(Frost Brown Todd, February 2021)

A record number of students from a record number of schools applied for Frost Brown Todd’s (FBT) 10th annual Diversity and Inclusion Scholarships. Of the nearly 100 applications, FBT’s Diversity and Inclusion Scholarship committee selected the six students who best demonstrated academic excellence and a commitment to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion in their communities.

This year’s recipients include students from The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, Texas A&M University School of Law, Texas Southern University Thurgood Marshall School of Law, and Northern Kentucky University Chase School of Law. One recipient was born in Israel and another grew up in Mexico. Recipients also come from Pennsylvania, Alabama, Ohio and Texas. For more information, visit FBT’s Diversity and Inclusion Scholarship.

Terry Bentley Hill ’08 has been selected to receive the Texas Bar Foundation’s 2021 Terry Lee Grantham Memorial Award at the event’s annual awards dinner this summer. The award was endowed through the Texas Bar Foundation in 2014 by Grantham family and friends. 

Texas A&M University became an ORCID member in 2013, as one of the first universities in the US to get involved with ORCID. This blog post is based on a presentation by Aaron Retteen, Digital Services and Repository Librarian at the Texas A&M University School of Law, from an ORCID US Community call on the topic of integrating ORCID into law scholarship workflows, which took place on April 28th, 2020. Notes and slides from the call are available. Many thanks to Aaron for sharing his experience! 

Matt Pellegrino, Facilities Manager, Texas A&M University School of Law (left) and Eric Baze, Security Account Manager, Allied Universal Security Services (right)

Texas A&M Law alumnus Trenton O’Malley joins Maynard’s Cooper & Gale (Maynard) Real Estate & Financial Services Practice in the Birmingham office. He earned his J.D. at Texas A&M University Law School where he graduated magna cum laude, earned Order of the Coif distinction, and served as Articles Editor for the Texas A&M Law Review. Trenton holds a Bachelors in Business Administration with a focus in Finance from The University of Mississippi.

"We are honored to have this distinctive group of talented and intellectual young professionals in our 2020 class of new associates," said Stephanie Mays, Maynard's Chief Talent Officer.

"Each of these lawyers demonstrates the character and personal qualities we seek in building our ranks, and we look forward to working with them and introducing them to our clients."

At its November 12 meeting, the Board of Regents of the Texas A&M University System designated Professor Peter Yu a Regents Professor. This designation is the most prestigious award from the System to highlight exemplary faculty. Professor Yu directs the Center for Law and Intellectual Property and holds a joint appointment at the School of Law and the Department of Communication at Texas A&M University. He became the first professor from the School of Law to receive this systemwide honor.

Texas A&M University School of Law partners with Tarrant County College to host a October 9, 2020 mock trial for nurses and nursing students. Lawyers and law students interested in health law are encouraged to attend.

Texas A&M University alumnus Drew Tipton ’90 was sworn in as a U.S. District Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas on June 26. He is the fifth Aggie appointed to an Article III judgeship.  

“Texas A&M School of Law congratulates Judge Tipton on his nomination and confirmation to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas,” says Dean Bobby Ahdieh of Texas A&M School of Law. "In our constitutional order, Judge Tipton and his peers on the bench stand on the front lines of advancing and preserving the Rule of Law.”

Texas A&M University School of Law mourns the passing of Judge Joe Spurlock II, senior professor of law and director of the Asian Judicial Institute. Judge Spurlock – a colleague, friend and legal legend – became a founding faculty member of the law school when its long-term success was considered wishful thinking by many. By the time he joined the faculty, Judge Spurlock had already spent years in private practice and served as an assistant criminal district attorney, a member of the Texas Legislature, a trial court judge and an appellate justice. 

Texas A&M University School of Law is launching a new blog and associated website www.TradeRxReport.com, which explores questions of access to affordable medicines and health care that arise at the intersection of intellectual property law and international trade. With the increasing impact of the Coronavirus on the global economy and our healthcare systems, the importance of issues around the affordability of pharmaceuticals, access to healthcare and medication and globalization become more apparent each day. The inter-relationship of health, trade and intellectual property has been a “hot topic” since the 1980s, when the World Trade Organization was established and the TRIPS Agreement on intellectual property rights was enacted. The current global pandemic merely underscores the need to find a workable solution to the challenge of ensuring innovation and access to medicines on a global scale – and the value of a forum focused on that topic.