Volume 17, Issue 1 Summer 2016 HOUSTON BUSINESS & TAX LAW JOURNAL ALUMNI NEWSLETTER. Simone Bray Assistant Executive Editor

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1 Volume 17, Issue 1 Summer 2016 HOUSTON BUSINESS & TAX LAW JOURNAL ALUMNI NEWSLETTER BOARD 17 Note from the EIC Welcome to our new quarterly Newsletter! We've been working hard all summer to ensure we can hit the ground running this Fall. We hope to see you at one of our events soon. - Chris Christopher Vartian Editor-in-Chief Oliver Fankhouser Managing Editor Josh Gonzales Executive Editor Bianca Ybarra Chief Articles Editor Elizabeth Gray Chief Notes & Comments Editor Benjamin Hamel Chief Compliance Editor Jeremiah Clark Head Senior Articles Editor Samie Leigh Submissions Editor Simone Bray Assistant Executive Editor Kyle Miiller Senior Articles Editor Jesse Hollingsworth Strategic Planning Editor Cecilia Alvarez Symposium Editor Chris Hsu Articles Editor Addison Churay Articles Editor Dakoda Fandry Notes & Comments Editor Pedro Chavez Compliance Editor

2 Board 16 led the way for an outstanding academic year. It marks yet another year of success for HBTLJ, as we improved the Journal s recognition and credibility within the law school and in the Houston legal community. To highlight just a few of the Journal s events in , we started the school year off with a community service event at the Houston Food Bank: UH Day of Service last September. There was an overwhelming turnout from HBTLJ editors and provisional members, as we helped inspect and sort various canned goods and items. Exxon Mobile hosted our 16 th annual Symposium at their new state-of-the-art campus in Spring, Texas. The event featured many distinguished speakers, including UH s own Professor Bret Wells. Baker Hostetler cosponsored the event, which provided 4.0 CLE accredited hours to those in attendance. HBTLJ Year in Review We also enjoyed spending time with HBTLJ Alumni at our alumni events, including the Wine and Cheese Reception in the Heritage Room at UHLC and the Alumni Banquet at the Republic Smokehouse & Saloon in Midtown. Houston Food Bank 2015 In addition to these events, HBTLJ updated its Compliance Database, which is a free, searchable database that contains compliance codes for all Fortune 500 Companies. It is the only database of its kind in the country, and can be found on the UH Law Center s website here: Upcoming Articles 17.1 Ø In Safe Harboring the Cloud on an Evolving Digital Platform, Ms. Samie Leigh provides readers with a primer on copyright law followed by an in depth discussion of relevant historical Copyright Law cases. She argues that the recent Supreme Court decision made in American Broadcasting Companies v. Aereo, Inc., and its interpretation, will benefit the ever-evolving cloud based storage. Ø In Ben Hamel s Examination of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act: How JOBS Act Exemptions May Help Startups and Hurt Investors, he examines numerous pieces of legislation preempted by the JOBS Act; paying particular attention to their functions, legislative histories and the impacts they have on entrepreneurs and startup companies. He further examines whether the JOBS Act has had the effect Congress intended and how the rules promulgated by the SEC are likely to affect the industry. Ø In Entity Exit: Rights, Remedies and Bounded Rationality, Professor of Law Mark Anderson analyzes the complex interaction of the individual and collective actions leading to exit in business entities such as partnerships, corporations, and limited liability companies. Professor Anderson then discusses the relationship between rights and remedies; individual and collective exit rights; and the effects of bounded rationality on the choice of exit norms. 2

3 1 2 Summer 2016 Upcoming HBTLJ Events v During the academic year, Board 17 hopes to continue the tradition of being one of the more active Journals on campus. Pursuant to this effort, we have many different events already on the calendar this Fall: v We are excited to announce that we are hosting an Alumni Happy Hour Reception on Thursday, September 8th Wonder Brewery in East Downtown Houston. The event will be free for all HBTLJ Alumni and will be 6:00pm 8:30pm. Come meet the current Board 17 and enjoy a beer or two, on us! We hope to see you there. v On Saturday, September 10th, the HBTLJ editors and provisional members will once again team up for our annual day of service and fellowship at the Houston Food Portwall. Executive Board 17 Alumni Banquet 2016 v Mark your calendars for Thursday, October 13th, 6:00pm-8:30pm. We will be hosting our Annual Alumni The Original Ninfa s on Navigation. The Alumni Dinner v In addition, we plan to host frequent lunch is a chance for our provisional members, panels featuring Houston attorneys from a editors and alumni to network over some variety of backgrounds including corporate, local Tex Mex. tax, intellectual property, and other related practice areas. If you or someone you know would be interested in speaking about a topic of interest at one of our on-campus lunch panels this year, please contact our Executive Editor, Josh Gonzales: jmgonz30@central.uh.edu or Editor-inChief, Chris Vartian: cbvartia@central.uh.edu. 3

4 WHERE BOARD 17 SPENT THEIR SUMMER Dakoda Fandry The Amaro Law Firm 8 th wonder event Cecilia Alvarez Office of the Chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Kyle Miiller Patterson and Sheridan LLP; Fletcher Yoder P.C.; Tumey LLP Christopher Vartian U.S. Attorney s Office (SDTX); Texas Attorney General s Office Bianca Ybarra Baker Hughes, Inc. Liz Gray Oathout Law Firm Oliver Fankhauser Steptoe & Johnson PLLC; Andrews Kurth LLP Chris Hsu Air Education and Training Command HQ/JA at Randolph AFB Simone Bray Environmental Natural Resources Division of the Department of Justice Environmental Crimes Section Josh Gonzales Texas Medical Center; Legge, Farrow, Kimmitt, McGrath & Brown. One of the primary goals of this year s board is to increase alumni involvement with the Journal. We thought what better way to meet and network with Board 17 than at a local brewery? We have reserved a private room at 8 th Wonder to ensure ample space and comfort. Hope to you see all on Thursday, September 8 8 th Wonder Brewery in Houston. Where: 2202 Dallas St., Houston, TX When: 6:00pm 8:30pm Price: FREE Admission and Drinks for all HBTLJ Alumni Samie Leigh Carstens & Cahoon; Fletcher Yoder P.C.; ExxonMobil Chemicals Company Jesse Hollingsworth Vinson & Elkins; King & Spalding 4

5 Volume 17, Issue 1 Summer 2016 RECRUITING NEWS o The Houston Business and Tax Law Journal had another successful year recruiting and are pleased to welcome all of the new members for the academic year. o The Journal's new members bring a wealth of work and legal experience from numerous fields including accounting, insurance, oil and gas, and engineering. As a result, the Journal will be able to continue expanding the breadth and scope of its articles and add new perspectives to the business and tax law area. Board 16 Buffalo Bayou Partnership Please hbtlj@hbtlj.org to update the Journal on what you ve been up to and for a chance to get featured in the next alumni newsletter. In addition, please send your name and most current address to hbtlj@hbtlj.org if the address we have on file is a central.uh.edu account or is no longer up-to-date. Also make sure to visit for our new website that launched earlier this summer. It's also best place to find the latest news regarding the Journal and information on how to give back to HBTLJ. Thank you!