Rena Marie Van Tine named Acting Presiding Judge of County Division

Press release issued yesterday by the Chief Judge's Office:

The Hon. Rena Marie Van Tine has been named Acting Presiding Judge of the County Division of the Circuit Court of Cook County, Chief Judge Timothy C. Evans said.

Judge Van Tine was the first female Indian American in the nation to serve as a judge on a state court on June 12, 2001, when she was appointed Associate Judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County. She was the first female Indian American judge to be appointed to a countywide vacancy by the Illinois Supreme Court in February 2021, and the first to win a county-wide election. With this new appointment, she is the first female Asian American Acting Presiding Judge in Illinois.

Judge Van Tine has been assigned to the Law Division since February 2017, and handled complex litigation. She was previously assigned to the Child Protection Division.

“Judge Van Tine has had many years of experience as a judge and a practicing attorney, handling hundreds of complex cases,” said Judge Evans. “She also has built a reputation as a leader and an educator in the legal field. I am confident that the County Division will benefit from her leadership.”

Prior to her appointment to the bench, Judge Van Tine served as Special Counsel to Illinois State Comptroller Daniel W. Hynes, where she assisted in managing about $1 billion in trust funds.

Before joining the Comptroller’s Office, Judge Van Tine was a Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney for 12 years, serving both in the Criminal and Civil Divisions. Prior to becoming an Assistant State’s Attorney, she was an attorney in private practice.

Judge Van Tine also has served as an adjunct professor of trial advocacy at the Chicago-Kent College of Law, and is often called on to give legal education presentations to her fellow judges, lawyers, and the public. She is a founding member of the Chicago chapter of the Indian American Bar Association (renamed the South Asian American Bar Association of Chicago in 2016), and served on its first board of directors. She is past president of the Asian American Bar Association, and is currently Vice President of the Asian American Judges Association of Illinois.

Judge Van Tine graduated from New York Law School in 1986, and received a B.A. from Oakland University in Michigan in 1982 and was a graduate student at Michigan State University in intercultural communications.

“It's been my honor to serve as a judge in Cook County for over twenty-one years,” Judge Van Tine said. “I am grateful for the opportunity to segue into this new endeavor, and I look forward to assisting Chief Judge Evans in carrying forward his vision for the County Division and our court system.”

Judge Van Tine replaces the Hon. Sanjay T. Tailor, who has been elevated to the First District Appellate Court. Judge Tailor, who was first appointed to the bench as an Associate Judge in 2003, was the state’s first Asian American presiding judge.

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Actually, although this is just a formality, Judge Van Tine will not actually win election to the Circuit Court until next month. She won the Democratic Party's nomination for the countywide Leeming vacancy in the June primary and is unopposed on the November ballot.