Reem Haikal

Joined the faculty in 2022

Education
LL.M. Tax- Business Transactions, The University of Alabama School of Law, Tuscaloosa, Alabama
J.D. Texas Southern University, Thurgood Marshall School of Law, Houston, Texas
B.B.A. University of Houston- Downtown, Houston, Texas

Courses Taught
Property
Criminal Procedure
Criminal Law

Curriculum Vitae

Bar Admissions
Admitted to the State Bar of Texas

Biographical Information

• • Assistant Professor of Law, Texas Southern University, Thurgood Marshall School of Law, Houston, Texas. (2022- Present)

  • Assistant Director, Academic Success and Bar Readiness, Texas Southern University, Thurgood Marshall School of Law, Houston, Texas. (2018-2022)

  • Adjunct Professor, Texas Southern University, Thurgood Marshall School of Law- Legal Education and Advancement Program, Houston, Texas (2018-2019)

Special Honors and Awards:

• • Professor of the Year: Thurgood Marshall School of Law 2025 & 2026.

  • Distinguished Alumni of the Year Award 2025: the University of Houston-Downtown. 

  • Inducted Member: National Society of Leadership and Success..

  • Ambassador: International Honour Society

  • Class President: Thurgood Marshall School of Law, 2017.

Publications:

• • Death by Discretion: Executive Power and the Arbitrary Machinery of Federal Capital Punishment. Chapman University Law Review (Volume 29, Fall 2025).

  • Executions Without Representation: Executive Overreach and the Death Penalty in Washington, D.C. George Mason University Civil Rights Law Journal (Volume 36.2, Spring 2026).
    
    
  • Evolving Execution Methods: The Constitutionality of Nitrogen Hypoxia Through Pain, Precedent, and Practicality. Western New England University Law Review (Volume 48, Spring 2026).

• • Shadows of Prejudice: The History of the Right to Counsel and the Strickland’s Pursuit of Justice Amidst Forgotten Witnesses and Disregarded Evidence. Lead Article, Ohio Northern University Law Review (2025).
    
    
  • Conservative Jurisprudence: Evaluating Ineffective Counsel Claims in the Supreme Court (2020-2023). George Mason University Civil Rights Law Journal.
    
    
  • Professors Cure, Academic Support Cares: The Potential Role of Academic Support in Increasing Graduation Rates at Law Schools at Historically Black Colleges and Universities. 51 U Balt LF 63.

Selected Presentations:

• • The Rule of Law and the Threat to our Democracy, the Modern Presidency and Executive Orders. Thurgood Marshall Law Review Spring 2026 Symposium.

  • Defending Capital Cases, Texas Coalition for the Abolition of the Death Penalty Annual Conference, Spring 2026.
    
    
  • Scholarly Discussion on the Death Penalty and Execution Protocols, University of Houston- Downtown Law Summit, Spring 2026.
    
    
  • The Journey from the University of Houston- Downtown to Law School, University of Houston- Downtown Law Summit, Spring 2026.
    
    
  • Legally Speaking: Women Who Inspire, Minority Women Pursuing Law, University of Houston, Fall 2025. 

• • New Scholars Workshop: Criminal law and Criminal Procedure Panel Moderator. Southeastern Association of Law Schools “SEALS” Conference in Amelia Island, Florida, July 2025. 

  • Facing the Ultimate Penalty: Death- Survivors, Scholars and Students Confront Texas’ Capital Punishment System. Thurgood Marshall Law Review Spring 2025 Symposium.

  • No One Writes Memos Anymore; Testing the Claim and its Implications for Teaching (Panel with Christina Crozier, Reem Haikal, Alberto Rodriguez, and Katherine Vukadin), Legal Writing Institute Biennial Conference, Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law. July 2024.

  • Discussion Group: Street law v. Constitutional Criminal Procedure. Southeastern Association of Law Schools “SEALS” Conference in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, July 2024

  • A Day in the Life of a Law Student, Thurgood Marshall School of Law, Council on Legal Education Opportunity College Scholars, Houston, Texas, February 2023.

  • New Scholars Workshop - Environmental and Housing Justice Panel. Southeastern Association of Law Schools “SEALS” Conference in Boca Raton, Florida, July 2023. 

  • Exploring the Uses and Abuses of Unincorporated Entities, Southeastern Association of Law Schools “SEALS” Annual Conference, Destin, Florida, August 2022.

  • The Role of Academic Support at Law Schools in Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Lessons to be Learned from Medical Schools, Thurgood Marshall School of Law Fall Faculty Lecture Series, Houston, Texas, 2019

  • A Discussion on Marginalized Individuals through the Lens of Academic Support Educators at Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Predominantly White Institutions, 2019 Association of Academic Support Educators Biennial Diversity Conference, DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois, 2019

  •  Reading for Learning and the Overuse of Technology in Higher Education, Damascus University Faculty of Law, Damascus, Syria, 2018

Affiliations

• • • American Bar Association

    • Houston Bar Association

    • Golden Key International Honour Society

Research & Teaching Interests

• • • Right to counsel
      
    • The death penalty
      
    • Capital punishment
    • Legal pedagogy
    • Mergers and acquisitions
    • Antitrust

Poetry Collections

• • • Echoes in Silence

    • The Road to Damascus

    • Shattered Memories