Faculty News 25 - College of Law

Shapiro speaks to CNN about campus protests

Speaking to CNN after pro-Palestinian demonstrators were removed from the campuses of Columbia and Brown, Lena Shapiro, director of the First Amendment Clinic, emphasized the importance of safety during campus demonstrations. She explained colleges should ensure all students have a space to protest while imposing reasonable restrictions on the time, place, and manner of protests to maintain order. Additionally, Shapiro highlighted the need for open communication between schools and protesters to find common ground and avoid conflicts.

Read the full article on CNN’s website.

Regulatory Review analyzes recent article from Rowell

Americans spend nearly 90% of their time indoors, yet current environmental laws do not regulate indoor air quality. The Regulatory Review recently analyzed a recent article from Professor Arden Rowell in which she argues that effective environmental policies should include indoor environments, as existing regulations like the Clean Air Act only cover outdoor air, creating a patchwork of inadequate protections. She advocates for comprehensive federal regulations to address indoor air quality, emphasizing that such measures are essential for safeguarding human health as outdoor environments become more hazardous.

Read the full review online.

Mazzone discusses campus speech on WGN Radio

In an extensive interview on the WGN Radio program “Let’s Get Legal,” Professor Jason Mazzone answered a number of questions about free speech on campus and how universities can regulate conduct on their grounds. In the wake of protests at colleges and universities across the country, he addressed the legal issues that protect speech and protect the ability to say when and where that speech is protected. “Universities are not just…a place where anyone can show up and speak,” he told host Jon Hansen.

Listen to the full interview from WGN Radio.

Amar and Mazzone explore free speech in high schools in new series

University of Illinois Laboratory High School.

After a North Carolina high school student was suspended for using the term “illegal alien” in an assignment, Professors Vikram Amar and Jason Mazzone look closely at the First Amendment issues arising from the situation. In a two-part series on Justia Verdict, the authors break down the case as if it were being presented before a class of law students, examining what the law says and what precedent exists. Their analysis winds through “how complicated, murky (and unresolved) much of the doctrinal landscape in this realm is,” and how cases like this pose important questions about free speech.

Read part 1 and part 2 on Justia Verdict.

Thomas discusses Trump trials and juries with Illinois News Bureau

“I hope all of the criminal Trump trials highlight the importance of juries,” Professor Suja Thomas told the Illinois News Bureau in a recent interview. She spoke at length on what impact former President Donald Trump’s trials may have on the public perception of jury duty. Though there has been a decline in jury trials due to plea bargains in criminal cases and private arbitration or dismissals in civil cases, Thomas emphasized the crucial role of jury trials in checking governmental power and ensuring fair justice, noting systemic biases favoring the wealthy in the current criminal justice system.

Read the full interview on the Illinois News Bureau site.

Winship authors post on suits against private companies brought by shareholders

Professor Verity Winship teaches a class.

In a new blog post published on the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, Professor Verity Winship examines a “blindspot in the law and its analysis”: suits brought by investors against the company in which they own shares. Reviewing literature on “unicorn” companies, private companies valued over $1 billion, Winship discovered a few interesting and unique aspects of shareholder suits against these groups. She found such cases are rare and predominantly based on state-law claims, and their rarity may be due to procedural limitations, investment structures, and the absence of market prices, necessitating a new approach to align regulatory frameworks with the realities of modern private companies.

Supreme Court cites Amar in securities fraud case

By a 6-3 decision in the case of SEC v. Jarkesy, the Supreme Court ruled defendants are entitled to a jury trial under the Seventh Amendment in cases of federal agencies seeking civil penalties for alleged fraud. The decision, authored by Chief Justice John Roberts, places new limits on the ability of federal agencies to charge a person or company with a violation. In the opinion for the majority, Chief Justice Roberts cites Professor Vikram Amar’s scholarship, which criticized earlier cases in which the Court allowed certain disputes to be resolved before administrative agencies without the safeguards that juries provide.

Read the full opinion in the case of SEC v. Jarksey.

Murphy receives grant under BRIDGE strategic partnership initiative

The BRIDGE Alliance, a partnership between the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and University of Birmingham, recently commemorated its 10-year anniversary by announcing an investment to establish strategic research partnerships with the Global South, focusing on global health, sustainability, and education access and equity. In addition, the BRIDGE Seed Fund, some $200,000 of annual funding, continues to kick-start research projects between the two universities. Professor Colleen Murphy and colleagues at Birmingham are the beneficiaries of the BRIDGE Seed Fund, for their proposed collaborative project “Establishing and Inaugurating Transitional Justice and Human Rights Network.” The project involves a workshop focused on the intersection of human rights law and transitional justice as well as a visit in the spring of 2025 to discuss future collaborations.

Sherkow is quoted in Nature Biotechnology about prime editing and patents

Illinois Law professor and IP expert Jacob Sherkow spoke to Nature Biotechnology about the recent Tome Biosciences acquisition of Replace Therapeutics to enhance their gene editing capabilities. The article discusses the surge of prime editing deals in biotechnology as companies seek to secure patent rights and avoid intellectual property conflicts. The industry is seeing mergers and partnerships driven by the need for access to patented technologies. Sherkow highlighted the importance of IP rights in these deals, stating, “It is an absolute gobsmacking sum of money. And that is something that is worth thinking about as to whether or not that is a lesson for others in the field.”

Read the full article at nature.com.

Murphy to deliver keynote at TU Delft Share Fair: Design for Justice

Professor Colleen Murphy will deliver the keynote address at the Delft Design for Values Institute event Share Fair: Design for Justice. The event is intended to share knowledge, networks, perspectives, and insights on the subject of Design and Justice. The conference takes place on June 4, 2024 at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands.

Learn more.