Sheila Simon, left, associate professor at SIU Simmons Law School, will share insights from her research and reflect on her career along with Dean Hannah Brenner Johnson in the inaugural “Simmons Law School Scholars in Conversation” on April 22. (Photo by Russell Bailey)
April 17, 2026
SIU Simmons Law School begins law scholars’ conversation series
CARBONDALE, Ill. — The Southern Illinois University Simmons Law School is launching a new initiative highlighting the scholarly work of law school faculty — with an inaugural guest whose career, Dean Hannah Brenner Johnson said, “is a model of what it looks like to combine teaching and scholarship with a deep commitment to public service.”
The first “Simmons Law School Scholars in Conversation” will feature Sheila Simon, a longtime associate professor at the law school who served as Illinois lieutenant governor from 2011 to 2015. Simon will share insights from her research and reflect on a career that took her from the courtroom and classroom to the Illinois Statehouse and then back to Simmons Law School. The virtual program will be available via Zoom at 5 p.m. Wednesday, April 22. Program registration is required.
Legal scholarship outside of journals, classrooms
Dean Hannah Brenner Johnson said the series will feature programs in both virtual and in-person formats a few times each semester, with “meaningful, accessible conversation about important legal questions.”
The series will “highlight the research, ideas and expertise of academics from Simmons Law School and elsewhere, covering a wide range of legal topics that matter to our alumni, our region, and the broader community,” she said.
“Our goal is to make rigorous legal scholarship accessible and engaging, and to demonstrate the depth of intellectual work happening at Simmons and across the academy,” Brenner Johnson said. Hosting the series a few times per semester “will allow us to be intentional about each conversation and give every scholar the attention their work deserves. It also provides opportunities for alumni, both near and far, to engage in those conversations,” she said.
“Legal scholarship should not only live in journals and classrooms,” Brenner Johnson said. “Our faculty are doing important, consequential work, and our alumni and community should have the opportunity to be part of those conversations. Our law school was founded to serve our region, but this founding mission has always been more expansive than training lawyers and providing legal services. It has meant being a genuine intellectual resource for our communities.”
Simon to retire
Simon plans to retire at the end of this semester. She began as an adjunct professor at the law school in 1992 while working in private practice and continued while serving a Jackson County assistant state’s attorney. Simon helped establish the law school’s domestic violence clinic, which gave students experiential learning opportunities while providing critical legal support to survivors. The law school recently established the Sheila Simon Fund for Domestic Violence Education in Simon’s honor. The fund will support educational programming, academic initiatives, and research opportunities for law students focused on domestic violence–related subject areas.
“We want to honor her legacy by celebrating not just what she has given to SIU and our students, but the work she has devoted herself to throughout her career,” Brenner Johnson said.
Simon’s research focus on domestic violence is “an area of law with profound real-world consequences for individuals and families and reflects her lifelong dedication to justice and to the most vulnerable members of our communities,” Brenner Johnson said.
Simon said she hopes the funding “can help steer the law school back in the direction of providing legal service to survivors of domestic violence,” which Brenner Johnson has said is a priority.
“At the very least, the fund will help the school highlight how lawyers can help survivors of domestic violence get to safety,” Simon said. “Not all lawyers represent survivors in getting protective orders, but all lawyers, no matter what their area of practice, will encounter survivors. It's important for all of us to know how we can connect survivors with people who can help.”
Simon has enjoyed her career at the law school, which will conclude with a retirement party from 4:30-6:30 p.m. Friday, April 24, in the law school’s formal lounge.
“Working at the law school has been fabulous,” she said. “The way I see it, I could do some good work as one person, but as a teacher, I can help turn out future lawyers every year who can do way more good work than I ever could. It's great to see students come in as excited and nervous first-years and leave as excited almost-lawyers, ready for their careers. And then I get to stay in touch with them as they go on and do great things — what a ride!”