News 17 - College of Law

Gender pay disparities create liabilities, LeRoy writes in new article

Title IX requires schools to eliminate gender disparities, but NCAA men’s basketball players in major conferences were paid 10 times more NIL money than their counterparts on women’s basketball teams. Professor Michael LeRoy examines the disparities in NIL payments and how they are creating liabilities for schools in his latest article published in the University of Cincinnati Law Review. “The NCAA has not addressed the massive inequalities that are structurally built into the athletic departments of all Power Four conference schools, where men are paid much more than women,” LeRoy writes.

Read the full article online.

Gerke co-authors paper on pulse oximeters in JAMA

Pulse oximeters are known to be less accurate for patients with darker skin, but manufacturers have not changed their design or included a warning label disclosing this information. A recent settlement and guidance from the FDA could prompt changes in the market, however. In a new paper published in JAMA, Professor Sara Gerke and her co-authors examine how these developments could solve problems and where issues may still exist.

Read the article on the JAMA Network.

Illinois LawCast: All about NomosLearning

Illinois LawCast cover with portrait of Bobby Mannis and Vindy Murthy

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.

Criticism of medical journal by federal prosecutor is unconstitutional, Shapiro tells Law360

When Edward Martin Jr., the interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, chose to publish a letter criticizing the medical journal CHEST it raised a number of concerns. For free speech advocates, the most pressing concern was why a federal prosecutor would target the protected speech of an independent entity. Speaking to Law360, Professor Lena Shapiro, director of the First Amendment Clinic, said, “letter reads squarely as an attempt to engage in viewpoint discrimination against the journal, which is presumptively unconstitutional.”

Read the full article from Law360.

Amar and Mazzone pen series on recent Fifth Circuit case

Ionic column at the Smith Memorial Hall.

The case of Umphress v. Hall is ripe with teachable moments, and Professors Vikram Amar and Jason Mazzone gladly took the bait in a recent two-part series of articles published at Justia Verdict. The case involves a judge in Texas who is seeking declaratory and injunctive relief from the Fifth Circuit because he refuses to perform same-sex weddings because of his religious convictions. In the first part of the series, Amar and Mazzone examine the “justiciability” of the case; that is, whether a federal court can or should entertain a particular dispute. In part two, the authors examine how the case may be determined and the central question of whether judges may discriminate in officiating a marriage.

Read part 1 and part 2 on Justia Verdict.

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.

College of Law honors Rowell with 2025 award for scholarly excellence

Arden Rowell accepts scholarly excellence award from Jamelle Sharpe

Professor Arden Rowell was awarded the 2025 Carroll P. Hurd Award for Scholarly Excellence for her paper, “Indoor Environmental Law,” 54 Environmental Law 101 (2024). The Carroll P. Hurd Award for Scholarly Excellence was established in 2002, by Michael Moore and Heidi Hurd, in honor of Heidi’s father, Carroll Parsons Hurd, whose work as a political theorist and lawyer elevated theoretical curiosity and intellectual rigor above all other virtues. Rowell accepted the award during the annual faculty retreat on May 15, 2025.

McClane article selected as one of the Top 10 Corporate and Securities Articles of 2024

Detail of rare book at Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

Professor Jeremy McClane’s article, “The Lost Promise of Private Ordering,” 109 Cornell L. Rev. 1-62 (2023), has been selected as one of the Top 10 Corporate and Securities
Articles of 2024 by the Corporate Practice Commentator. Academic teachers in the areas of corporate and securities law selected the winning articles from a list of over 300 articles published in legal journals in 2024. The full list of 2024 winners will be published in the upcoming issue of the Corporate Practice Commentator.

JSD student Elsa Zawedde receives BRIDGE Global South Fellowship

Elsa Zawedde, a JSD candidate at the University of Illinois College of Law, has been awarded a BRIDGE Global South Fellowship. The program supports the professional development of early-career researchers from universities in the Global South. As a visiting fellow in the College of Law, she will have the opportunity to gain insight into the research, training, and administration practices at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Zawedde, whose thesis is being advised by Professor Colleen Murphy, will use the fellowship to continue her research on Dynamic Health Justice Partnerships in Uganda. She is also a graduate assistant in the Vice Provost for International Affairs and Global Strategies Office at the University of Illinois.

Thomas receives grant from Ford Foundation to advance her documentary project on the justice system

Professor Suja Thomas has been awarded a grant from the Ford Foundation’s JustFilms program, which will fund her documentary project on the American justice system. The Foundation’s investment will support 46 film projects and initiatives, highlighting its unwavering commitment to advancing narrative power and justice through the art of storytelling. Learn more about JustFilms and the projects that have been funded at fordfoundation.org.