News 5 - College of Law

Chicago Tribune quotes Mazzone on birthright citizenship

Professor Jason Mazzone speaks during a panel

“There are few cases that are more important than this one,” Professor Jason Mazzone told the Chicago Tribune about the United States Supreme Court’s case deciding the constitutionality of President Donald Trump’s attempt to restrict birthright citizenship. In an extensive article about how the end of birthright citizenship would affect those in Chicago, Mazzone told the Tribune the Court must rule the effort unconstitutional. “If you read the president’s executive order and you match it to the language of the 14th Amendment I think most people will see the flat contradiction between those two texts,” he said.

Read the full article from the Chicago Tribune.

Sherkow authors amicus brief for SCOTUS

Ionic column at the Smith Memorial Hall.

Professor Jacob Sherkow has extensive scholarship in the area of patents and has been cited as an expert many times on the issue of drug labels being used in patent cases. In the case of Hikma Pharmaceuticals USA Inc. v. Amarin Pharma Inc., currently before the United States Supreme Court, Sherkow has authored an amicus brief with Professor Paul R. Gugliuzza of the University of Texas at Austin School of Law. The brief is written in support of neither party, but urges the court to discontinue allowing this practice of “infringement by label.”

Read the full amicus brief.

Bloomberg and STAT quote Sherkow on Moderna settlement

In a settlement deal over claims Moderna infringed upon patents owned by Roviant in its COVID-19 vaccine, Moderna has agreed to pay up to $2.25 billion. The settlement, however, has a unique structure in which Moderna will pay $950 million up front and then another $1.3 million if an appeal to have parts of its liability offloaded to the federal government fail. “This was a case that should have settled at the very beginning,” Sherkow told STAT. “There was never any real dispute that Moderna was infringing. It was just a matter of coming up with a number that was mutually acceptable.”

Read Bloomberg’s coverage and STAT’s coverage of the settlement.

Illinois team featuring Rowell flags risks in reactor proposal

Professor Arden Rowell was part of an interdisciplinary team of University of Illinois researchers raising concerns about a proposed rule that could reduce environmental oversight for advanced nuclear reactors. The group submitted a public comment to the U.S. Department of Energy about a rule that would allow certain advanced reactor activities—including siting, construction, operation, and decommissioning—to proceed without standard environmental reviews. The team concluded the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission should not adopt the Department of Energy’s characterization of advanced reactors as technologies that normally have no significant environmental impacts.

Johnson invested as Edward W. Cleary Professor of Law

Professor Eric Johnson at his investiture ceremony

On February 24, 2026, Eric A. Johnson was invested as the Edward W. Cleary Professor of Law in a ceremony at the College of Law Building. The investiture ceremony honored Johnson for his commitment to and ways he has helped further advance the mission of the University of Illinois College of Law.

In remarks shared at the ceremony, Professor Heidi Hurd praised his tenure at Illinois thus far: “Professor Johnson is a profoundly impactful scholar with an enviable national reputation for doing exquisitely careful, detailed and rigorous work.” Dean Jamelle Sharpe added an example of the impact he has had, noting that the Illinois Supreme Court unanimously sided with Johnson’s opinion of how causal problems in overdetermination cases ought to be resolved over that of former United States Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia

Professor Johnson joined the University of Illinois in 2009 after a career as a government attorney. He spent 11 years in the Alaska Attorney General’s Office and an additional three years as assistant solicitor general in the New York State Attorney General’s Office before entering academia as the directo of the prosecution clinic at the University of Wyoming College of Law. Since coming to Illinois, Johnson has enhanced his reputation as an expert in criminal law, criminal procedure, and evidence. His work has been published in an array of peer- and student-edited journals, including Law and Philosophy, the Boston University Law Review, and the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology. Twice Johnson has received the college’s annual Carroll P. Hurd Award for Excellence in Faculty Scholarship; he has also served as associate dean for academic affairs and students named him the 2L Professor of the Year in 2013 and have chosen him as convocation hooder eight times. His full bio is available on his faculty profile page.

Professor Johnson’s endowed position was established by an estate donation from Albert E. Jenner in honor of Professor Edward Cleary. Cleary was a distinguished graduate of the Illinois Law Class of 1932 and went on to practice law and serve in the United States Navy before joining the College of Law faculty in 1946, where he established himself as an expert on legal procedure and evidence. Johnson, who was joined by members of his family at the ceremony, was honored with speeches from Dr. Amy Santos, associate provost for faculty development and professor in the Department of Special Education, as well as Dean Jamelle Sharpe.

Watch the full investiture ceremony on our YouTube page.

Professor Amy Santos, Professor Eric Johnson, Dean Jamelle Sharpe

Dean Jamelle Sharpe delivers remarks at the investiture of Professor Eric Johnson

Sherkow talks drug labels with Illinois News Bureau

In his latest paper, Professor Jacob Sherkow argues that recent court decisions that treat safety information on a drug’s package as key evidence in patent cases against generic-drug manufacturers have been incorrectly adjudicated and should be reversed by the Supreme Court. “Those lower court decisions, which embrace a legal theory we call ‘infringement by label,’ are incorrect. It’s a fictional turn in the law that we hope the Supreme Court shuts down,” he told the Illinois News Bureau.

Read the full article from the Illinois News Bureau.

Winship invested as Edwin M. Adams Professor of Law

Amy Santos, Verity Winship, and Jamelle Sharpe gather for a photo prior to Professor Winship's investiture ceremony

On February 10, 2026, Verity Winship was invested as the Edwin M. Adams Professor of Law in a ceremony honoring her commitment to scholarship, teaching, and public engagement.

An expert in business law and complex litigation, Professor Winship has been a vital part of the College of Law since 2010, twice earning the Carroll P. Hurd Award for Excellence in Faculty Scholarship as well as serving as Interim Dean of the College of Law and the Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. She has also served as fellow in the Academic Leadership Program in the Big Ten Academic Alliance and chaired the Securities Regulation section of the American Association of Law Schools during her time at Illinois. Her full bio is available on her faculty profile page.

Professor Winship’s endowed position was made possible through a generous gift from the late Edwin M. Adams, a well-known lawyer and actor, who earned his law degree at Illinois in 1939. Joined by her family, Winship was honored with speeches from Dr. Amy Santos, associate provost for faculty development and professor in the Department of Special Education, as well as Dean Jamelle Sharpe.

Watch the ceremony on our YouTube channel.

Verity Winship speaks at a podium during her investiture ceremony.

Amy Santos and Jamelle Sharpe talk and laugh together in a classroom

Sherkow quoted in Bloomberg Law on various patent lawsuits

Professor Jake Sherkow gives remarks during his investiture ceremony.

Professor Jake Sherkow spoke to Bloomberg Law on several occasions in February, regarding patent lawsuits that are making their way through the courts.

One of the lawsuits, filed by Novo Nordisk A/S against Hims & Hers Health Inc., takes aim at the practice of drug compounding and highlights the ambiguity between the FDA’s compounding framework and US patent law. Sherkow said that the lawsuit demonstrates that compounding pharmacies and direct-to-consumer telehealth platforms have grown from “minuscule operations” into “real players” that brand-name drugmakers now view as worth targeting in patent litigation. Read more from Sherkow on this case at bloomberglaw.com.

Another lawsuit, filed by BioNTech SE against Moderna Inc., claims patent infringement involving mRNA vaccine technology.

“This is typical of cutting-edge technology as it matures,” Sherkow said. “The original patents—and patent disputes—are often about using the technology more broadly, with one or few early entrants suing manufacturers. As the technology develops—and that first generation of patents gets older—we see more, albeit narrower, patenting focusing on specific products, and a great number of patent holders suing (and cross-suing) other manufacturers.” Read more from Sherkow on this case at bloomberglaw.com.

Illinois LawCast: Jurist in Residence Judge Candace Jackson-Awikumi

Illinois LawCast art with portrait of Judge Candace Jackson-Akiwumi

This episode examines the College of Law’s Jurist in Residence program. Started in 2025, the program brings a member of the judicial branch to campus to teach a class, work with faculty, and be a resource to students. The program, one of only two such initiatives in Illinois, aims to deepen the College’s connections to the bench, inspire students to pursue judicial clerkships, and provide them with the opportunity to learn from leading legal minds.

Dean Jamelle Sharpe is the first guest on the episode, and he joined to share a little background on the program and some of his personal experience with the College of Law’s 2026 Jurist in Residence. The second guest on the episode is Judge Candace Jackson-Awikumi, who spent time on campus in March as the latest Jurist in Residence. She spoke about her background, how she came to the bench, and what she enjoyed about her time at Illinois Law.

About Judge Candace Jackson-Awikumi

Judge Candace Jackson-Akiwumi was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit by President Joseph R. Biden in July 2021. She is the first former public defender to sit on that court, which reviews decisions made by federal courts in Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin. A native of Norfolk, Virginia, Judge Jackson-Akiwumi received her A.B., with honors, from Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs and her J.D. from Yale Law School, where she was a Senior Editor of the Yale Law Journal. She began her legal career as a law clerk to Judge David H. Coar of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and Judge Roger L. Gregory of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. She then practiced law at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and spent a decade as an attorney with the Federal Defender Program for the Northern District of Illinois, Inc., before joining the Washington, D.C., litigation firm Zuckerman Spaeder LLP. Judge Jackson-Akiwumi previously served on the boards of the Chicago Chapter of the Federal Bar Association, the Black Women Lawyers’ Association of Greater Chicago, and the Princeton Club of Chicago. During her time as a federal public defender, she taught at national seminars and Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law. She also served as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar in Israel and Namibia, a Princeton-in-Asia fellow in Thailand, and an American Inns of Court Temple Bar Scholar in England.

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

Yan Liu ’94 to deliver 2026 convocation address

The College of Law is honored to announce that Yan Liu ’94 will deliver the convocation address to the Class of 2026. The College of Law Convocation Ceremony will take place Saturday, May 16, at 1:00 p.m. in the Great Hall of Krannert Center for the Performing Arts.

Liu is General Counsel and Director of the Legal Department of the International Monetary Fund. In her role, she serves as an advisor to the IMF’s Executive Board, management, staff, and country membership on all legal aspects of IMF operations and functions. Liu was promoted to General Counsel in October 2024, becoming only the second female to serve in that role in the 80-year history of IMF.

Since 1999 Liu has been with the IMF, in that time leading the Legal Department’s work on a range of issues, such as reforming IMF policies on lending; strengthening central banking and financial sector legal frameworks; leading work on corporate and household insolvency, and public debt management; and contributing to the development of international standards for financial regulation. She is an expert in sovereign debt, setting the Fund’s IMF policies in this field and supporting the Common Framework and the Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable. Liu has published extensively in areas such as private debt, sovereign debt restructuring, and good governance.

Liu received her Juris Doctor from Illinois in 1994, and a master’s degree from the University of Chicago. Prior to joining the IMF, she practiced corporate and securities law in the United States.

For more information about the convocation ceremony, please visit our website.