News featuring a faculty member
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 […]
The First Amendment Clinic, led by Professor Lena Shapiro, is listed among the counsel on an amicus brief submitted to the Supreme Court in the case of O’Connor-Radcliff v. Garnier. The case, one of two regarding social media that will be heard by the Court next term, centers on whether a governmental body (in this […]
In an August 28th letter to the editor of The Washington Post, bankruptcy expert and professor Ralph Brubaker strongly condemned the Purdue Pharma settlement plan. He wrote: “There are eminently feasible, well-trodden means of rendering justice for massive iniquity, which can and will produce much better (and actual) settlements for victims, if the Supreme Court repudiates the […]
Professor Jennifer Robbennolt and 2023 graduate Sam Barder have co-authored a paper titled “Optimistic Overconfidence: A Study of Law Student Academic Predictions.” Their findings, which indicate that a majority of incoming law students are wildly overconfident, drew the attention of Reuters, ABA Journal, and Above the Law. Speaking to Reuters, Robbennolt suggested there may be […]