One of Illinois Law’s areas of strength is environmental law. We routinely offer core courses such as environmental law, administrative law, and natural resources, as well as advanced environmental electives, such as climate change and sustainable development. Where we go the extra mile, literally, is in innovative environmental courses that offer hands-on teaching.

Michael S. Moore and Heidi M. Hurd are currently Distinguished Visiting Fellows at The Australian National University in Canberra, Australia’s capital. On October 15 they gave a joint public lecture sponsored by the ANU Philosophy Department and attended by ANU faculty, graduate students, and members of the larger federal civil service on “The Impropriety of Punishing for Negligent Wrongdoing.”

Heidi M. Hurd gave the prestigious Alistair Macleod Distinguished Lecture in Philosophy at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, in late February 2025. Entitled “The Immorality of Mercy,” Professor Hurd’s talk to a packed auditorium of faculty and graduate students in law and the humanities challenged the claim that mercy is compatible with justice. 

Professors Heidi M. Hurd and Michael Moore delivered keynote lectures at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law in Freiburg, Germany, as part of a multi-day, international, multi-disciplinary conference on the topic of Criminal Liability for Negligence. Hurd spoke about the topic of Criminal Responsibility for Carelessness and Moore spoke about Defending a Choice-Based Theory of Criminal Responsibility. Attending the conference were leading criminal law scholars in law, psychology, political science, and philosophy across Europe and within Anglo-American legal systems.