Cristina Tilley teaches tort and constitutional law, with a particular emphasis on defamation and speech injuries. Her scholarship investigates theories of interpersonal obligation as a foundation for comparing how private and public law can drive social justice. Her work has appeared in the Yale Law Journal, the Northwestern University Law Review, and the Journal of Tort Law, and has been selected for presentation at the Harvard / Yale / Stanford Junior Faculty Forum.

Professor Tilley graduated from Northwestern University Law School, where she served as Editor in Chief of the Northwestern University Law Review and went on to teach as a Visiting Assistant Professor. After law school, she clerked for Judge Richard D. Cudahy of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. She was a member of the Appellate Litigation Group at Mayer Brown, where she worked extensively on asbestos litigation, securities class action issues, and First Amendment matters. Prior to her law career, she was a news reporter, specializing in business and legal affairs at United Press International and other publications.

In 2024, Professor Tilley was selected to give the University of Iowa Presidential Lecture, an annual event celebrating faculty scholarship and creative achievement.

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Practice and Teaching: 

• Conflicts
• Torts
• Media Law

Affiliations:

• Illinois Bar