.uh.edu/mexican-law/briefings/2014-0421.asp
Professor Stephen Zamora, right, introduces Professor David A. Gantz at the Mexico Briefing.
David A. Gantz is the Samuel M. Fegtly Professor of Law and Director of the International Trade and Business Law Program at the
University of Arizona. A leading expert and prolific author on international trade law, his career spans private practice, government
service, and legal education. He has published seminal texts on regional trade agreements and international trade litigation, and has
served as a government-appointed arbitrator in important international disputes.
UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON LAW CENTER 15
MEXICO BRIEFINGS AND OTHER ACTIVITIES (CONTINUED)
“ALIENTO A TEQUILA” PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITION
Courtesy of the University of Houston Law Center.
As part of Houston’s annual “Cinco de Mayo” festivities, the Center for U.S. and Mexican Law
co-hosted a photographic ode to tequila, the land from which it comes, and the people who harvest the blue
agave plant to make Mexico’s most renowned beverage.
“Tequila is the elixir that faithfully remains the guardian of Mexico's landscape, tradition and
national identity,” photographer Joel Salcido wrote in explaining the exhibit, “Aliento A Tequila” (breath or
spirit of tequila). “It is indeed that ancient lord of fire with a savage smile. In this landscape of blue agave, I
discovered the traditions of culture and religion, both ancient and modern, indigenous and foreign. Still there,
amongst life, is the everyday toil of man, land and sky, unified in purpose to produce a spirit that is only true
to the mythic character of Mexico and its people.”
Professor Stephen Zamora, director of the Center for U.S. and Mexican Law, noted that tequila can
only be produced in Mexico, and can only be made from the blue agave plants grown in the state of Jalisco,
and in limited regions of adjoining Mexican states. “Tequila is a sophisticated drink steeped in a rich cultural
history, and Joel Salcido’s photographs display in vivid color the traditions associated with it. We wanted to
bring this artwork, and these traditions, to the attention of Houston’s devotees of Mexican culture.” The
exhibit, consisting of 39 photos, was on view at the Wells Fargo Plaza the entire month of May, 2014. A
grand opening of the exhibit featured a tequila tasting, compliments of Tequila Don Julio, one of Mexico’s
premier tequila distilleries, and a vocal performance by Mexican baritone Octavio Moreno, a member of the
Houston Grand Opera artists’ studio, and a virtuoso guitarist as well as accomplished opera singer. The
exhibit was co-hosted by the Houston Center for Photography and co-sponsored by Gardere Wynne Sewell
LLP, McDermott Will & Emery LLP, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, and Sidley Austin LLP.
Guests, friends and supporters of the Center for US and Mexican Law and
Houston Center for Photography celebrated the opening of “Aliento a Tequila” on May 1st, 2014. Invited guests, pictured above, review Joel Salcido’s
artwork, which included vivid texts describing the rich culture surrounding
tequila. Photo taken by Carlos Fernandez.
16 CENTER FOR U.S. AND MEXICAN LAW 2014 ANNUAL REPORT
Mayra Isaias, left, conducted a tequila tasting at the opening of the
photo exhibit, “Aliento A Tequila,” with the photographer, Joel
Salcido, and Brisa Gossett, executive assistant of the Center for U.S.
and Mexican Law. Octavio Moreno, an alumnus of the Houston Grand
Opera Studio, performed at the opening reception courtesy of HGO.
VISITING SCHOLARS
The Center attracts visiting scholars from the United States, Mexico and other countries, to
fulfill its role as a center for the exchange of ideas related to Mexican law and U.S. - Mexican relations. In
2014, the Center welcomed the following scholars.
Dr. Josefina Cortés Campos is a pr ofessor of law at Instituto T ecnológico A utónom o de
México (ITAM), in Mexico City. Dr. Cortés’ teaching and research focuses on administrative law,
energy law, and economic regulation and public services; she is Director of the Master of Administrative
Law and Regulation at ITAM. Dr. Cortés has been instrumental in organizing, teaching, and administering
the course Regulation of Hydrocarbons: An Advanced Training Course for Mexican Professionals, launched
at the ITAM campus on November, 2014 (see page 6 of this Report).
Dr. Juan Carlos Marín González is a pr ofessor of pr ocedur al law and civil law at the Instituto
Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM) and a professor of procedural law at the Universidad Adolfo
Ibáñez in Chile. Dr. Marín has served an expert in Chilean civil procedure. Hi research in Mexico focuses in
private law, specifically Torts, where he has published numerous academic articles.
Both Professors Cortés and Marín have taken a year of sabbatical from ITAM and will remain at the
University of Houston Law Center as Visiting Scholars until fall, 2015.
María Guadalupe Gómez Chavarín, a Mexican lawyer and a gr aduate student at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), is an Exchange Visiting Scholar at the University of Houston
Law Center. A former prosecutor in the State of Hidalgo, Mexico, she is pursuing a Master of Laws Degree
at UNAM, and is conducting a comparative study of U.S. and Mexican criminal procedure and the role of the
prosecutor. Professor Sandra Guerra Thompson, a collaborating professor of the University of Houston Law
Center, has been assisting Lic. Gómez Chavarín in her studies, and in connecting with criminal prosecutors in
Houston.
(Top row, from left) Professor Stephen Zamora,
executive director of the Center for U.S. and
Mexican Law, Professor Ignacio Pinto-Léon,
assistant director of the Center, Dr. Juan Carlos
Marín González , (bottom row) María Guadalupe
Gómez Chavarín with Dr. Josefina Cortés
Campos.
UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON LAW CENTER 17
CENTER APPOINTMENTS
AFFILIATE SCHOLARS & COLLABORATING FACULTY
Affiliate Scholars of the Center for U.S. and Mexican Law participate actively in research and
educational projects undertaken by the Center. The inclusion of Affiliate Scholars expands the reach of the
Center’s programs, and also permits a broad range of viewpoints and expertise in guiding the projects and
activities of the Center.
Guillermo J. Garcia Sánchez is a Mexican lawyer with exper tise in inter national law. He
obtained a LL.M. in International Law from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University
in 2011, and is completing a doctorate in Law at Harvard Law School. He has replaced Dr. Miriam
Grunstein as co-director of Phase One of the Center for U.S. and Mexican Law’s Gulf of Mexico Transboundary Resources Project, which explores potential areas of regulatory conflict in the Gulf of Mexico.
Dr. Amalia Mena-Mora is a Resear ch Associate at Galer Law Fir m, PLLC in Houston Texas
and a Lecturer at the University of Houston. Her teaching and research focuses on U.S. and Mexican law
and courts, comparative court analysis, subnational governments, and accountability using quantitative
methodology.
Professor Lydia Tiede, Assistant Pr ofessor of Political Science at the Univer sity of Houston,
and an expert on judicial systems and quantitative analysis has also joined the Center as a member of our
UH Collaborating Faculty.
NORTH AMERICAN CONSORTIUM
ON LEGAL EDUCATION (NACLE)
The Center for U.S. and Mexican Law serves
as the administrative headquarters of the North
American Consortium on Legal Education (NACLE), a
consortium of 13 law schools in Canada, Mexico and the
United States. (See www.nacle.org) This year, NACLE
presented a workshop entitled “Re-Energizing North
America: Pipelines and Policies,” on March 14 and 15,
2014, at the campus of the University of British
Columbia, in Vancouver.
From left to right: Isidro Morales, Veronica Bernal (translator), José Gerardo
Rodolfo Fernández Noroña, Miriam Grunstein, and Jacqueline Weaver at the
NACLE workshop panel discussion entitled, “Integration of the Energy Regulatory Framework in North America in the Context of the Mexican Constitutional
Reform”.
NACLE workshops, held every two years, bring
together Canadian, Mexican and U.S. law professors and law
students in an intensive, two-day dialogue on key North American issues. Through the NACLE Scholar Competition, students from
NACLE member institutions competed to win an opportunity to present their written work at the NACLE workshop. A record number of
12 students, each from a different NACLE member school, were selected as winners of their school to present their paper in
Vancouver.
18 CENTER FOR U.S. AND MEXICAN LAW 2014 ANNUAL REPORT
CENTER LEADERSHIP
MEXICAN ADVISORS
Cecilia Azar
Founding Partner, Paramo y Azar
Abogados, México City
Dr. David Enríquez
Goodrich Riquelme y Asociados and
ITAM law school, México City
Rogelio López Velarde
Founding partner, López Velarde,
Heftye y Soria, México City
Dr. Gabriel Cavazos Villanueva
Associate Dean of the School of
Business, Social Sciences and
Humanities of the Tecnológico de
Monterrey (Campus Monterrey),
Monterrey
Dr. Héctor Fix Fierro
Research Fellow, Instituto de
Investigaciones Jurídicas,
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de
México (UNAM), México City
Cristina Massa
Of Counsel, Gonzalez Calvillo,
México City
Dra. Josefina Cortés
Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de
México (ITAM), México City
Dr. José Ramón Cossío Díaz
Justice of the Mexican Supreme
Court, and Distinguished Jurist in
Residence, University of Houston Law
Center
Ambassador Miguel Ángel González
Félix
Despacho Maney & Gonzalez Félix,
Houston, TX - Mexico City
Alejandro Landa Thierry
Partner, Holland & Knight, México
City
Dr. Luis Fernando Pérez Hurtado
Founding Director, Centro de
Estudios Sobre la Enseñanza y
Aprendizaje de Derecho (CEEAD),
Monterrey
Dr. Luis Rubio
President, Centro de Investigación
para el Desarrollo, Asociación Civil
(CIDAC), México City
Dr. Sergio López Ayllón
Chancellor (Director General) of
México 's Centro de Investigación y
Docencia Economicas (CIDE),
México City
Dr. Diego Valadés
Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas,
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de
México (UNAM), México City
Ricardo Colmenter
Director, Entra Consulting LLC,
Houston
William D. Marsh
General Counsel, Baker Hughes,
Houston
Judge Lee Rosenthal
United States District Court,
Southern District of Texas, Houston
Congressman Henry Cuellar
U.S. House of Representatives
(D -TX, 28th District)
Charles E. Meacham
Partner, Gardere Wynne Sewell,
Houston
Steven Selsberg
Partner, Sidley Austin, Houston
Alberto de la Peña
Partner, Haynes and Boone, Dallas
Judge Margaret McKeown
United States Court of Appeals, 9th
Circuit, San Diego
Arturo Dáger
General Counsel, ProMéxico,
Mexico
U.S. ADVISORS
James A. DeMent, Jr.
Partner, Baker Botts, Houston
David Gantz
Samuel M. Fegtly Professor of Law,
University of Arizona, James E.
Rogers College of Law, Tucson
Lawrence Hanson
LW Hanson and Associates, Houston
Tim Johnson
Partner, Locke Lord LLP, Houston
David Lopez
Partner, Pulman, Cappuccio &
Pullen, San Antonio
Ewell E. Murphy, Jr.
Former partner, Baker Botts;
Distinguished Lecturer, University of
Houston Law Center, Houston
Dallas Parker
Partner, Mayer Brown LLP, Houston
Natalia G. Shehadeh
Interim General Counsel,
Weatherford, Houston
Carlos Soltero
Partner, McGinnis Lochridge &
Kilgore, Austin
Peter K. Taaffe
Of Counsel, The Buzbee Law Firm,
Houston
Judge Josefina Rendón
Assoc. Judge, City of Houston
Municipal Courts
Judge Vaughn Walker
United States District Court
(retired), Northern District of
California, San Francisco
Doris Rodriguez
Partner, Andrews Kurth,
Houston
William Wood
Partner, Norton Rose Fulbright,
Houston
UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON LAW CENTER 19
CENTER LEADERSHIP (CONTINUED)
DIRECTORS
Stephen Zamora
Executive Director,
Center for US and
Mexican Law
University of Houston
Law Center
Ignacio Pinto-Léon
Assistant Director,
Center for US and
Mexican Law
Director, JurisMex Corp.
AFFILIATE SCHOLARS
Dr. José Ramón Cossío
Díaz
Justice of the Mexican
Supreme Court and
Distinguished Jurist in
Residence, University of
Houston Law Center
Guillermo J. Garcia
Sánchez
S.J.D. Candidate,
Harvard Law School
LL.M. in International Law
Dr. Robert E. Lutz
Professor of Law at
Southwestern Law
School in Los Angeles
Dr. Richard McLaughlin
Endowed Chair for Marine
Policy and Law at the Harte
Research Institute for Gulf of
México Studies (HRI) at Texas
A&M University in Corpus
Christi
Dr. Amalia Mena-Mora
Research Associate at
Galer Law Firm, PLLC
in Houston Texas and a
Lecturer at the University of Houston
Dr. Alberto Abad Suárez
Avila
Researcher at Instituto de
Investigaciones
Jurídicas de la
Universidad Nacional
Autónoma de México
(IIJ-UNAM) in Mexico City
20 CENTER FOR U.S. AND MEXICAN LAW 2014 ANNUAL REPORT
LAW FACULTY
Geoffrey A. Hoffman
Clinical Associate
Professor and Faculty
Supervisor of the
University of Houston
Immigration Clinic
Michael Olivas
William B. Bates
Distinguished Chair in Law
Director, Institute for Higher
Education Law and
Governance, University of
Houston Law Center
Sandra Guerra
Thompson
University of Houston
Law Foundation
Professor of Law
Director, Criminal Justice
Institute at the University
of Houston Law Center
Jacqueline L. Weaver
A.A. White Professor of
Law at the University of
Houston Law Center
COLLABORATING FACULTY
Dr. Jerónimo Cortina
Assistant Professor of
Political Science,
University of Houston and
Research Associate,
Center for Public Policy
Dr. Susan Kellogg
Director, Latin American
Studies Program at the
University of Houston
Professor, University of
Houston
Dr. Lydia Brashear Tiede
Associate Professor
Department of Political
Science
University of Houston
UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON LAW CENTER 21
BECOMING A CENTER SPONSOR OR UNDERWRITER
The Center for U.S. and Mexican Law, located at the University of Houston Law Center
(UHLC) - one of the leading urban, public law schools in the country - is the first research center
in any U.S. law school devoted to the independent, critical study of Mexican law and of the legal
aspects of U.S. - Mexico relations.
The Center’s research programs are directed toward increasing the understanding of
Mexican laws and legal institutions in the United States, and understanding of U.S. laws and legal
institutions in Mexico.
Sponsors and Underwriters of the Center not only are investing in the future of legal
education and research at one of the nation’s leading urban law schools, but they are ensuring the
future excellence of the University of Houston Law Center and the legal profession, by helping to
capitalize on Houston’s position as a gateway between the United States and Mexico.
To learn more about how you can support the Center for U.S. and Mexican Law, contact
Executive Director, Stephen Zamora at szamora@uh.edu.
22 CENTER FOR U.S. AND MEXICAN LAW 2014 ANNUAL REPORT
CENTER FOR U.S. AND MEXICAN LAW
University of Houston Law Center
100 Law Center, TU2 Room 201
Houston, Texas 77204-6060
U.S.A.
Main: (713) 743-2126
Email: usmexlaw@uh.edu
www.law.uh.edu/mexican-law
The University of Houston is a Carnegie-designated Tier One public research university and
an EEO/ AA institution.
UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON LAW CENTER 23
WWW.LAW.UH.EDU/MEXICAN-LAW
24 CENTER FOR U.S. AND MEXICAN LAW 2014 ANNUAL REPORT