Looking more closely at the 2023 Short List finalists - Part 1

Updated March 6, 2023
Updated February 18, 2023

In this first of a four-part series, FWIW begins its look at each individual Associate Judge finalist. Updates to this post may be added as new information becomes available. For Part 2 of this series, click here. Part 3 is available at this link; for Part 4, click here.

Mohammad Abedelal (Moe) Ahmad practices with the Ahmad Law Firm LLC in Arlington Heights.

Licensed in Illinois since 2008, according to ARDC, Ahmad is the Immediate Past President of the Northwest Suburban Bar Association. Ahmad is also licensed in the State of Georgia.

Ahmad began his legal career as a Cook County Assistant State's Attorney, winning an award as "Prosecutor of the Year" in 2011, according to his firm biography. After moving into private practice, Ahmad was nominated for, and received, an award as one of the top "10 Best Lawyers in Illinois" from the American Institute of Criminal Law Attorneys.

A former co-chair of the Suburban Bar Coalition, Ahmad is also a member of many of the Alliance Bar Groups.

Jennifer Eun Bae has been the Director of Employee Discipline for the Cook County Sheriff's Office since 2019. She worked for the Chicago City Council Finance Committee from 2017-2019.

Before that, Bae was in private practice, handling criminal defense matters and administrative hearings from 2000 through 2017. Licensed as an attorney in Illinois since 1997, according to ARDC, Bae began her legal career as a Cook County Assistant State's Attorney. She served on the Committee on Character & Fitness for the First Judicial District from 2010 through 2018, winning an award from the Supreme Court for Outstanding Service on this committee.

Bae was a candidate for an 8th Subcircuit vacancy in the 2022 election cycle. She was also on the ballot in 2016.

Hilda Bahena is the Executive Director of the Illinois Commission on Discrimination and Hate Crimes (CDHC). Prior to joining the CDHC, from 2013 to 2022, Bahena was the Department Director at Catholic Charities Legal Assistance Department. Before that, she was a Senior Staff Attorney with Legal Aid Chicago (formerly Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago). Bahena began her legal career in California providing legal aid services in Los Angeles County and in the North Bay area.

The child of immigrants, Bahena is a Chicago native, raised in the Little Village neighborhood. She has been licensed as an attorney in Illinois since 2004, according to ARDC.

Jerome Celis (Jerry) Barrido is a career Cook County Assistant Public Defender. Licensed as an attorney in Illinois since 1999, according to ARDC, Barrido has served in the PD's Traffic, First Municipal, Forensic Science, Juvenile Justice, Maywood Felony Trial Division, and Bridgeview Felony Trial Division.

Barrido has written on statement suppression cases for an Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education handbook. He and his wife, attorney Maria Barrido, have two college-age children. "In addition to his volunteer work in the community," according to his campaign bio, Barrido "has coached little league baseball, junior basketball, and FIRST robotics competitions."

Barrido was a candidate for a 4th Subcircuit vacancy in 2022.

Sunil Shashikant Bhave is currently the supervisor of the Civil Prosecutions Unit of the Illinois Attorney General's Office. This is Bhave's second stint with the AG's office. He first joined that office in 2007, in the Civil Appeals Division, before leaving, in 2011, for the City of Chicago Corporation Counsel's office, serving for one year there in the Federal Civil Rights Division.

Bhave has been licensed in Illinois since 2005, according to ARDC; he has been licensed in Missouri since 2004. In 2018, Bhave represented the Circuit Court of Cook County against the Cook County Board in a lawsuit regarding court funding. From 2015 to 2019, Bhave served as a school board member in Elk Grove Township.

A member of the executive board of the South Asian Bar Association of Chicago, Bhave was a finalist for Associate Judge in 2021.

Joell Claire Bisceglia is a career prosecutor, currently serving as Deputy Supervisor of the Preliminary Hearings Unit in the Cook County State's Attorney's Office. She has been licensed as an attorney in Illinois since 2005, according to ARDC, but in between stints at the CCSAO, in 2007-08, Bisceglia worked as a community associate in the Crimes Against Children Bureau in the Kings County District Attorney's Office in Brooklyn, New York.

Bisceglia was a First Chair in the Felony Trial Division of the CCSAO from 2018-2021. She is active is several bar associations including the Justinian Society.

Jennifer Patricia Callahan maintains a law practice, Callahan Law, P.C., in Park Ridge. She has been licensed to practice law in Illinois since 2006, according to ARDC. She was a Cook County Assistant State's Attorney from 2006 to 2017.

Callahan was a candidate for a countywide vacancy in the 2020 primary. She was not a candidate in the 2022 election cycle, but she was 'pre-slated' by the Cook County Democratic Party for a vacancy that never opened.

John P. Carroll currently serves as Deputy Chief of Staff in the Office of the Illinois Attorney General. He joined that office in 2019.

Licensed as an attorney since 1999, according to ARDC, Carroll began his legal career as a Cook County Assistant State's Attorney, ultimately rising to Executive Assistant in the State's Attorney's Legislative Unit, representing the State's Attorney on legislative and policy issues in the Illinois General Assembly between 2012 and 2019. Before that, from 2011 to 2012, Carroll was a trial specialist on the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

Nicole Castillo is a partner in the firm of Neal & Leroy LLC. Licensed as an attorney in Illinois since 2000, according to ARDC, Castillo's practice is focused in litigation matters related to construction and property acquisition.

According to her firm bio, Castillo was counsel to the City of Chicago and the Chicago Park District for the Bloomingdale Trail Project: The 606, which transformed a railroad right of way into a public park.

Castillo currently serves as Co-Chair of the Chicago Bar Association’s Civil Practice Committee and has served on the CBA's Judicial Evaluation Committee. She has also served as a volunteer attorney for Chicago Volunteer Legal Services.

Jennifer Frances Coleman has been licensed as an attorney in Illinois since 1995, according to ARDC. She currently serves as a Senior Policy Advisor to Cook County, according to her LinkedIn page.

Coleman was previously a Cook County Assistant State's Attorney, rising to the position of First Assistant before leaving that office in 2021. She was a Short List finalist in 2019.

Torrie Luciana Corbin is a career Cook County Assistant State's Attorney, currently serving as a Suprervisor based in Markham, according to her LinkedIn profile. She has been licensed as an attorney in Illinois since 2001, according to ARDC.

Corbin has been a board member of CBA Media and Civic Education, Inc. since 2021, according to her LinkedIn profile.