Lester Finkle appointed to 8th Subcircuit vacancy

Lester Finkle, a long-time Cook County Assistant Public Defender, who served as Chief of Staff in that office from 2015 to 2021, has been appointed to a vacancy in Cook County's 8th Judicial Subcircuit, pursuant to an Order entered today by the Illinois Supreme Court.

Finkle is currently Of Counsel to the firm of Quintairos, Prieto, Wood & Boyer, P.A. His appointment is effective May 30; it will terminate on December 7, 2026.

The vacancy to which Finkle has been appointed was created by the election of Judge Mary L. Mikva to the Illinois Appellate Court in 2024.

Finkle was a short list finalist for Cook County associate judge in 2012 and again in 2023. Licensed as an attorney in Illinois since 1982, according to ARDC, Finkle also served as an adjunct professor at Loyola Law School from 2007 to 2015 and, according to a press release issued by the Illinois Supreme Court concerning the appointment, has, since 1997, taught appellate writing and oral advocacy as an adjunct professor at what is now the University of Illinois at Chicago Law School.