Professor Robin Kar recently published a co-authored article in CHI, the #1 journal for Human-Computer Interaction. The article, “Living Contracts: Beyond Document-Centric Interaction with Legal Agreements,” explores a future where contracts educate users on legal rights not in the contract, transform legal language to help understanding, and proactively supply contractual information as needed; the authors refer to these interfaces as living contracts.
“You can imagine some really drastic scenarios in which, for example, federal officers think that there’s some funny business going on, and they decide to seize ballots or make arrests. That would be tremendously disruptive of the midterm elections,” Professor Jason Mazzone told ABC 7 while discussing a hypothetical future in which Department of Justice election monitors cause more trouble than they prevent. His remarks came as part of a segment on the Trump administration’s plans to deploy monitors during the midterm election.
Recently, several states have enacted laws to provide redress in state courts for persons who have suffered violations of federal constitutional rights at the hands of federal officials. A new version of this law, from California, avoids some of the mistakes of previous efforts in states like Illinois, as Professors Jason Mazzone and Vikram Amar write in an article on Justia Verdict. However, the law includes an “unhelpful blend of the serious and the theatrical, in which the latter often obscures the former and thus distracts from what should be a careful and civil conversation about helpful legal innovations that actually might matter.”
Our first episode of season three focuses on the College of Law’s Office of Career Planning and Professional Development. Led by Executive Assistant Dean Greg Miarecki, the office offers students a strategic approach to finding the jobs they desire through changing employment climates via counseling, networking, marketing, and a variety of formal programs. Miarecki joins the podcast for the first half to provide an overview of the office and the work they do; in the second half, Director of Career Planning Matthew Clegg shares some specifics of the work he does as a career counselor as well as how he focuses on public interest and helping students who want to work for the public good find their place.
About the guests
Greg Miarecki leads the College’s Office of Career Planning and Professional Development, including employer outreach, strategic planning, and program design and implementation. A partner at Winston & Strawn LLP focusing on complex civil litigation and white-collar criminal matters, Greg received his BA in public policy cum laude from the University of Chicago and his JD from the University of Chicago Law School.
Matthew Clegg counsels students and alumni and specializes in counseling those interested in a public interest or government career. Matthew earned his BA from the University of Illinois, a Master of Arts in Teaching from Marian University, and his JD from the College of Law magna cum laude, where he served as the book review editor for the Law Review. Before joining the College of Law in 2015, Matthew worked as an associate in Chicago with Winston & Strawn LLP where he focused on financial services litigation. He has also worked as a social worker and as a teaching fellow in Gary, Indiana through the New Teacher Project.
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As a land-grant institution, the University of Illinois was founded on the idea it should provide education to the people of the state of Illinois, no matter their background or socioeconomic level. In addition, the College of Law’s mission includes advancing justice and the public good. To marry these goals, the College of Law and Pre-Law Advising Services created the I Am Ready program, which supports students from any institution in central Illinois to enhance participant success in the law admissions process and the first year of law school.
In this episode, Megan Pickens, director of pre-law advising services, and Rebecca Ray, assistant dean of admissions and financial aid, join the podcast to discuss the I Am Ready program. They shared their motivation, details about the program, and information about how students and alumni can be part of I Am Ready.
Andrew Johnson, a member of the first I Am Ready cohort and a rising 3L at Illinois Law, also joined the podcast. He shared some of his experience and how I Am Ready has helped set him on a path to a successful law school career.
For more information about I Am Ready, including how to apply, visit their website: https://prelaw.illinois.edu/events/annual-programs/i-am-ready/
You can contact Pre-Law Advising at prelaw@illinois.edu or Law Admissions at law-admissions@illinois.edu.
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If you have comments or suggestions for the podcast, please contact podcast@law.illinois.edu.
The University of Illinois College of Law is proud to share that third-year student Gavin Sepanik has been named a 2026 recipient of The American Bankruptcy Law Journal Prize. The award recognizes students who have earned the highest grade in a bankruptcy class at any ABA accredited United States law school. Sepanik was nominated for the award by Professor Robert Lawless, making him the second recipient from the College of Law in the last two years, following Mary Hudson, who was nominated by Professor Ralph Brubaker in 2025.
In the Summer/Fall 2026 issue of “The Learning Curve,” published by AALS, Professor Michael Loch shared an article on how to increase focus on how students learn. Centered around Hermann Ebbinghaus’s forgetting curve, the article details why individuals forget things and how law schools can help their students overcome the nature of forgetting to maximize success.
In the search for new means of sustainability in agriculture, genome-edited microbes represent a promising tool. In a new paper, Professor Jacob Sherkow investigates the regulatory issues and differences between the US and EU approaches, including recent EU legislation. The article suggests that there are lessons to be learned on both sides and provides recommendations for future regulations.
Tom Ulen, research professor and Swanlund Chair Emeritus at the University of Illinois College of Law, passed away on September 13, 2026. He was 79.
A towering scholarly figure, Tom joined the University in the late 1970s, beginning an association with Illinois that would span nearly half a century. He held the Swanlund Chair, one of the University’s highest endowed faculty honors, and directed the College’s Program in Law and Economics. A prolific and internationally influential scholar, he helped shape modern law and economics. His co-authored textbook, Law and Economics, became a leading work in the discipline and was translated into numerous languages. He served on the founding board of directors of the American Law and Economics Association, taught and lectured around the world, and received an honorary doctorate from KU Leuven in recognition of his scholarly contributions.
In a message to the College of Law community, Dean Jamelle Sharpe shared the following sentiments:
“For all that Tom accomplished over his remarkable career, what I—and, I know, so many others—will remember most is his humor, kindness, and humanity. A beloved colleague for decades, he brought unmistakable warmth and good humor to the College, along with a genuine interest in others and boundless generosity of spirit and intellect. That generosity endured long after his retirement. Tom remained engaged with the College’s intellectual and personal life, sharing ideas, encouragement, laughter, and friendship with so many of us. His presence was a blessing to this community, and I know that many colleagues, former students, and friends around the world will feel his loss deeply.”
Memorial services will be held in Champaign in the coming weeks. Read the full obituary at legacy.com.
The Iowa Law Review Symposium, “Philosophy at Trial,” will discuss the philosophical issues at the heart of recent Supreme Court jurisprudence on September 17, 2026. The University of Illinois College of Law will be well represented at the event, with three faculty members and a JSD student taking part. Mohammad Khalilzadeh, a JSD student, will be one of the moderators of the symposium; Professors Heidi Hurd and Michael Moore will speak on the first panel on State Power and Legitimacy; and Professor Bill Watson will speak on the final panel on Interpretation and Legal Content.