Daniel T. Gillespie: In his own words

Associate Judge Daniel T. Gillespie is a candidate for the Sheehan vacancy in the 8th Judicial Subcircuit.

There is one human institution that makes a pauper the equal of a Rockefeller, the stupid man the equal of an Einstein, and the ignorant man the equal of any college president. That institution, gentlemen, is a court. -- Atticus Finch, To Kill a Mockingbird

For eighteen years it has been my privilege to serve as an associate judge in the Circuit Court of Cook County. I have enjoyed this position of trust and challenge. As a trial judge, I hear contract and tort cases and supervise the First Municipal Civil Bench Contract and Tort Section. The seven courtrooms in that section have more than 100,000 cases pending. This is a challenging and invigorating assignment. Having thrived on that challenge, I now seek the position of circuit judge, which I expect will lead to even more challenging and rewarding assignments. I bring experience, leadership and a reputation for fairness to this new endeavor. I am the only candidate in my race that has been deemed “Highly Qualified” for that position by the Illinois State Bar Association.

As an active member of the city and state bar, I belong to the Municipal Law Committee of the Chicago Bar Association. I serve as an elected member of the Assembly of the 30,000 member Illinois State Bar Association. I am a member of the Civil Practice Section of the ISBA and co-chair the cable vision subcommittee of that committee. I serve as co-editor for The Gavel, the newsletter of the Illinois Judges Association. In 2004, the Illinois Judges Association bestowed on me the President’s Service Award.

In addition to being a leader of the bench and bar, I am a leader in my community. I live in the Lakeview community with my wife Patti and our three children. I have been in public service and devoted to my community all of my adult life. I have served as a Chicago Police Officer for six years and a drilling Army reservist for 28 years, retiring as a lieutenant colonel in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps. Advancing in rank as an officer my supervisory and administrative duties grew to the point where, as a lieutenant colonel, I became the staff judge advocate for a reserve transportation brigade with twenty-two units in seven states. This involved supervising a staff of attorneys who advised the brigade commander and subordinate unit commanders on military law, mobilization and ethics issues, as well as supervising mandatory training for all soldiers in the command on sexual harassment. My last two-week active duty assignment required me to assume the duties and responsibilities of the Deputy Staff Judge Advocate for Fort Knox, KY, while that officer moved to a different office in order to catch up on other administrative duties.

My service as a community leader includes three terms as president of the Lake View Citizens Council, our local community group, and vice-president of the Hawthorne Scholastic Academy PTA, at our children’s school, where I also served as a member of the Local School Council. I have served as a volunteer soccer coach for my son’s and daughters’ soccer teams in the American Youth Soccer Organization and also served on their board of directors. I was privileged to be invited to serve on the board of the Counseling Center of Lakeview, a community-based mental health center. I served on the Executive Advisory Board and the Institutional Review Board at Saint Joseph Hospital.

During my tenure as a trial judge I have grown and developed as a judge, a lawyer, a leader in my community and a person for others. My trial experience has included both civil and criminal law. My decisions have been affirmed more than twenty-five times by the appellate court and only twice reversed. Often, when my workday ends, I begin preparing to teach an evening class. It is extremely satisfying to preside over trials involving contract disputes during the day and then draw on that experience when teaching trial practice and business law in the evenings. My teaching experience includes trial practice in seminars for attorneys, sponsored by the National Institute of Trial Advocacy. I taught classes on traffic law developments at seminars sponsored by the Northwest Suburban Bar Association. I taught a 2-hour class, "Recent Developments in Search and Seizure" for judges, prosecutors and defense attorneys at the 2-day Illinois Traffic Court Conference at Bradley University. I guest-lectured on “Jurisprudence from the Point of View of a Trial Judge,” at DePaul University College of Commerce for Professor Alex Devience’s jurisprudence class. I now teach this class. I taught a class on civility and ethics for lawyers at a seminar sponsored by the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association.

My grandparents came to America filled with hope, courage and optimism. My parents instilled those same values in my brother and me as children. My wife and I have passed on those values to our children. As I have matured, I have enjoyed the satisfaction one derives from seeking new challenges, providing leadership and serving as a person for others. I cherish the values of hope, courage and optimism while continuing my professional career in these times of challenge. The position of circuit judge requires the skills of a no-frills, no-nonsense, hard-working, conscientious trial judge who listens to the testimony closely, observes the demeanor of the witnesses carefully, listens to the arguments of counsel attentively and renders a fair decision promptly. Having displayed those qualities every day on the bench for the last eighteen years, I am eminently well qualified to serve as an exceptional circuit judge.