The Earth BioGenome Project has an ambitious plan to sequence a genome from every plant, animal, and fungus on the planet, as well as from many single-celled organisms, such as algae. As detailed in the New Yorker, the project faces a formidable foe in their quest to save the valuable genetic information encoded in each […]
Johnson & Johnson’s attempts to use the bankruptcy of its subsidiary, LTL Management LLC, to settle claims that its talc-based products, like baby powder, caused cancer have failed once again, this time in US Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey. In an article on Bloomberg Law, Professor Ralph Brubaker explained that the company’s […]
After his appointment as dean of the College of Law, Jamelle Sharpe was the subject of a feature in the Champaign News-Gazette. The profile begins with his path to a legal career, starting as an undergrad at New York University, and works through his time in private practice, culminating in his professorship at Illinois alongside […]
Her cells are “immortal,” and so, it seems, is the legal battle over ownership of those cells. In an article about a recently settled lawsuit brought by the family of Henrietta Lacks, the woman whose cells were used without her knowledge or consent in research that helped develop treatments for many diseases, the New York […]
Dating to his days in practice, Professor Ralph Brubaker has long held an interest in mass torts and bankruptcy that has developed into a rich and rewarding scholarly career. He shared his expertise in a feature interview on the Bloomberg Intelligence FICC Focus podcast, speaking in depth about what makes bankruptcy so appealing to defendants […]
Chicago’s “bubble ordinance” is meant to protect patients from harassment or unwanted solicitation any time they are within a 50-foot radius from the entrance of a medical facility. Protesters’ escalating behavior, particularly in front of facilities that provide abortion services, has led Ald. Bill Conway (34th) to propose a quiet zone in these areas. Professor […]
“The internet never forgets” is a popular saying used as a way to warn individuals against sharing too much information on social media. However, when something is removed from social media, is it a violation of an individual’s First Amendment rights? Director of the First Amendment Clinic, Professor Lena Shapiro, joined WGN’s “Let’s Get Legal” […]
Commenting on the Supreme Court case 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, Professor Lena Shapiro writes that the decision is an “unexpected champion for First Amendment liberties.” Her opinion article, written for the Student Press Law Center, pushes back against the narrative that the decision—in which the Court sided with a website designer who refused to […]
In the past year, advances in artificial intelligence have made the technology more than a curiosity. Today, AI chatbots can participate in logical conversations or write code and image-creation software can create hyperrealistic “photos” from a simple prompt. While these tools can be a great benefit to users, they exist in a gray area of […]
When an individual is nominated to a spot on the Supreme Court, the confirmation process requires a remarkable amount of background work. In fact, it is common for each piece of published material ever produced by the candidate to be scrutinized during confirmation, requiring a number of experts to assist the elected representatives in the […]