News 38 - College of Law

Lawless quoted in Reuters series on lasting effects of slavery

In their series on how the effects of slavery remain with us today, Reuters spoke to Professor Robert Lawless about the history of bankruptcy. The series, titled “Slavery’s Descendants” examines how slavery, the Jim Crow era, and racial discrimination put two different families (one white, one black) on very different economic paths. For part four, “American Dreams,” Lawless provides his expertise to explain racial discrepancies in bankruptcy cases, which have tended to have worse outcomes for Black debtors than for white debtors.

Read the full article on Reuters’ website.

Jones speaks at conference on protecting children online

Professor Faye Jones was part of a select group of individuals asked to participate the in the NOVA Law International Conference on “Protecting children online: the role of data protection.” Held in late September at NOVA University Lisbon, the “Protecting children online” conference was organized by The Observatory of Personal Data Protection, whose institutional goal is updating and modernizing the rules for protection of personal data. Jones was part of a panel discussion titled “International and European perspectives: can data protection law protect children online?”

Maatuka honored with Athena Award

Main Library at the University of Illinois in early fall.

Shayla Maatuka ’03 made a promise to her grandma that she would try to get her uncle out of jail. When he died in prison, her determination to do good never wavered. Since receiving a law degree, she has continued working for the community and doing the most good she can, all while mentoring the next generation and helping others around her. Her humble commitment was recently recognized with the 2023 Athena Leadership Award by the Executive Club of Champaign County.

Robbennolt delivers keynote speech at ESELS Conference

At the 2nd annual conference of the European Society for Empirical Legal Studies, Professor Jennifer Robbennolt delivered the opening keynote lecture. Held in Warsaw, Poland, the conference brought together an international audience of empirical legal scholars to share research on the assumptions, the functioning and the impact of the law. Robbennolt was the third to speak at the conference, providing a keynote speech after opening remarks from the hosts. Her speech, “Apologies, Remorse, and Amends: Empirical Legal Studies Across Domains and Disciplines,” addressed the role of apologies in remedying harm and the research she has done in this area.

Mazzone writes op-ed on upcoming SCOTUS term

The First and Second Amendments, federal government powers, the prosecution of former President Donald Trump, and ethics are among the topics Professor Jason Mazzone is anticipating will dominate the upcoming Supreme Court term. Writing at the News-Gazette, Mazzone highlights the cases and issues that could prove monumental. In his opinion piece, he goes through high- and lower-profile cases that “might sound nerdy” but “could significantly impact the lives of many Americans.”

Read the full editorial on the News-Gazette website.

Sherkow delivers lecture at CMMC Symposium

Professor Jacob Sherkow travelled to Cologne, Germany, in September to deliver a lecture as part of the CMMC Symposium in Molecular Medicine. The Symposium was titled “From Concepts to Clinic: a New Era of Nucleic Acid Therapeutics,” and aimed to provide attendees with an in-depth understanding of the chemical, biological and clinical challenges in the field. Sherkow presented a speech titled “Nucleic Acid Platforms: US and EU regulatory challenges,” which was part of the preclinical and clinical application portion of the proceedings.

New York Times quotes LeRoy on changes in college football

When the 2023 season concludes in college football, the game may never look the same again. Teams will switch long-time conference allegiances, players will switch teams, some conferences may cease to exist, and the playoff system will triple in size. This upheaval is triggered by money: money from television contracts and money on offer to students in the form of NIL (name, image and likeness) deals. In their examination of the changes at hand, the New York Times quoted Professor Michael LeRoy, who was unsparing in his criticism of the current state of college football. “This has become a soulless enterprise,” LeRoy said. “There is no moral compass. There is no brotherhood. Now you eat off your brother’s plate and you don’t care if he goes hungry.”

Read the full article from the New York Times.

Rowell joins Beckman as an affiliate

Professor Arden Rowell, an expert in environmental law, administrative law, risk regulation and human behavior, has joined the faculty of the Beckman Institute or Advanced Science and Technology. In addition to her work at the College of Law, Rowell will share her expertise with students of Beckman and continue her collaborative work with the faculty and researchers there. Rowell’s recent collaborations at Beckman have focused on work with Zahra Mohaghegh, an associate professor of nuclear, plasma, and radiological engineering.

Lawless quoted in article on Shelby County bankruptcies

In the past year, Shelby County, Tennessee, has a record of six bankruptcies per 1,000 residents, a rate that tops the nation. With none of the other 100 largest counties in the United States having more than four per 1,000, the difference is not particularly close, either. In their investigation of this phenomenon, MLK50: Justice Through Journalism, a nonprofit Memphis newsroom, quoted Professor Robert Lawless. “(Shelby County) is a tremendous outlier,” said Lawless. “It’s hard to think of a reason why (that is) except for legal practice.… I have no question that there are attorneys in Memphis doing the right things by their client.… And I have no question that there are attorneys in Memphis that are taking advantage of people.”

Read the full article on the MLK50 site.

Shapiro discusses Kansas newspaper raid with Illinois News Bureau

In a dramatic scene, police in Marion, Kansas, raided the offices of the Marion County Record newspaper in late August, seizing reporters’ cell phones and computers, among other items. The “unheard of” raid immediately raised questions of First Amendment protections afforded to newspapers like the Marion County Record, which is owned by former Illinois journalism professor Eric K. Meyer. To address these questions, the Illinois News Bureau interviewed Professor Lena Shapiro, director of the First Amendment Clinic, who was unequivocal in her assertion that the raid was a violation of the Constitution’s protections. “This raid should never have happened in the first place, and I hope that the embarrassing outcome for Marion County in the government officials’ pursuit of the raid serves as a deterrent to others who want to push aside First Amendment protections to retaliate against journalists,” she said.

Read her full interview on the News Bureau site.