News featuring a faculty member
In the second term of President Donald Trump, several Big Law firms that previously had been eager to support pro bono immigration work are no longer touting their work in that area and may be discontinuing the work. Professor Lauren Aronson, director of the Immigration Law Clinic, spoke to Law.com about this shift, explaining “people are showing…how much pressure they can withstand.”
Ten years ago, Utah passed two pieces of legislation Utah to protect religious freedom and protect LGBT individuals from discrimination in housing and employment. Though it is one of the most conservative states in the United States, the “Utah Compromise” to enact these bills has held up so far and helped increase respect for individuals in the Beehive State. Professor Robin Fretwell Wilson co-authored an editorial for Deseret News examining the impacts of these laws after a decade.
Tara Twomey’s tenure as executive director of the U.S. Trustee Program was recently terminated by the Trump administration, drawing criticism from Professor Robert Lawless. In a blog for Credit Slips, Lawless writes that “Under Twomey’s leadership the US Trustee Program did dozens of things that make the system work just a little bit better for the people who need it,” and Bloomberg quoted him as saying the move was “a short-sighted and likely illegal decision.” In a follow-up blog, Lawless also responded to criticism of Twomey and defended her qualifications to work at the Department of Justice.
Read Lawless’s original blog post and follow-up post.
Writing at Justia Verdict, Professors Vikram Amar and Jason Mazzone describe the Fourteenth Amendment as perhaps the most important piece of law enacted anywhere in the world over the last two centuries. In their defense of the birthright citizenship clause, the authors suggest that criticisms of the clause in support of President Trump’s executive order seeking to end the practice are doing “absolute violence to the words of the Clause.”
Speaking to the Institute of Government and Public Affairs, Professor Lauren Aronson, who serves as director of the Immigration Law Clinic, shared her thoughts on recent directives from the Trump administration regarding undocumented immigrants and explains how they may impact Illinois law. “I have deep concerns over the current immigration climate. While immigrants are the primary target, they warned that the federal government’s overreach could eventually extend to other groups, not just immigrants,” she explained.
Professor Paul Heald delivered a lecture on Recent Empirical Research in Intellectual Property Law at the University of Glasgow on March 17. Part of their CREATe series of public lectures, Professor Heald discussed successes and failures in recent research projects and highlighted advances in methodology made by various researchers in empirical approaches to copyright, patent, trademark, and trade secret law that have proliferated over the last decade.
Professor Robin Fretwell Wilson has co-edited a new book, International Survey of Family Law 2024, covering topics including marriage equality, gender equality, LGBT rights, and abortion regulations around the U.S., among other topics. This edition continues the celebration of the International Society of Family Law’s (ISFL) fiftieth anniversary. It is published by Intersentia.
A federal judge is nearing a decision on an antitrust settlement between the NCAA and college athletes, and contracts signed by athletes might actually strengthen their case for collective bargaining rights. In an article examining the arguments of both sides, ESPN quoted Professor Michael LeRoy, who said, “It’s employment on its face. There’s no masking it.”
This episode is all about advocacy and what that means for law students and lawyers. We turn the spotlight on the Kimball R. and Karen Gatsis Anderson Center for Advocacy and Professionalism and learn about the classes and competitions they offer to help Illinois Law students become the best advocates possible. Guests include Professor Tony Ghiotto, director of the Anderson Center, and third-year students Yev Kozak and Nicole Marcinkus.
Listen online.
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.
In a co-authored blog post for Justia Verdict, Professors Lesley Wexler and Tony Ghiotto explore the significance of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s firing of Judge Advocates General in late February. Were these firings truly unprecedented? What consequences may arise from these firings, whether within military legal practice or how the military fights wars and complies with international law? Do they contribute to an ongoing existential threat to democracy and defense?