General Events

The University of Illinois College of Law will celebrate the investiture of 

Patrick Keenan as the 
Albert J. Harno Professor of Law
Friday, March 13
12 pm

Remote attendees may join the ceremony live at: TBD

Free and open to the campus community; a reception will immediately follow in the Peer and Sarah Pedersen Pavilion.

Patrick Keenan joined the University of Illinois College of Law faculty in 2001. An expert in human rights and international law, Professor Keenan focuses his research on international criminal law, counterterrorism law, and human rights. He has published articles on the U.S. drone program, international criminal law and conflict minerals, human trafficking and tourism, China’s role in Africa, the human rights potential of sovereign wealth funds, the International Finance Corporation’s investments in Africa and the Caribbean, and many other issues.

Professor Keenan has taught courses on counterterrorism law, international criminal law, public international law, human rights, and the ethical responsibilities of lawyers. He also created, and for 10 years directed, the Human Rights Law Clinic, in which students worked directly with lawyers and advocates in Africa and the Caribbean on human rights issues.

In addition to teaching at the University of Illinois, he served as a visiting professor at the University of Chicago Law School and lectured at the Chuo University School of Law in Tokyo.

Before coming to the University of Illinois, Professor Keenan litigated death penalty cases in Georgia and Alabama as an attorney with the Southern Center for Human Rights.

Professor Keenan graduated from Yale Law School and Tufts University, clerked for Judge Myron H. Thompson of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, and served in the Peace Corps in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

About the Albert J. Harno Professor of Law

The Albert J. Harno Professor of Law was made possible through the thoughtful planning and a generous estate donation of Albert E. Jenner, Jr. ’30 in honor of Dean Harno.

Dean Albert J. Harno served as a Professor of Law at the University of Illinois from 1921-1957 and was the Dean of the College from 1922-1957, overseeing the College’s move from Altgeld Hall to the current College of Law Building in 1955. He also served as University Provost from 1931-1944. Dean Harno was also one of the leading scholars in the field of criminal law, producing a critical chapter entitled “The Supreme Court, In Felony Cases” in the 1929 Illinois Crime Survey, along with bringing forth the texts, Sentencing and Parole in Illinois and Cases and Materials on Criminal Law and Procedure.