UH Law Center announces new faculty hires, recognitions, and promotions for 2024-2025

HOUSTON, Aug. 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The University of Houston Law Center (UHLC) is introducing seven new faculty members and six faculty promotions and recognitions for the 2024-2025 academic year.

"These distinguished faculty bring a wealth of expertise that will enrich the educational experience for our students and enhance the scholarly prowess and breadth of the overall faculty," said Leonard M. Baynes, Dean, Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen Distinguished Chair and Professor of Law at UHLC. "As UH Law Center prepares for the new academic year, these appointments, promotions, and recognitions reflect the institution's commitment to academic excellence and the professional development of its faculty."

The new doctrinal faculty members joining UHLC are:

• Chinonso Anozie, Assistant Professor of Law, is the Presidential Frontier Faculty in Energy Transition and Climate Change. Before joining the University of Houston, Anozie was an Assistant Professor of Law at Willamette University College of Law and a Visiting Assistant Professor of Law at Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law, Arizona State University. He has published articles in several law reviews including Texas A&M Law Review and the Wisconsin Law Review. He holds a S.J.D. from Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law, an LL.M. with honors from the University of Oklahoma College of Law, and an LL.B. from the University of Nigeria.
  
  
• Leah Fowler, Assistant Professor of Law, explores topics at the intersection of consumer technology and health, focusing primarily on smartphone applications, wearables, and social media platforms. Previously, Fowler was a Research Assistant Professor and Research Director at the Health Law & Policy Institute. During law school, she was managing editor of the Houston Journal of Health Law & Policy. Her scholarship is published or forthcoming in the Georgetown Law Journal, Stanford Law Review, Alabama Law Review, Notre Dame Law Review, American Journal of Law & Medicine, Pediatrics, Journal of Adolescent Health, Health Promotion Practice, and American Journal of Bioethics, among others. She has an M.P.H. from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, a J.D. from the University of Houston Law Center, and a B.S. cum laude from Georgetown University.
  
  
• David Froomkin, Assistant Professor of Law, studies administrative law, constitutional law, separation of powers, legislation, and election law. He previously served as a teaching fellow at Yale University, where he taught courses on democratic theory and constitutional design. His legal scholarship has appeared in Arizona State Law Journal, Utah Law Review, and Yale Journal on Regulation. He is a Ph.D. candidate at Yale University, where he also earned his J.D. and M.A. and M.Phil. degrees. Froomkin graduated cum laude with a B.A. from Columbia University.
  
  
• Andrew Lanham, Assistant Professor of Law, is a legal historian who studies how social protest movements have reshaped civil rights and civil liberties law in the United States. Before joining the University of Houston Law Center, Andrew was a Climenko Fellow and Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School and the Robert and Jane Beach Interdisciplinary Fellow in Law at the University of Iowa College of Law. His academic articles and book reviews have appeared or are forthcoming in the American Journal of Legal History, the Michigan Law Review, the U.C. Irvine Law Review, the Washington Law Review, the Michigan Journal of Law & Society, and Notes & Queries. He is a Ph.D. candidate at Yale University, holds an M.St. and M.Litt. from the University of Oxford, an M.A. and M.Phil. from Yale University, a J.D. magna cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School, and a B.A. summa cum laude from Haverford College.
  
  
• Chris Mirasola, Assistant Professor of Law, Chris Mirasola focuses on emerging questions of national security and international law. Mirasola's background includes work as a Department of Defense attorney and as a Climenko Fellow at Harvard Law School. Before graduate school, he worked in China designing online teaching modules for criminal defense attorneys and teaching English. His language skills include Mandarin and Italian. His projects have been published, or are forthcoming, in the University of Southern California Law Review, the University of Pennsylvania Law Review Online, the Harvard National Security Journal, and the Harvard Negotiation Law Review. He holds a J.D. cum laude from Harvard Law School, an M.P.P. from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and a B.A., with honors, from Johns Hopkins University.

The new lawyering skills and strategies faculty members joining UHLC are:

• Maleaha Brown, Clinical Associate Professor, teaches Lawyering Skills and Strategies and Family Law. Before joining the UHLC, Professor Brown taught Legal Analysis, Writing, and Skills and Family Law at Southwestern Law School. Prior to teaching, Brown was a family law attorney at Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid and Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles. She currently serves as a Commissioner on the American Bar Association's Commission on Domestic and Sexual Violence and on the Editorial Board for the ABA Family Law Section's scholarly journal, Family Law Quarterly. She earned her J.D. from Howard University School of Law and a B.A. from Baylor University.
  
  
• Christina Crozier, Clinical Assistant Professor, returns to her alma mater to teach Lawyering Skills and Strategies. In her teaching, Crozier draws on nearly two decades of experience in Haynes Boone's appellate practice group. She is a seasoned legal writer and oral advocate, having argued appeals in the Fifth Circuit, the Texas Supreme Court, and numerous Texas courts of appeals. Prior to joining UHLC, she was a Visiting Assistant Professor at South Texas College of Law. Crozier holds a J.D. from the University of Houston Law Center and a B.S., with highest honors, from the University of Texas at Austin.

Several faculty members have been recognized with chairs and professorships and also have received promotions, effective September 1, 2024:

• Emily Berman has been appointed the William B. Bates Distinguished Chair in Law and will take on the role of Assistant Dean for Faculty Development.
• Jessica Mantel has been selected as the Hunton Andrews Kurth Professorship and remains co-director of the Health Law Policy Institute.
• Renee Knake Jefferson has been promoted to Assistant Dean of Outcomes, Assessments, and Strategies.
• Doug Moll has been honored with the A.A. White Professor of Law.
• Bret Wells has been awarded the John Mixon Chair and will serve as the Director of the Tax Law Program.
• Kellen Zale has been recognized with the Baker Botts LLP Professorship of Law.

University of Houston Law Center media contacts: Carrie Anna Criado, UH Law Center Assistant Dean of Communications and Marketing, 713-743-2184, [email protected]; Bonnie Buffaloe, Communications Manager, 713-743-9137, [email protected].

About the University of Houston Law Center

The University of Houston Law Center (UHLC) is a dynamic, top-tier law school located in the nation's 4th largest city. UHLC's Health Law, Intellectual Property Law, and Part-time programs rank in the U.S. News Top 10. It awards Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D.) and Master of Laws (LL.M.) degrees, through its academic branch, the College of Law. The Law Center is more than just a law school. It is a powerful hub of intellectual activity with more than 12 centers and institutes that fuel its educational mission and national reputation. UHLC is fully accredited by the American Bar Association and is a member of the Association of American Law Schools.

About the University of Houston

The University of Houston is a Carnegie-designated Tier One public research university recognized with a Phi Beta Kappa chapter for excellence in undergraduate education. UH serves the globally competitive Houston and Gulf Coast Region by providing world-class faculty, experiential learning and strategic industry partnerships. Located in the nation's fourth-largest city and one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse regions in the country, UH is a federally designated Hispanic- and Asian-American-Serving institution with an enrollment of more than 47,000 students.

SOURCE University of Houston Law Center