News 18 - 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.

Illinois Law faculty, students, and alumni present at LSA meeting

Law and Society Association Annual Meeting

The Law and Society Association Annual Meeting took place in Chicago, Illinois, on May 22–25, 2025, and featured a number of College of Law faculty and JSD students as presenters. Illinois Law professors presenting included Kenworthey Bilz, Bob Lawless, Jennifer Robbennolt, and Verity Winship; affiliated faculty presenting included Jose Atiles and Anna Marshall; and JSD students presenting included Thallyta Cavoli, Elsa Zawedde, and Qiaoyuan Zhi. Among others at the conference affiliated with Illinois were Vanessa Villanueva Collao, JSD ’24; Catherine Grosso, visiting assistant professor from 2005-’08; Dara Purvis, visiting assistant professor from 2010-’13; and So Young Park, JD ’21. The 2025 meeting explored questions central to control and compassion related to the human body, ranging from reproductive justice and LGBTQ equality to disability rights and the death penalty.

Robbennolt presents research at DePaul

Professor Jennifer Robbennolt was a featured presenter at the 31st Annual Clifford Symposium on Tort Law and Social Policy at DePaul. The symposium focused on the influence of key social science insights on civil justice, including key questions raised by social science scholarship, such as the work of the late Daniel Kahneman, Nobel Prize winner in Economics.

Gerke publishes article on 23andMe in BMJ

One of the most concerning aspects of genetic testing company 23andMe filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Professor Sara Gerke writes in a new article published in BMJ, is the range of information the company holds. Along with her co-authors, Gerke explores the issues presented by the genetic information, such as from saliva samples, self-reported health and personal information, biometric information, and other basic information controlled by 23andMe. They argue customers made a deal to share information, at some privacy risk, in exchange for potential ancestry and health-related insights, but that does not absolve the company from protecting privacy in bankruptcy.

Read the full article in BMJ.

Sherkow presents research at Cambridge

Professor Jacob Sherkow recently had the chance to present his research, “A Sociotechnical Approach to Genomic Data Security: A Comparative Legal Analysis,” to the Law, Medicine and Life Sciences group at the University of Cambridge Faculty of Law. In addition to his position at the College of Law, where he serves as director of the Intellectual Property and Technology Law Program, Sherkow also holds appointments at the at the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, the European Union Center, and the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology. He is a leading expert on IP protection for genome-editing technologies, such as CRISPR.

Multiple outlets quote Sherkow on CRISPR patent dispute

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled in May that the key patents on what many consider the defining biotechnology invention of the 21st century should be reconsidered. Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier shared a 2020 Nobel Prize for developing the versatile gene-editing system CRISPR; however, the key patent rights were granted Feng Zhang of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard in 2014. The rights have been contested since, and the appeals court ruling officially opens the question of ownership anew. Our intellectual property expert, Professor Jacob Sherkow, was quoted in multiple outlets about the dispute and what it means.

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.