Professor Heidi Hurd was recently a featured guest on the Just Theory podcast, where she spoke about morality and the concept of mercy. Funded by Newcastle University, the mission of the podcast is to change the face of legal theory and champion female-led scholarship in analytic legal philosophy and jurisprudence.
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.
In this episode, Professor Heidi Hurd explains her class, Costa Rica: A Case Study in Environmentally Sustainable Economic Development, a January intersession course that takes students to Costa Rica to learn from politicians and environmentalists and experience the natural world up close. Professor Hurd goes through the history of the class, her favorite memories, and why she feels this course is so important to Illinois Law’s environmental law offerings.
Also joining the podcast are Josh Rosen, a third-year student, and Sophia Abedi, a second-year student, both of whom traveled with Hurd to Costa Rica this past January. They share their experiences and how the course resonated with them in the present and will continue to make a difference in their careers.
For more information about Illinois Law’s commitment to environmental law, please visit our website. For more about the Costa Rica course, see the specific course listing.
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If you have comments or suggestions for the podcast, please contact podcast@law.illinois.edu.
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.