FROM AUSTIN COLLEGE

Austin College' 2010 Law Symposium, designed for law professionals and interested students, will be held from 10 a.m.. -6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 23. Speakers will explore the intersection between the law and science, including patent law, the definition of "life" from legal and scientific perspectives, the use of technology for justice, and issues regarding biodefense and biosecurity.

The cost for the program is $25 for Grayson County attorneys and $60 for other attorneys. Students and faculty are welcome at no charge, and admission for all others is $25 per person. Register online by Feb. 18 or call 1-800-467-6646 or 903-813-2383. Approval of CLE credit is pending.

Speakers will include Professor Victoria Sutton, director of the Center for Biodefense, Law, and Public Police at the Texas Tech University School of Law; Clyde Siebman, author of Current Trends and Future Possibilities in Patent Law; Tex Quesada, author of A Practitioner's View of Daubert/Robinson/Gamill; and Professor Tom Mayo of Southern Methodist University School of Law, author of Legal and Professional Ethics Surrounding Futility of Life Issues.

This spring marks a change in name for the symposium. In honor of Professor Emeritus Kenneth Street, the event will take on the name Dr. Kenneth Street Law Symposium at Austin College.

Street was a professor of political science from 1959 to 1997, held the John D. Moseley Chair of Government and Public Policy, and founded and directed the Social Science Laboratory, which allowed students to experience field research, observe political and social behavior, and text hypothesis about needs in the community. This year, Street was one of the first to be honored with the Austin College Alumni Board's Faculty Service Award for his outstanding service to the community and Austin College.

Symposium presenters will be:

ictoria Sutton, keynote speaker, is the director of the Center for Biodefense, Law, and Public Policy at Texas Tech University, the only center at a law school in the U.S. to focus solely on issues of law and biodefense, biosecurity, and bioterrorism. She served as the chief counsel for the Research and Innovative Technology Administration of the U.S. Department of Transportation in Washington, D.C. from September 2005 until January 2007.

Before joining the faculty at Texas Tech, Sutton served in the President George H. W. Bush administration as assistant director in the White House Science Office and in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Clyde M. Siebman is founder and senior partner of the law firm of Siebman, Reynolds, Burg, Phillips & Smith, L.L.P. He is board-certified in civil trial law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. Civil trial law is the practice of law dealing with the litigation of civil controversies in all areas of substantive law before state courts, federal courts, administrative agencies, and arbitrators.

He has served as a member of the Local Rules Advisory Committee, Non-Appropriated Fund Committee and U.S. Magistrate-Judge Merit Selection Committee for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. He is listed in The Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers and has been recognized in the 2003 to 2009 Texas Super Lawyers publications. Siebman founded the Eastern District of Texas Bar Association.

Tex Quesada is senior partner in the law firm of Sommerman & Quesada, L.L.P., in Dallas. He worked for the Supreme Court of Texas and is the president-elect of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association. Quesada has served on a number of State Bar committees, including the local Grievance Committee, and regularly makes presentations at legal seminars across the state.

Tom Mayo is associate professor at the Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law, where he serves as director of the Cary M. Maguire Center for Ethics and Public Responsibility. Before teaching, he worked as a law clerk with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and as an associate at Covington & Burling, where he practiced in the areas of securities fraud, antitrust, communications law, and election law.

He serves on the Texas Advance Directives Coalition, which was responsible for drafting the 1999 Advance Directives Act and its 2003 amendments, which pertains to legal protection for hospital personnel in regards to end-of-life decisions.