Illinois LawCast – College of Law

Illinois LawCast: Studying environmental law in Costa Rica

Chris Davies — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 15:14:10 +0000

One of Illinois Law’s areas of strength is environmental law. We routinely offer core courses such as environmental law, administrative law, and natural resources, as well as advanced environmental electives, such as climate change and sustainable development. Where we go the extra mile, literally, is in innovative environmental courses that offer hands-on teaching.

In this episode, Professor Heidi Hurd explains her class, Costa Rica: A Case Study in Environmentally Sustainable Economic Development, a January intersession course that takes students to Costa Rica to learn from politicians and environmentalists and experience the natural world up close. Professor Hurd goes through the history of the class, her favorite memories, and why she feels this course is so important to Illinois Law’s environmental law offerings.

Also joining the podcast are Josh Rosen, a third-year student, and Sophia Abedi, a second-year student, both of whom traveled with Hurd to Costa Rica this past January. They share their experiences and how the course resonated with them in the present and will continue to make a difference in their careers.

For more information about Illinois Law’s commitment to environmental law, please visit our website. For more about the Costa Rica course, see the specific course listing.

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Illinois LawCast: Litigating and Mentoring with Lisa Kpor ’14

Chris Davies — Wed, 28 Jan 2026 15:51:09 +0000

A 2014 College of Law graduate, Lisa Kpor currently serves as Litigation Counsel for United Airlines, where she provides guidance numerous matters related to disputes and litigation.

Born and raised in Virginia, Lisa knew from a young age that she wanted to be a lawyer, and chose Illinois Law for its reputation, diversity, and connection to the Chicago legal world. After graduating, Lisa worked as a Litigation and Entertainment Associate at Holland & Knight in Chicago for nearly nine years. Her experience there included a broad array of corporate legal matters as well as the opportunity to represent Grammy Award-winning musicians, best-selling authors, Academy Award-nominated filmmakers, and others in matters such as contract negotiations.

Lisa has received several awards for her contributions to the legal profession, as well as for her service work. Mentoring, in particular, is a passion for Lisa, and in addition to her robust practice she maintains a number of mentees through organizations like the Posse Foundation.

In our conversation, we discussed her background and her journey to law school, her memories of her time at Illinois, and how she has came to her current position with United Airlines. We also dove into her passion for mentoring, and why giving back is such an important part of her practice and her life. Finally, we discussed her newest method of giving back, the Monday Mentoring Moment Newsletter, which she recently launched to help share her wisdom with more individuals.

If you are interested in subscribing to her newsletter, you can find it on LinkedIn.

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Illinois LawCast: Undergraduate Opportunities with Jennie Pahre and Meghan Brinson

Chris Davies — Fri, 19 Dec 2025 19:20:44 +0000

Learning the law isn’t solely the province of graduate students. The University of Illinois offers undergraduates the chance to enroll in the Legal Studies minor for those interested in pursuing a JD after graduating or those who would just like to broaden their understanding of the law within their field. The Legal Studies minor is a novel program because of its tracks, where students can choose to focus on law & politics, law & cultures, or law & economics of food security and sustainability. In this episode, Professors Jennie Pahre, director of undergraduate studies, and Meghan Brinson, associate director of undergraduate studies and academic advisor for undergraduate studies, share their expertise on the Legal Studies minor, why they enjoy working with undergrads, and ideas for the future of the program.

Professor Jennifer Pahre joined the College of Law in 2001. She oversaw the Legal Externship Program for 15 years before became the director of undergraduate studies. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Stanford University and JD degree from Loyola Law School of Los Angeles. Professor Pahre is admitted to the state bars of California, Michigan, and Illinois and has practiced law in all three states as well as several district courts. She served on the Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee of the American Bar Association and she has served as the president of the East Central Illinois Women Attorneys Association.

Professor Meghan Brinson earned her JD at University of North Carolina School of Law, and holds a Master of Arts in English Studies from Georgetown University and a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Arizona State University. She has experience teaching undergraduate composition, business writing, and creative writing, including as a Piper International Writing Fellow at the National University of Singapore and with Park University’s program on Marine Corp Air Station Cherry Point. Professor Brinson is a poet and nonfiction essayist with three published chapbooks and several journal publications.

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If you have comments or suggestions for the podcast, please contact podcast@law.illinois.edu.

Illinois LawCast: Student Services with Dean of Students Kelly Salefski

Chris Davies — Wed, 26 Nov 2025 16:03:04 +0000

In this episode, we speak with Kelly Salefski, who was named Assistant Dean of Academic Administration and Dean of Students in June. She shared a great deal about what the College of Law is doing to help students achieve their goals, as well as her plans to improve our services and how her background helps her to do great things for our students.

Few individuals are as dedicated to Illinois as Salefski. 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, Salefski 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. 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.

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If you have comments or suggestions for the podcast, please contact podcast@law.illinois.edu.

Illinois LawCast: Get to know Eric Baudry and Sarah Lawsky

Chris Davies — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 16:22:55 +0000

In this episode we speak with our two newest full-time tenured and tenure-track faculty, Eric Baudry and Sarah Lawsky. They shared about themselves, their research, and what they are looking forward to as members of the College of Law faculty.

About Eric Baudry:

Eric Baudry is an assistant professor of law at the University of Illinois, where he teaches and writes about tax law, poverty, and redistribution. He is especially interested in the experiences of low-income taxpayers as subjects of and actors within the institution of the United States tax system. His scholarship has appeared in the Columbia Journal of Tax Law.

Following law school, Baudry clerked on the Eastern District of Michigan and the Ninth Circuit, provided wage theft and tax representation for low-wage workers as a Skadden Fellow at Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid, and spent two years as a Faculty Fellow at the University of Michigan law school.

About Sarah Lawsky:

Sarah B. Lawsky, the L.B. Lall and Sumitra Devi Lall Professor of Law, studies tax law, computational law, and the intersection of the two. Her recent work focuses on the formalization of tax law. Professor Lawsky’s research arguing for using a particular nonstandard logic to formalize tax law is the conceptual foundation for the domain-specific programming language Catala, which is the project of a team of computer scientists and lawyers.

Before joining the University of Illinois, Professor Lawsky taught at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, UC Irvine School of Law, and George Washington University Law School. Before entering academia, she worked as a tax lawyer for large law firms.

For more information, visit the personal website of Professor Lawsky: https://www.sarahlawsky.org/

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If you have comments or suggestions for the podcast, please contact podcast@law.illinois.edu.

Illinois LawCast: University of Illinois Athletic Director Josh Whitman

Chris Davies — Wed, 24 Sep 2025 19:33:21 +0000

A 2008 graduate of the College of Law, Josh Whitman joins the podcast to discuss decision to pursue a law degree, his time as a student, and how he navigated his way back to Illinois and the role of athletic director. He expands on some of the challenges he faces as one of the University’s highest profile employees and how he strives to be successful and fights complacency.

About Josh Whitman:

Josh Whitman was hired as University of Illinois Director of Athletics on February 17, 2016. In his 10th year, Whitman has elevated Fighting Illini Athletics to a place among the nation’s elite programs. In 2024-25, Illinois earned a No. 31 final ranking in the Learfield Directors’ Cup, the program’s highest finish in the last 10 years, and the Illini football, men’s basketball, and women’s basketball programs all were ranked in the Top 25 at the same time. Also in 2024-25, women’s track and field recorded a pair of top-10 national finishes, volleyball returned to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2021, men’s golf won its seventh NCAA Regional championship, wrestling placed 10th nationally, and men’s gymnastics finished sixth. In all, 16 Illini programs participated in postseason competition. Individually, wrestler Lucas Byrd claimed the national championship at 133 lbs.

In total during Whitman’s tenure, Illinois teams have made 110 NCAA postseason appearances, finishing in the top 16 nationally 31 times, and nine student-athletes have captured 11 individual national championships. Illinois has also captured a total of 16 Big Ten titles under Whitman. Under his leadership, Illinois is amid eight consecutive fiscal years of recording more than $30 million in new gift commitments. In September, Whitman announced the largest donation in the history of the athletics program when Larry Gies contributed $100 million for the naming rights of Gies Memorial Stadium.

Whitman played four years of football at Illinois and earned two Illinois degrees: graduating with Bronze Tablet honors in 2001 while earning a bachelor’s degree in finance, and graduating summa cum laude from the College of Law in 2008. Whitman is married to Hope, and they have two children. The Whitmans are active in several Champaign-Urbana community organizations.

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If you have comments or suggestions for the podcast, please contact podcast@law.illinois.edu.

Illinois LawCast: Discussing Debt’s Grip with Professor Robert Lawless

Chris Davies — Wed, 17 Sep 2025 03:08:08 +0000

We kick off season two with an engrossing conversation with Professor Robert Lawless about his new book, Debt’s Grip: Risk and Consumer Bankruptcy. The book explores financial precarity in the United States and utilizes original data from the Consumer Bankruptcy Project, including the words of bankruptcy filers themselves to shed light on their situations. Professor Lawless shared insight into how he began his work on this project, how the book came about, and how the research has helped him as a teacher at Illinois Law.

For more information about Debt’s Grip, including ways to purchase the book, please visit the publisher’s website: https://www.ucpress.edu/books/debts-grip/paper

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If you have comments or suggestions for the podcast, please contact podcast@law.illinois.edu.

Illinois LawCast: All about NomosLearning

Chris Davies — Tue, 03 Jun 2025 18:41:03 +0000

Bobby Mannis and Vindy Murthy, 2025 graduates, join the podcast to discuss their artificial intelligence-powered learning tool, NomosLearning. They share some background on how their education at Illinois inspired the building of this tool and how they came together to create a tool that all Illinois students can use. NomosLearning harnesses the power of AI to supplement reading for students, creating issue spotters and case briefs to guide their studies. The co-founders also share some of their vision for the future of NomosLearning and their careers.

To learn more, visit https://www.nomoslearning.com/.

Disclaimer: this podcast is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an endorsement or approval by the College of Law. Please contact Nomos Learning for answers to questions regarding its content.

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If you have comments or suggestions for the podcast, please contact podcast@law.illinois.edu.

Illinois LawCast: Study Abroad with Rama Hamad and Rebecca Ray

Chris Davies — Fri, 02 May 2025 20:00:46 +0000

Studying the law at the University of Illinois doesn’t always mean being in Illinois. In this episode, third-year student Rama Hamad shares her experience studying abroad in Madrid, Spain, and how the chance to study internationally has helped her on her path to being an outstanding lawyer. In the second half of the episode, Rebecca Ray, assistant director for Graduate and International Studies, fills in some of the specifics about the study abroad program and how it works for Illinois Law students.

If you are interested in studying abroad, you can contact Rebecca Ray and the graduate and international programs office at law-gradprograms@illinois.edu.

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If you have comments or suggestions for the podcast, please contact podcast@law.illinois.edu.

Illinois LawCast: Highlighting the Anderson Center

Chris Davies — Tue, 25 Mar 2025 20:44:00 +0000

This episode is all about advocacy and what that means for law students and lawyers. We turn the spotlight on the Kimball R. and Karen Gatsis Anderson Center for Advocacy and Professionalism and learn about the classes and competitions they offer to help Illinois Law students become the best advocates possible. Guests include Professor Tony Ghiotto, director of the Anderson Center, and third-year students Yev Kozak and Nicole Marcinkus.

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If you have comments or suggestions for the podcast, please contact podcast@law.illinois.edu.