Looking more closely at the Short List finalists - Part 2

In this second part of a three-part series, FWIW continues to look at the finalists for Cook County Associate Judge. For Part 1 of this series, scroll up or click here. For Part 3, scroll down or click here. I will update this post over the next few days as new information becomes available.

The Illinois Supreme Court appointed John S. Fotopoulos to a countywide vacancy in August 2017. Although he was a candidate for a 15th Subcircuit vacancy in the 2014 primary, Fotopoulos did not file for any vacancy in the March 2018 primary. He was, however, a Short List finalist in 2018.

A sole practitioner with offices in Orland Park at the time of his appointment, Fotopoulos reopened an Orland Park office after leaving the bench in December 2018. According to the ARDC website, Fotopoulos's new office is operated as a "division" of Kralovec Jambois & Schwartz. Fotopoulos has been licensed in Illinois since 2000.

Ruth Isabel Gudino is a Cook County Assistant State's Attorney. She has been licensed in Illinois since 1995.

Michael James Hogan Jr.is a Cook County Assistant State's Attorney. He has been licensed in Illinois since 1999. A Short List finalist in 2018, Hogan is the son of former Cook County Circuit Court Judge Michael Hogan.

Edward James Maloney is also a Cook County Assistant State's Attorney. He has been licensed in Illinois since 1989. He sought a countywide judicial vacancy in the 2012 primary.

That's three ASA's in a row -- and very sketchy information about each of them. Judges and lawyers reading this won't fall into this trap, but others happening across this post may think these candidates automatically less interesting or accomplished than some of the others who command longer entries in these posts. I certainly do not mean to create that impression.

Many ASA's, public defenders, and police officers choose not to share a lot of information on social media out of concern that such information could be misused by persons with evil intentions. That leaves less information for me to 'scrape' from social media sites for these persons. I have a picture of Maloney from the 2012 campaign -- when one stands for election a certain amount of privacy must be sacrificed -- but that picture, by definition, is at least seven years old. I try to use more recent photos.

The Illinois Supreme Court appointed Judge Celestia Laurene Mays to the countywide Funderburk vacancy in November 2018 (though she did not assume her judicial duties until this past January). This past August, the Cook County Democratic Party slated Judge Mays for the vacancy she now holds.

Licensed as an attorney in 1990, according to ARDC, Mays is a former President of the Cook County Bar Association. Before her appointment to the bench, Mays operated her own firm, concentrating in the areas of family law, probate, and residential real estate. She was briefly a candidate for a 5th Subcircuit vacancy in the 2016 election cycle, but withdrew before the primary. Mays was a Short List finalist in 2018.

Katherine Angela O'Dell is a partner with the firm of Amari & Locallo, handling real estate tax assessment matters for commercial, industrial, apartment, and residential property owners. A former Assistant State's Attorney in the Real Estate Tax Department of the Civil Division of that office, O'Dell has been licensed as an attorney in Illinois since 2000. She is a former President of the Justinian Society of Lawyers. O'Dell was a candidate for a 10th Subcircuit vacancy in the 2014 election cycle.

Monique Leneé Patterson is a Cook County Assistant Public Defender. She has been licensed as an attorney in Illinois since 1998, according to ARDC.

Jennifer Joyce Payne is the Chief Litigation Officer and the Director of the Children and Families Practice Group of Legal Aid Chicago. She provides legal education for the Chicago Battered Women's Network and was the 1995 Recipient of Legal Aid Chicago's Equal Justice Award. In 2007, Payne received the Jerold S. Solovy Equal Justice Award. She has been licensed to practice law in Illinois since 1990.

Diane Marie Pezanoski is a Deputy Corporation Counsel in the City of Chicago Department of Law. She has been licensed to practice law in Illinois since 1985, according to ARDC.

Pezanoski was a Short List finalist in 2018. She is one of 10 alternates slated by the Cook County Democratic Party for any late-opening countywide judicial vacancies (she's 8th on the list -- and, so far, no new countywide vacancies have been posted).

Paul William Plotnick is a Skokie practitioner. Licensed in Illinois since 1974, Plotnick was a Chicago Public School teacher and an Assistant Cook County Public Defender before setting up his own practice. He is a military veteran, having retired from the U.S. Army with the rank of Staff Sergeant, according to his Avvo profile.