all rise

University of Houston debuts new ultramodern legal center named for fierce and legendary local lawyer

John M. O'Quinn Law Building UH university of houston

UH's John M. O'Quinn Law Building opens this week.

Photos courtesy of University of Houston

Fierce and fiery, Houston trial attorney John M. O'Quinn was famous — and infamous — for his dogged pursuit of wrongdoers and his ability to charm and sway juries with his charismatic, powerful presence.

The man who boasted a car collection valued at more than $100 million — including what was considered to be the world’s oldest running motor car — sadly died in 2009 in a single-car accident, but left a legacy of helping those in need and especially for philanthropy — notably, with his alma mater University of Houston.

Fitting, then, that, UH will officially open the John M. O'Quinn Law Building Thursday, September 22. The ribbon-cutting ceremony, set to take place at 6 pm, will be a celebration with UH president Renu Khator; UH Law Center dean Leonard M. Baynes; UH alumni, donors, and dignitaries.

Years in the works, the $93 million, state-of-the-art law center is the newest law building in Texas. Designed by the women-owned architecture firm Shepley Bulfinch, the five-story, ultramodern building offers 180,000 square feet of space for research, clinics, courtrooms, and events.

UH Law students now have amenities such as a two-story library, meditation room, commuter showers with changing rooms, an outdoor terrace with dramatic views of campus and downtown Houston, a student lounge, and a convenience store.

“This has been a decades-long dream of alumni, faculty, staff, students and friends who wanted a new building that represented the quality and caliber of the Law Center,” said University of Houston Law Center dean Leonard M. Baynes.

O’Quinn graduated from the UH Law Center in 1967 and would go on to be one of the Bayou City’s most-recognizable and bold-faced names. After his 2009 death, his John M. O’Quinn Foundation donated more than $16 million to support the Law Center and building construction.

The new law center is located at 4170 Martin Luther King Blvd., at the northeast corner of the UH campus. Students, faculty, and staff began using the building earlier this semester.

This year marks the 75th anniversary of UH's Law Center, which was established in 1947. It is home to the university’s J.D. and LL.M. degree programs as well as nationally ranked clinics, specialty institutes, pre-law pipeline programs and career services

Three of the center’s law programs rank in the top 10 nationally by U.S. News & World Report : No. 6 in Intellectual Property Law, No. 7 in Health Care Law, and No. 9 in Part-time law degree program.

Growth report

Houston leads America in population growth for 2025, Census states

Houston skyline

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Imagine that the Houston metro area swallowed a city the size of Pearland in just one year. That’s essentially what happened from 2024 to 2025, with the Houston metro ranking first in the U.S. for population growth based on the number of people.

New estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau show the 10-county Houston metro added 126,720 residents from July 1, 2024, to July 1, 2025. That’s just shy of Pearland’s roughly 133,000-resident tally.

To calculate population, the Census Bureau counts births, deaths, new residents, and moved-away residents.

Region’s population approaches eight million

On July 1, 2025, the Houston metro’s population hovered slightly above 7.9 million, up 1.6 percent from the same time in 2024. In the very near future, the region’s population should break the eight million mark.

This follows massive growth in the past 20 years. From 2005 to 2025, the region’s population soared by 39 percent. By comparison, the growth rate from 2021 to 2025 sat at nine percent.

A forecast from the Texas Demographics Center indicates that under a middle-of-the-road scenario, the Houston metro’s population will reach nearly 8.5 million in mid-2030 and more than 9.5 million in mid-2040.

Dan Potter, director of Rice University’s Houston Population Research Center, attributes much of the region’s population surge to people moving to the area from outside the U.S. In Harris County, this means a combination of military personnel returning home, people living or working overseas coming back to the U.S., and immigrants relocating to the U.S., he tells CultureMap.

But Harris County fell short from 2024 to 2025 when it comes to people moving here from elsewhere in the U.S., according to Potter. Counties surrounding Harris County benefited from that trend, drawing new residents who preferred to settle in the suburbs.

“The incredible pull and attraction of the Houston area is its economy, its people, and its affordability, and the significant growth that was observed in 2024 and again in 2025 speaks to the magnetism of the region,” Potter says. “That pull to Houston is too strong to be turned off overnight.”

Cooling economy and immigration shifts slow down growth

Whether looking at urban or suburban places, population growth in the Houston area slowed in 2025 and appears to be slowing even more this year, Potter says.

“A cooling economy and changes to immigration policy are a one-two combination that could knock out the region’s population growth,” says Potter, citing the region’s addition of a less-than-expected 14,800 jobs in 2025 as an example.

Weaker population growth may not be felt evenly across the metro area, according to Potter.

A continuing influx of people from Houston to outlying counties such as Brazoria, Fort Bend, Liberty, Montgomery, and Waller could curb growth in Harris County, Potter said. Why? If the number of people arriving from other other countries flattens or even drops, then there could be “doughnut-style population growth for the next few years, where Harris County and Houston see declines while the suburban counties see an increase.”

Harris County represents 40 percent of region’s population lift

Houston-anchored Harris County accounted for almost 40 percent of the region’s population spike from 2024 to 2025. In one year, Harris County grew by 48,695 residents, or 1 percent, pushing its population past five million. That increase put Harris County in first place for numeric growth (rather than percentage growth) among all U.S. counties.

From 2020 to 2025, Harris County’s growth rate was 6.6 percent. It remains the country’s third largest county based on population, behind Southern California’s Los Angeles County and Illinois’ Chicago-anchored Cook County.

Harris County is on track to surpass Cook County in size in the near future. As of July 1, 2025, a nearly 150,000-resident gap separated population-losing Cook County and fast-growing Harris County.

The Texas Demographics Center predicts Harris County’s population will be 5.37 million in mid-2030 and just short of six million in mid-2040.

Suburban counties see significant population gains

Harris County isn’t the only county in the area that experienced a growth spurt from 2024 to 2025:

Waller County’s population climbed 5.69 percent, winding up at 69,858. Its growth rate ranked second among U.S. counties.
Liberty County’s population rose 4.4 percent to 121,364, putting its growth rate in eighth place among U.S. counties.
Montgomery County gained 30,011 residents, with its population landing at 781,194. That placed it at No. 4 among U.S. counties for numeric growth.
Fort Bend County picked up 24,163 residents, arriving at a total of 975,191 and positioning it at No. 8 among U.S. counties for numeric growth. Fort Bend County, the region’s second largest county based on population, is projected to break the one million-resident mark by July 2030, according to the Texas Demographics Center.

“Lower mortgage rates from 2009 to 2022 and the rise of remote work have made suburban housing more attractive, especially for families seeking affordability,” Pramod Sambidi, the Houston-Galveston Area Council’s assistant director of data analytics and research, said last year. “Additionally, suburban areas are seeing more multifamily developments than before the pandemic.”

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