Krista Gaedtke - College of Law

College of Law appoints Kelly Salefski as Assistant Dean of Academic Administration and Dean of Students

The College of Law is pleased to announce that Kelly Salefski has been appointed the next Assistant Dean of Academic Administration and Dean of Students, effective immediately.

Few individuals are as dedicated to Illinois as Kelly. A double Illini, graduating with an undergraduate degree in integrative biology in 2002 and JD in 2005, she began her career at the College of Law right after taking the bar exam, serving initially as Assistant Director of Academic and Student Administration. Over the past twenty years, Kelly has continued her work with students, leading to her most recent position as Senior Director of Academic Administration and Student Records.

Known to students for her work in academic counseling and an always friendly presence in the Law Building, Kelly will be able to increase her interaction with students as the leader of the student services team. She has a strong commitment to helping make Illinois more than just a place to earn a degree and is eager to foster success in the student body in her new role.

“I am committed to supporting every student’s academic, professional, and personal growth,” she said. “Our student services team will be engaged with the vibrant student community to help foster belonging, leadership, and connection across diverse backgrounds and interests. Students won’t just study law here—they’ll find their people and their path.”

Evident by her tenure at the College of Law, Kelly has deep affection for the University of Illinois and the surrounding community, where she has proudly raised her family. We are very fortunate to have her as our new Dean of Students and look forward to seeing the great things Dean Salefski will help our students accomplish.

Michael Brody ’04

Professor Michael H. Brody was recently honored to receive two awards for his service at National Defense University, College of Information and Cyberspace, including:
– CIC Distinguished Professor Award, Awarded by the College of Information and Cyberspace Master’s Class of 2025 (June, 2025)
– Joint Civilian Service Achievement Medal for Co-Leading the CIC Strategic Plan Development Team (May, 2025)

Matt Pham ’21

Intellectual property boutique Friedland Cianfrani LLP recently announced that Matt Pham is joining the firm as an associate. Pham was most recently an associate at Knobbe Martens and previously worked for Mondelez International, the international food conglomerate that makes Oreo cookies, Ritz crackers, Halls cough drops, and many other brands.

Adam A. Field ‘12

Adam A. Field was promoted to head of the Violent Crimes Unit at the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office, where he oversees prosecutions of homicides, aggravated assaults, and robberies within the City of St. Louis, Missouri.

Prateek Viswanathan ‘21

Prateek Viswanathan is an IP trial lawyer at Robins Kaplan LLP in Minneapolis. He advocates on behalf of inventors and creators, as well as pro bono clients.

Ronald Berman ’74

Ronald Berman has retired as a shareholder, director, and officer of Neider & Boucher, S.C. as of April 30, 2025. He was with Neider & Boucher, S.C. for over 30 years; prior to that he was a partner with Grant Thornton, working with that CPA firm for over 20 years. He will continue as Of Counsel at Neider & Boucher to assist in serving clients. Ron obtained AV status with Martindale-Hubbell as well as being named as a Best Lawyer in America, a Super Lawyer of Wisconsin, and a Top Lawyer of Madison.

Journal of Empirical Legal Studies selects article by Robbennolt and Winship for publication

Jessica Bregant, Jennifer Robbennolt and Verity Winship pose for a photo together

The Journal of Empirical Legal Studies has selected “Settlementality,” an article co-authored by Professors Jennifer Robbennolt, Verity Winship, and alumna Jessica Bregant, for publication. Slated to be published later this year, the article is meanwhile available at https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4773926.

According to the authors, “Settlementality” breaks new ground by exploring how everyday people perceive the role of settlements in the legal system. Their novel empirical study provides the first systematic investigation into lay opinions of settlement. They surveyed a nationally representative sample of more than 1,000 U.S. adults to ask them what they think about settlement. Respondents told them, for example, the extent they agreed or disagreed with statements like these: “A settlement between two parties is nobody’s business but their own.” “Settling parties are more interested in money than justice.” “Settlementality” promises to be a foundational article in an emerging body of empirical scholarship about settlement, reporting for the first-time what respondents thought settlement should look like.

The Journal of Empirical Legal Studies is a peer-edited, peer-refereed, interdisciplinary journal that publishes high-quality, empirically-oriented articles of interest to scholars in a diverse range of law and law-related fields, including civil justice, corporate law, criminal justice, domestic relations, economic, finance, health care, political science, psychology, public policy, securities regulation, and sociology.

Tom Lamont ’72

Former Assistant Secretary of the Army and defense consultant Tom Lamont has retired as a consultant for the Boeing Company.

Justice Debra B. Walker ‘87

Justice Debra B Walker of the Illinois Appellate Court, First District, received the Illinois State Bar Association’s Carole Bellows Woman of Influence Award on May 13th. This was very meaningful to Debra because former Judge Carole Bellows, the first female ISBA President and first female President of any statewide bar association in the nation, served as Debra’s presiding judge when she was on the Cook County Circuit Court.

Dr. Michelle Preiksaitis, ’91

Michelle Preiksaitis, JD, PhD (Dr. P), has launched Coastal Organizational Research and Learning Strategies, LLC (CORALS LLC) and its peer-reviewed scholarly journal, C’JAR (CORALS’ Journal of Applied Research). CORALS LLC provides research and strategy services to small business owners seeking to leverage data-driven models for growth through publication and national conference engagement. C’JAR welcomes submissions from legal, business, and healthcare professionals focused on applied, practice-oriented research. In April 2025, Dr. Preiksaitis presented a case study on a foundation subsidence remediation project, along with her small business concrete engineering client, at the AEI Conference 2025 in Kansas City, MO. Her part focused on “Fight or Flight Responses in Construction Litigation.” The presentation was supported, in part, by an immersion grant from the University of the Cumberlands, where she is an Associate Professor of Strategy in the doctoral business program.