Maria McCarthy becomes first Republican Cook County judicial candidate

The Illinois State Board of Elections website reports that former Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Maria McCarthy today became the first candidate to file as a Republican in a Cook County judicial race. That's a link to the candidate's website in the preceding sentence; a link has also been added to the Candidate List in the Sidebar on this site.

McCarthy filed for the Dickler vacancy in the north suburban 12th Subcircuit this morning.

Licensed to practice law in Illinois since 1989, according to ARDC, McCarthy's campaign bio emphasizes her 30 years of service in the CCSAO.

McCarthy currently practices with an Oak Brook-based firm, McCarthy & Valentini LLC, according to ARDC, but her campaign bio's statement that McCarthy is a career prosecutor is not inaccurate. She is still working as a special prosecutor in cases involving allegations of misconduct against a former Chicago police detective. According to the Chicago Tribune, McCarthy has been engaged as a special prosecutor in six of eight cases that are being heard by a Will County judge. The cases are being heard by a Will County judge because the former detective is married to a Cook County judge. The CCSAO has also recused itself in these cases.

Moreover, according to her campaign bio, before starting up her own firm, and after leaving the CCSAO in 2019, where she last served as Supervisor of the Third Municipal District, McCarthy became the First Assistant in the Winnebago County State's Attorney's Office, heading up the Criminal and Civil Bureaus in that office.

Several of the cases that McCarthy has tried have been profiled on Dateline NBC, the Oxygen Network, and ID Channel, according to her campaign bio, which also touts her "extensive experience with physicians, psychiatrists and forensic experts in DNA, fingerprints, firearms, trace evidence, blood spatter, cell tower analysis, pathology and water deaths."

McCarthy has taught trial advocacy classes at Northwestern University School of Law (where she received the Joan M. Corboy Memorial Award for Excellence in Teaching Advocacy and Professionalism) and at the law school formerly known as John Marshall Law School, according to her campaign bio. She has also taught criminal law and criminal procedure classes at Harper Community College for 10 years.

A graduate of Prospect High School, McCarthy grew up in Mt. Prospect and Arlington Heights. In 2020, McCarthy was inducted as a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, according to her campaign bio.