Looking more closely at the 2023 Short List candidates - Part 2

In this second part of a four part series, FWIW continues its look at each individual Associate Judge finalist. Updates to this post may be published as new information becomes available. For Part 1 of this series, click here. Part 3 is available at this link; for Part 4, click here.

Audrey Victoria Cosgrove is currently Deputy General Counsel at the Illinois Lottery. Before that, in 2018-2019, Cosgrove was Deputy Chief General Counsel for the Illinois Department of Labor.

Licensed as an attorney in Illinois since 1990, according to ARDC, Cosgrove began her legal career in the office of the Cook County Public Defender; she continued to represent criminal defendants during her nearly 19 years in private practice. She also has served as an Administrative Law Judge for the Illinois State Police Merit Board, the Illinois State Board of Education and the Illinois Tollway.

Cosgrove was a candidate for a 10th Subcircuit vacancy in the 2020 election cycle. She just completed her term as President of the Advocates Society.

Pablo F. deCastro is a Loop solo practitioner, concentrating in criminal defense.

Licensed in Illinois since 1994, according to ARDC, deCastro is a graduate of the University of Chicago and the Tulane University School of Law. He began his legal career in the Cook County Public Defender's Office, maintaining his commitment to public defender work trhough the federal public defender's panel attorney program which has, he says, constituted a large part of his practice since 2008.

Fluent in Spanish, according to his firm website, deCastro also reports experience handling civil cases.

Gabriel Joseph De Matteo is a staff attorney with the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation.

Licensed in Illinois since 1986, according to ARDC, De Matteo was in private practice, operating his own firm, from 2003 to 2021. He spent his first 17 years in practice with the Cook County State's Attorney's Office. De Matteo was a Short List finalist in 2021.

Debjani Dasgupta Desai has served as the General Counsel for the the Illinois Office of the Comptroller since 2020.

Licensed in Illinois since 2008, according to ARDC, Desai began her career as a Cook County Assistant State's Attorney. She subsequently became an administrative law judge for the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services and, thereafter, assistant general counsel in the Litigation and Eligibility Group of the department.

Desai is President of the South Asian Bar Association of Chicago’s Foundation, a SABA Advisory Council member, an Honorary Board Member of the Asian American Bar Association, and a Board Member (Director) of the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois. She was a 2022 Vanguard Award recipient.

Outside of her role as General Counsel, Desai has served as a Special Prosecutor in child protection cases in juvenile court. She has taught also Counseling and Negotiations at UIC Law. In 2021, Desai was the Cook County Democratic Party's 9th alternate for countywide slating.

Cristin Duffy is an attorney with the real estate tax law firm of Crane and Norcross.

Licensed in Illinois since 1996, according to ARDC, Duffy's firm bio notes that she spent the first 24 years of her practice as a Cook County Assistant State's Attorney. During her tenure there, Duffy moved from the criminal division, where she was a felony prosecutor, to deputy supervisor of the Real Estate Tax Division. While with the CCSAO, Duffy won a multi-million-dollar verdict against the Chicago Bears, requiring the team to pay Cook County millions in unpaid taxes.

Duffy was a candidate for a countywide vacancy in the 2020 election cycle. She is a Member (Director) of the Women's Bar Association of Illinois Board.

Lester Wolfe Finkle is a partner with the firm of Quintairos, Prieto, Wood & Boyer, P.A. As his firm biography notes, Finkle joined that firm after a 37-year career as a Cook County Assistant Public Defender. In the PD's office, among other roles, Finkle served as Chief of Staff and as as chief and attorney supervisor of the Legal Resources Division.

Licensed as an attorney in Illinois since 1982, according to ARDC, Finkle was a Short List finalist in 2012. He has served as an adjunct professor at Loyola and has served for over 25 years as an adjunct professor at what is now the University of Illinois at Chicago Law School.

Athena James Frentzas is a solo practitioner with the Park Ridge firm of Frentzas Law, LLC. She has been licensed to practice law in Illinois since 1991, according to ARDC.

Frentzas has worked in both the public and private sectors, handling plaintiff’s personal injury, criminal, CDL traffic matters and DUIs as a defense attorney and prosecutor for the Village of Niles. Before entering private practice, she worked at the Secretary of State’s Office and the Attorney General’s Office in the Industrial Commission Division.

Frentzas was a Short List finalist in 2021. She is a board member of the Hellenic Bar Association and co-chair of the Mentorship Committee. She is also involved with the Northwest Bar Association Mock Trial Invitational and the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois.

Michele Ann Gemskie is a Cook County Assistant State's Attorney, currently based in Rolling Meadows.

According to her LinkedIn profile, Gemskie has served in the CCSAO for the entirety of her legal career. She was licensed to practice law in 1994, according to ARDC.

Corinne Cantwell Heggie has practiced with her own firm, Glenview's Heggie Wochner Law Firm, since 2018. She has been licensed to practice in Illinois since 2002; she is also licensed in Missouri.

Heggie started her legal career with Hinshaw & Culbertson, rising from associate to partner before leaving to join Scharf Banks Marmor in 2016. She has been Affiliate Counsel with Scharf Banks Marmor since 2019.

A former president of the Women's Bar Association of Illinois (2019-20), Heggie has also held leadership positions in the North Suburban Bar Association. Among her many community activities, Heggie serves on the Board of the Glenview Jr. Titan Football program. She is also a member of the Glenview Park District Foundation.

Lakshmi Elkhanialy Jha is a Cook County Assistant Public Defender, currently serving (since 2013) on the Homicide Task Force. Licensed in Illinois since 2002, according to ARDC, Jha began her legal career as an Assistant Corporation Counsel for the the City of Chicago, handling administrative appeals and municipal prosecutions.

A long-time board member of the Illinois Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Jha served as President of that group in 2019-20. She has also been involved with Women Everywhere and the Daniel Murphy Scholarship Fund. She was a Short List finalist in 2021.

Sarah Rodak Johnson is a partner in the firm of Cunningham, Meyer & Verdine, P.C.. Her firm bio says her practice is focused on practice on the defense of hospitals, healthcare organizations, and medical providers against claims of medical and institutional negligence.

Licensed as an attorney in Illinois since 2006, according to ARDC, Johnson reports in excess of 50 jury trials within the First Municipal and Law Divisions.

Johnson tutors with the CBA's Lawyers-Lend-A-Hand program and co-chairs the Positive School Climate Committee for District 102. She also serves on Misericordia's Women's Board.