Category: News

Illinois Law names 85 employers to 2025–26 Employer Honor Roll

Greg Miarecki presenting Honor Roll plaque to Reed Smith employees

The University of Illinois College of Law recently published its 2025–2026 Employer Honor Roll, recognizing employers who have regularly hired recent College of Law graduates. This past year represents a significant milestone in the history of the Honor Roll, with a record-breaking number of employers—85 in total—being recognized.  This year’s Honor Roll features an impressive and diverse array of employers, including law firms of many sizes; a wide variety of federal, state, and local government agencies; public interest employers; and courts. Combined, Honor Roll employers have hired approximately 270 recent College of Law graduates in the Classes of 2023, ’24, and ’25. With the support of Honor Roll members and hundreds of additional employers, the College of Law has continued to deliver a strong array of opportunities for its graduates.

“The College of Law is humbled to have such a diverse and impressive group of employer partners,” Jamelle Sharpe, dean of the College of Law, said. “We are especially pleased to have so many employers included on the Honor Roll this year. It’s a testament to the quality of our graduates and their ability to add value on day one.”

First created in 2014, the Honor Roll has been updated annually since. This year’s group includes many long-time honorees, as well as a large number of new employers. 

“We appreciate the chance to be of service to so many great legal providers,” noted Greg Miarecki, the College’s executive assistant dean for Career Planning and Professional Development.  “We are excited to continue working with our Honor Roll employers and all of our employer partners in this dynamic and challenging recruiting environment.”

In 2025, the College of Law introduced the first annual Employer Honor Roll luncheon, which welcomed more than 100 attendees from over 50 different employers.  Employer Honor Roll members listed below will receive their awards at the next Honor Roll luncheon, currently slated for the fall of 2026.

DIAMOND

Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP
Kirkland & Ellis LLP
Sidley Austin LLP

PLATINUM

Benesch
Chapman and Cutler LLP
Circuit Court of Cook County
Del Galdo Law Group, LLC
Heyl Royster
Husch Blackwell LLP
Jenner & Block LLP
Jones Day
Law Office of the Cook County Public Defender
Litchfield Cavo LLP
McDermott Will & Schulte
McGuireWoods
Meyer Capel
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
Office of the Cook County Public Guardian
Office of the Illinois Attorney General
Reed Smith LLP
Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP
University of Illinois – Office of University Counsel
Wilson Elser
Winston Taylor

GOLD

Champaign County State’s Attorney’s Office
Dickinson Wright PLLC
Donohue Brown Smyth LLC
Foley & Lardner LLP
Foran Glennon Palandech Ponzi & Rudloff PC
Greenberg Traurig, LLP
Ice Miller LLP
Internal Revenue Service
Jackson Lewis PC
Office of the State Appellate Defender
Polsinelli
Quarles & Brady LLP
U.S. Army JAG Corps
United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois
United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois
Vedder
WilliamsMcCarthy LLP

SILVER

Akerman LLP
ArentFox Schiff LLP
Barnes & Thornburg LLP
Beermann LLP
Champaign County Public Defender’s Office
City of Chicago Department of Law
Crowell & Moring
DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office
Dykema
Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP
Fish & Richardson P.C.
Fox Rothschild LLP
Grant Austin, LLC
Hall Prangle LLC
Illinois Appellate Court, First District
Illinois Appellate Court, Fourth District Research Department
Jackson LLP
Johnson & Bell, Ltd.
K&L Gates LLP
King & Spalding
Latham & Watkins LLP
Levenfeld Pearlstein, LLC
Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP
Macon County Public Defender’s Office
Maron Marvel Bradley Anderson & Tardy LLC
Mayer Brown
McAndrews, Held & Malloy, Ltd.
McGuire Law, P.C.
Morgan & Morgan, P.A.
National Labor Relations Board
Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg LLP
Nyhan, Bambrick, Kinzie, & Lowry
Patzik, Frank & Samotny Ltd.
Peoria County State’s Attorney’s Office
Ropes & Gray LLP
Seyfarth Shaw LLP
Squire Patton Boggs
Swanson, Martin & Bell, LLP
Thomas Mamer, LLP
Thompson Coburn LLP
Troutman Pepper Locke
United States Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of Illinois
Venable LLP
Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP

The complete list of Honor Roll employers, along with the methodology for selecting employers, can be found at www.law.illinois.edu/careers/employer-honor-roll.

Illinois LawCast: First-Year Experiences

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The first year of law school is a unique experience. Though some students may have the option to enroll in pre-law minor, there is no requirement for any specific curriculum to be admitted to law school, which makes the first year a foundational year that can be challenging, surprising, and inspiring in a short period of time. For this episode, we gathered a few talented and intelligent members of the Illinois Law Class of 2028 to discuss their 1L year as it comes to an end. Guests in this episode are Blessing Agyare, Liam Davis, and Darius Johnson, who discussed why they chose to study law at Illinois, what surprised them about their first year, what they’ll take with them as they go forward, and more.

If you’d like to know more about student life at Illinois Law, please check out our website. If you are considering applying, our application is always free—no codes required.

Listen online.
Watch on YouTube.
Listen on Apple Podcasts.
Listen on Spotify Podcasts.
Listen on Amazon Music.
Listen on Pandora.

If you have comments or suggestions for the podcast, please contact podcast@law.illinois.edu.

Clinic students earn dismissal of some charges for client

First Amendment Clinic students Joseph Saoud and Henry Lu

For young lawyers, a first appearance in court is a big deal. Standing before a judge and presenting hours of hard work can reaffirm hopes and dreams or it can alter career trajectories; either way, it is not easily forgotten.

For third-year students Henry Lu and Joseph Saoud, taking part in the First Amendment Clinic offered that chance to get courtroom experience and much more.

“I personally really wanted to get that hands-on experience. I was told before starting that clinic gives students the opportunity to kind of lead their own cases, something that a lot of junior associates won’t be able to get,” Lu said. “We were given that opportunity. We had pretty significant leeway in terms of being able to navigate through the case, and I think that that was a really valuable experience.”

Lu and Saoud were assigned a defamation case involving rival politicians. After their political campaign against each other, one of the politicians filed suit claiming statements from the other politician were defamatory. The First Amendment Clinic pair joined the case in the early stages and worked on a motion to dismiss some or all of the claims as not defamatory as a matter of law.

Both students came to the clinic with a passion for the First Amendment and were excited to tackle a case like this, putting what they’ve studied so diligently in class to practice in a real-life setting. At times the case felt imposing, between the weight of filing documents in court for the first time and working for older professionals while still a student. Saoud described it as a “different kind of pressure.”

“There’s something about the stakes being so much higher when you know that this is a consequential piece of paper I’m working on right now and if I don’t give it my all this can have really big implications for someone’s life,” he added. “I think that pushed us to produce our best work when maybe in class we would have been just tired and not wanting to put in more work. But it was great. I feel so much more confident now.”

After their day in court, Lu and Saoud were able to get four-and-a-half of the 12 statements in the suit dismissed for their client, a result both felt proud to have accomplished. Saoud summed it up by saying, “If success is all the learning that we did, absolutely it was successful.”

Though helping their client was the most important thing, Lu and Saoud agreed the work was important for them personally. The experience writing briefs and learning administrative parts of the job, such as tracking hours, will be greatly beneficial in the very near future after the duo graduate and begin their careers. For all those reasons, the First Amendment clinic experience is one they would recommend to any student.

“I think the First Amendment Clinic was one of the most valuable experiences of my law school journey,” Lu said. “You spend so much time in the classroom in law school, and you never actually get to participate in the practice of law, which is what you go to law school for in the first place. Joseph and I talked about this a lot, but we always recommend our friends to apply for the First Amendment Clinic and we tell them about our experience. I think a lot of people would definitely benefit from it.”

Learn more about the First Amendment Clinic at Illinois.

Gerke: Autonomous AI-based drug prescribing rife with potential problems

Sara Gerke in the Law building

A first-of-its-kind pilot program in Utah developed by a health-technology startup company uses artificial intelligence to automatically renew certain prescriptions for patients with chronic conditions such as hypertension and diabetes. But according to a new paper co-written by a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign expert in legal issues surrounding cutting-edge medical technology, autonomous AI-based drug prescribing raises important clinical and legal issues.

With AI rapidly being deployed in health care, a “move fast and break things” mentality has permeated the industry, raising complex questions about the role of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in regulating these technologies, says Sara Gerke, the Richard W. & Marie L. Corman Scholar at the College of Law.

“The big issue here is the relationship between state and federal law, which we’re seeing in Utah, where the state has become a testing ground for so-called AI sandboxes that companies can use to experiment,” said Gerke, also a professor at the European Union Center at Illinois. “The idea behind it is to test these AI medical tools before they are completely developed. But even that is legally questionable. The existence of mitigation agreements and waivers under state law doesn’t automatically render the use of unproven medical technology lawful at the federal level.”

Read more at news.illinois.edu.

Immigration Law Clinic selected by ISBA for the 2026 John E. Thies Excellence in Legal Education Award

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The Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA) has named the University of Illinois College of Law Immigration Law Clinic as one of the recipients of the 2026 John E. Thies Excellence in Legal Education Award. The award recognizes law school programs that emphasize real world skills for law students. The clinic will be honored at the ISBA Member Appreciation and Recognition Reception on Thursday, May 14 at the Morton Arboretum.

Kaplan says Trump’s recent remarks about pulling back on federal funding of Medicare are result of “fundamental misunderstanding” of how the program works

Professor Kaplan teaches in front of a blackboard

According to the New York Sun, President Trump suggested during remarks at a private luncheon that the federal government may no longer support essential care programs and that states should instead rely on state-level funding to do so.

Professor and tax law expert Richard Kaplan says that the president’s remarks about Medicare, in particular, rest on a fundamental misunderstanding of how the program is financed.

“Medicare is almost entirely funded by the federal government through payroll taxes paid by almost all employees, the great majority of self-employed persons, and most employers; premiums paid by program enrollees; and general federal funds,” Kaplan said. “States have no role of any consequence.”

Read the full article at nysun.com.

First Amendment Clinic helps secure a victory against the Wisconsin DOJ, thanks in part to sustained efforts of student clinicians

Gabriela De La Llana

On Tuesday, April 28, 2026, Dane County Circuit Court Judge Rhonda Lanford ruled that the Wisconsin Department of Justice must release its list of approximately 16,000 law enforcement officers currently certified in the state.  The judge rejected the DOJ’s arguments that releasing the list would identify undercover officers, subject officers to harassment, or put them in danger.

“When responding to records requests, there is a strong presumption of openness and liberal access to public records,” wrote the judge.  “[T]he DOJ has not met its burden to show that this is an ‘exceptional case’ warranting nondisclosure.”  The judge concluded that DOJ’s denial “was not the product of a genuine, case-by-case balancing analysis, but rather a habitual denial based on [its] past inability to garner compliance from local agencies.”

The suit was brought by The Badger Project and Invisible Institute.  The media organizations are represented by the Wisconsin Transparency Project and the University of Illinois College of Law First Amendment Clinic.

The Badger Project is a nonpartisan journalism nonprofit that focuses on and investigates government, politics, and related matters in Wisconsin. Invisible Institute is a nonprofit public accountability journalism organization based in Chicago.  Both organizations have litigated cases seeking police records and written extensively about law enforcement issues, particularly the problem of “wandering officers” who jump agencies to avoid discipline.

The Badger Project and Invisible Institute asked for officers’ names, birth years or ages, zip code, and work history.  Most states release this information, but have not experienced any significant problems caused by making the information public.  The request did not ask for home addresses.

Both organizations have reported on the lawsuit:

Wisconsin Is in the Minority of States Shielding Police Data.  We’re Suing to Change that

‘Wisconsin does not, and should not, have secret police’ – The Badger Project sues state DOJ for full list of law enforcement officers

“Courts have ruled time and time again that speculative fears of harm do not justify withholding government records from the public,” said Tom Kamenick, president of the Wisconsin Transparency Project.  “Government officials must do more than merely claim that, hypothetically, something bad might happen if the records are released.  Rather, they must show that harm is likely to occur and is sufficiently serious to overcome the presumption of access to government records.  DOJ could not do that here.”

“We are incredibly proud to have represented the Invisible Institute in this critical fight for accountability,” said Lena Shapiro, Director of the First Amendment Clinic. “Securing this victory took three years of sustained effort, with nine students and two fellows from the First Amendment Clinic pouring their energy into this matter to ensure that the public’s right to know prevailed over blanket government secrecy.”

The Clinic students handled discovery, including resolving disputes and taking depositions, and briefed the successful motion for summary judgment, which was ultimately argued in January by advanced student Gabriela De La Llana.For a copy of the complaint, contact the First Amendment Clinic at the University of Illinois College of Law at law-firstamend@illinois.edu.

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