To help residents with the high cost of insulin, a necessary drug for patients with diabetes, the state of California decided to develop its own generic brand of the medicine. The project will begin distributing “CalRx” insulin to consumers in January, and the San Jose Mercury News spoke to Professor Jacob Sherkow about how this plan is affecting insulin more broadly. The plan, he explained, is putting “downward pressure” on prices across the market.
Grand juries have twice declined to re-indict New York Attorney General Letitia James for mortgage fraud, despite the Trump administration’s efforts. The decisions are a strong rebuke of the administration, and Harlem World quoted Professor Andrew Leipold in their article on the subject, noting “something has gone horribly wrong” in the case when a prosecutor fails to secure an indictment.
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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Many recent changes in rules and regulations surrounding nuclear power reactors have been enacted with the goal of expanding the use of nuclear technology, but the shifts also run the risk of overwhelming the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and threatening the industry. In a new editorial published by Nuclear Newswire, Professor Arden Rowell and a team of nuclear engineers from the University of Illinois attempt to answer urgent questions in order “to prevent industry-wide paralysis and ensure that new nuclear power reactors are deployed both safely and efficiently.”
What is really being debated when individuals debate legal interpretation? This is the central question in a new paper written by Professor Bill Watson published in the latest issue of the Boston University Law Review. The “meta-interpretive” question “is key to making progress,” according to Watson. “We should be wary of monolithic interpretive theories that purport to apply across the board,” he concludes.
In October, the Illinois Legislature passed the Bivens Act, which provides new state-level protections for individuals interacting with Illinois courts, hospitals, schools, and child-care centers during civil immigration enforcement activities. Writing at Justia Verdict, Professors Jason Mazzone and Vikram Amar praise the law as “an important and innovative law in keeping with the proudest tradition of federalism”; however, they note that some aspects of the Act are unlikely to survive federal constitutional challenges. In their article, they explain why the law is good and why some parts are destined to be struck down.
In addition to her JD from the University of North Carolina, Meghan Brinson also holds an MFA in creative writing from Arizona State University, which made her an ideal guest for the Cornered podcast’s episode on literature and the law. Speaking on the show, produced by the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education, Brinson discussed her background, her law and literature course, and how she combines her interests for the benefit of her students.
Professor Jacob Sherkow has co-authored a new paper with Laura Valtere (University of Copenhagen – CeBIL) and Timo Minssen (University of Copenhagen – CeBIL) titled “Intellectual Property, New Genomic Technologies And Plant Innovation: Clearing Innovation Pathways.” The abstract follows:
New genomic technologies (NGTs), such as genome editing-the modification of DNA in living cells-promises to revolutionize agriculture. Beyond simply yielding new, commercially viable crop varieties, NGTs also hold out promise of using novel crops as a “biosolution”-methods to improve sustainability practices by reducing pesticide usage, improving drought tolerance, increasing yield, and minimizing food and fertilizer waste. At the same time, the complex global system of intellectual property (IP) protection for crops has largely been unchanged for decades. There is accordingly some concern that the current crop IP system will not bring the promise of agricultural biosolutions to fruition. This Article reviews NGTs as biosolution and explores how they fit into the current international IP system for crops. Against this backdrop, this Article also reviews several current proposals to crop IP regime, before tentatively suggesting recommendations for rebalancing the incentive structures in crop IP.
Professor Robert Lawless, along with co-authors Pamela Foohey and Deborah Thorne, recently sat down with Law360 for an in-depth interview on their book “Debt’s Grip: Risk and Consumer Bankruptcy.” The book is the latest to come out of the Consumer Bankruptcy Project, a long-term interdisciplinary research project on consumer bankruptcies in the U.S. that began in 1981. The authors discussed what they were hoping to learn (and what surprised them), how the data on who is filing for bankruptcy has changed over time, and what they want lawmakers to take away from the book.
Professor Jennifer Pahre recently published “A Comparison of Inadequate Doctrines: The Canadian “honour of the Crown” and the U.S. Federal Trust Responsibility” in the Texas A&M Journal of Property Law. The paper, written as a result of a grant from the Indigenous Politics Program at the American Political Science Association, compares key policies of the U.S. and Canada towards their Indigenous populations.