Who Sits Where: Bastille Day Edition

Updated 7/19/26

I am keenly aware nominating petitions for the 2027 mayoral election can not be circulated until July 28. It is therefore far, far, far too soon to be thinking about the 2028 Cook County judicial primary. At least for normal people.

But normal people are not in charge of our political system... politicians are. (If more normal people got directly involved in our political system, maybe some of those dominating the process now could be pushed back to the fringes, where they belong. But I digress.)

Those who hope to secure Cook County judgeships, even if they are mostly normal, or at least partially normal, have little choice but to start peering into the distant future, looking past the 2027 mayoral, and considering what may be available in March 2028 (or maybe February -- there has been talk of moving the primary up to benefit Gov. Pritzker's presidential ambitions).

There will eventually be, in addition to the vacancies listed below, ten subcircuit vacancies, two each in the new subcircuits 16-20. So far, only two have been allocated: the vacancy created by the retirement of Associate Judge Sybil C. Thomas has been assigned to the 19th Subcircuit, while the vacancy created by the February passing of Associate Judge Scott Norris has been assigned to the 20th. Obviously, there will be more retirements in the coming months and new vacancies will need to be added for these.

For the present, however, the list below is as accurate as I can make it... and thanks to reader input since this post first appeared, it is much more accurate now.

When this post first appeared, I went out on a limb just a bit in assigning the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Sophia Hall to the 15th Subcircuit. Here was my thinking: Judge Hall was the last serving judge who was elected prior to the adoption of the original subcircuit system, in 1992. Before we had subcircuits, we elected judges countywide, citywide, or suburbs-only. The citywide and suburbs-only seats, when they opened up, were assigned to the original subcircuits (1-15). The order of assignment was determined by lottery, the results of which were memorialized in a Supreme Court order. The last pre-1992 judge to retire before Judge Hall was Judge Irwin J. Solganick; his vacancy was assigned to, and filled from, the 7th Subcircuit in 2024. Per that venerable Supreme Court order, I believed Judge Hall's vacancy would have been assigned to the 15th Subcircuit.

On the other hand, at least according to its website, the Supreme Court believes Judge Hall's vacancy should be filled from the 5th Subcircuit. I've updated accordingly. (But I'd still like to know how Judge Hall's vacancy was allocated; hopefully, someone will educate me. Lord knows, I could use it.)

All errors or omissions in the following list are mine alone. Updates to the this post will be made, or new lists put up, as events warrant. Herewith, then, the list:

Supreme Court Vacancy

Vacancy of the Hon. Mary Jane Theis - Sanjay T. Tailor

Appellate Court Vacancy

Vacancy of the Hon. Terrence J. Lavin - Unfilled

Countywide Circuit Court Vacancies

Vacancy of the Hon. Daniel J. Kubasiak - Unfilled
Vacancy of the Hon. Kelly M. McCarthy - Not Seeking Retention
Vacancy of the Hon. Diana Rosario - Unfilled
Vacancy of the Hon. Shelley Sutker-Dermer - Not Seeking Retention

Subcircuit Vacancies

1st Subcircuit
Vacancy of the Hon. Donna L. Cooper - Not Seeking Retention

3rd Subcircuit
Vacancy of the Hon. Kenneth J. Wadas - Not Seeking Retention

5th Subcircuit
Vacancy of the Hon. Sophia Hall - Unfilled

9th Subcircuit
Vacancy of the Hon. Sanjay T. Tailor

12th Subcircuit
Vacancy of the Hon. Pamela E. Loza - Unfilled

Nominations due for John Paul Stevens Awards by August 10

The Chicago Bar Association is accepting nominations for its annual Justice John Paul Stevens Awards. Established in 2000, the award is presented annually to Illinois lawyers and judges whose careers best emulate Justice Stevens’ integrity, legacy of service to the bench and the bar, and commitment to public and community service. This year's awards will be conferred at a luncheon on October 20 at the Union League Club of Chicago.

Nominations with supporting materials or information should be sent to the Justice John Paul Stevens Award Committee by August 10, c/o CBA Executive Director Beth McMeen at bmcmeen@chicagobar.org.

Persons thinking about making nominations may find this list of past honorees helpful:

• 2025 - Aurora Austriaco, John Bouman, Chief Judge Virginia M. Kendall, Michael R. Lufrano, and Professor Michael P. Seng;
• 2024 - Judge David H. Coar, Daniel A. Cotter, David A. Decker, Nina Fain, E. Lynn Grayson, John J. “Jack” Jiganti, and Justice Margaret Stanton McBride;
• 2023 - Dan L. Boho, Patricia Brown Holmes, Daniel M. Kotin, Professor Ann Lousin, Mary Smith, and Barry C. Taylor;
• 2022 - Judge Arnette R. Hubbard, Judge Thomas R. Mulroy (Ret.), Steven F. Pflaum, Lowell Sachnoff, and Sandra S. Yamate;
• 2021 - Karina Ayala-Bermejo, Anne L. Fredd, Chief Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer, Larry Suffredin, and Judge James E. Snyder;
• 2020 - Marisel Hernandez, Jennifer Nijman, Terrence Murphy, Zaldwaynaka (Z) Scott and Judge E. Kenneth Wright Jr.;
• 2019 - Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman, Hon. Lori E. Lightfoot, Judge William D. Maddux (ret.), Judge. Sheila M. Murphy (ret.), Joseph A. Power, Jr. and Mark L. Rotert;
• 2018 - Laurel G. Bellows, Carol A. Brook, Kevin P. Durkin, John N. Gallo, Terri L. Mascherin, Judge P. Scott Neville, Jr., Justice Jesse G. Reyes, Judge Mary K. Rochford, and Tina Tchen;
• 2017 - Judge Ruben Castillo, Robert A. Clifford, Judge Nathaniel R. Howse, Jr., Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow, Richard J. Prendergast, Larry R. Rogers, Sr., Ronald S. Safer, Justice Mary Jane Theis, and Dan K. Webb; and
• 2016 - George B. Collins, Brian L. Crowe, Thomas A. Demetrio, Thomas Anthony Durkin, J. Timothy Eaton, Josie M. Gough, Joan M. Hall, Eileen M. Letts, and Joseph L. Stone.

ISBA presents free July 30 CLE program: Law Motions, Commercial Calendar, and Courtroom 1501/Arbitration-Best Practices

The details are provided in the event poster, above. But, to summarize, the program will be presented in Courtroom 1501 of the Daley Center on Thursday, July 30, from noon to 1:30 p.m. Presenters include Hon. Jonathan Clark Green, Circuit Court of Cook County; Kim Atz O’Brien, Arbitrator Administrator, Circuit Court of Cook County; Hon. Stephanie Saltouros, Circuit Court of Cook County; and Hon. Alon Stein, Circuit Court of Cook County. Judge Stein will double as moderator.

The seminar is free, but registration is required (and space is limited). If the QR code on the poster doesn't work, visit this page of the ISBA website to register.

Where are all these eyeballs coming from?

I've been on Blogger, a Google company, since I started FWIW in 2006.

Yeah, I know, Google doesn't usually keep products alive for 20 years, but (knock wood) Blogger has been an exception.

Blogger didn't always track page views. I spent a good chunk of the day trying to track down when Blogger began counting page views on FWIW. Yes, I realize I'm the only one who cares.

I could not track the exact date down. Google was counting pages by 2015, obviously, when I reported that I'd reached 1,000,000 page views. Before Google undertook this task, I used a product called Sitemeter. While flailing around my self-dug rabbit hole this afternoon and evening, I confirmed that I was still relying on Sitemeter in 2011.

What got me started on this was the length of time it took to reach each million-page-view milestone. I laid all this out in my post about my six millionth page view... just this past January. At the time, I was pretty geeked because I'd gone from 5,000,000 to 6,000,000 page views in only about 292 days... under 10 months.

But... if you look at the screenshot I took off my site dashboard early this afternoon, I had over 7.76 million page views here. In not even six months, I've gone from 6,000,000 to shouting distance of 8,000,000.

It strikes me that there aren't that many people interested in Cook County judicial elections and social gatherings for the local bench and bar. Even if they visit often. Really often.

In fact, my best guess is that FWIW blew past the 7,000,000 page view mark some time in May. It's not like I was putting up all my Pulitzer-ready material in May; actually, I spent a good chunk of that month at Northwestern Hospital (thank you, I'm doing much better lately).

And how the heck did I get 47,315 page views on Friday?

Obviously, I'd like to believe that these page counts are 100% accurate... but... even if they are, I can't imagine that all these views come from people who are actually interested in the content I present on FWIW.

On the other hand, it is undeniable that traffic is up. Moreover, when I look at the page views on specific posts, I am gratified to note that the four posts I put up in 2017 proposing that Illinois move to a zero-based discovery system in civil cases, have attracted a lot of attention of late. All four posts are generating roughly equal traffic; that means people are reading each post in the series.

If you're interested, here's the series:

• Reforming civil discovery – Part 1 – the problem of human nature;
• Reforming civil discovery – Part 2 – preserve the civil justice system by adopting zero-based discovery;
• Reforming civil discovery – Part 3 – how zero-based discovery can work; and
• Reforming civil discovery – Part 4 – one more post on zero-based discovery.

I reread these posts recently. I stand by them; I think they're still timely. Maybe some of the recent readers of these posts will agree. Hopefully, some of these may be in a position to implement these proposals. I can dream, can't I?

CBA Flash Fiction contest now underway; entries due by July 31

If you are a CBA member, the Editorial Board of the CBA Record invites and encourages you to participate in this year's Flash Fiction Creative Writing Contest.

Entries must be 1200 words or less -- which is tough right there, inasmuch as most lawyers need a thousand words at least to say 'good morning' -- and the use of ChatGPT or similar AI is prohibited, so you'll have to write it all yourself. Topics do not need to be related to the legal field but must be original works, rated PG, and previously unpublished. The CBA will retain nonexclusive rights to all materials published by the CBA.

Not every CBA member is eligible to enter: CBA board members and officers, CBA staff, and CBA Record Editorial Board members may not submit entries. I'm a CBA member, and I'm also not allowed to enter this year's contest... but for a pretty good reason: I won last year's contest -- the CBA still has my story, "He'll Have Plenty of Time to Write Now," available online.

The deadline to enter the contest is Friday, July 31. Email submissions to CBARecord@chicagobar.org

The first prize winner will have their work published in the CBA Record and receive a $100 Amazon gift card. Second and third place winners will have their work published on the CBA's website in the CBA Record online edition.

Submissions will be judged by members of the CBA Record Editorial Board and a “celebrity” judge (TBA), will assist in judging the final round. Writers are asked to adhere to the CBA Writer’s Guidelines. The CBA Record Editorial Board will make the final decision regarding publication of any piece submitted.

Another one for the planners out there....

Actually, the date for the Illinois Judicial Council's 44th Annual Installation and Scholarship Reception is only about 60 days hence.

For me, now, no longer engaged in the hurly-burly of a litigation practice, 60 days seems like a fairly spacious interval of time -- and it is: A whole lot of things can happen in 60 days' time. Germany invaded France on May 10, 1940; France surrendered on June 22. That was only 43 days -- 46 if you count all the way to June 25, when the surrender went into effect.

On a more positive note, the gestation period for a litter of puppies or a litter of kittens is also about 60 days, give or take, depending on the breed.

But I am not so far removed from the active practice of law that I no longer recall that, for a lot of lawyers, 60 days is pretty much equivalent to 'tomorrow' for persons in other walks of life. Jones is unavailable for her deposition in the Smith v. Jones case? Get another date... and, by the time everyone compares calendars, the new date is at least 60 days out.

Actually, there was one time... I was on the phone with opposing counsel and she was pressing for the deposition of my client. I don't remember why the client was never available, whether it was a chronic problem, or just a string of unhappy coincidences that he was always unavailable on any of the various dates set for him to be deposed. We were talking about still another date, but now I had a problem: "My wife is expecting, and the date you're proposing is right around her due date."

Opposing counsel was not buying. "No chance I'm falling for that one," she fumed, "you've used this excuse on me before. Last year. Same case. Same deponent."

"Yes," I admitted -- counsel had not misremebered our prior discussions -- "but this is a different baby."

As it happens, my oldest two kids are 15 months' apart.

(In any event, counsel gave in on a longer date and, eventually, we settled the case. I don't remember if we ever did produce the client for his deposition.)

And, of course, such conversations could never, ever happen now -- I'm here recalling events that took place in the 1980s -- which to my ear sounds less terrible than saying that this phone conversation occurred more than 40 years ago -- and certainly the pace of litigation has drastically increased in the intervening years.

But even at the modern, increased tempo, 60 days for lawyers isn't that long at all. I'll try and remember to be less snarky about 'planners' going forward....

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Basket of puppies photo by Chathura Anuradha Subasinghe (@chathuraanuradha)

Decalogue Society Annual Installation & Awards Dinner set for July 29

The Decalogue Society of Lawyers will hold its 92nd Annual Installation and Awards Dinner on Wednesday, July 29, starting at 5:00 p.m., at the Old Post Office, 433 W. Van Buren.

Tickets for the event are $275 each ($225 for Decalogue members). Students can purchase tickets for $36 apiece. Tickets are available at this link.

Judge Lori Rosen will assume the presidency of the Decalogue Society at this event. The DSL will confer the following awards:

• Courage in Advocacy Award: Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton
• Hon. Charles E. Freeman Judicial Merit Award: Judge Timothy C. Evans
• Award of Excellence: Representative Tracy Katz Muhl
• Presidential Citation: Robert M. Karton
• Intra-Society Award: Kim Pressling
• Hebrew University Fellowship Award: Judge Barry Goldberg

And, of course, there are a host of sponsorship opportunities available. A complete list may be found by clicking here. The deadline for sponsorship registration is July 24.

A real opportunity to be heard...

The Chicago Bar Association Chorus is seeking new members. All the pertinent information is contained in the flyer above, including the email address of the contact person, Erin Perkins.

One caveat: If crows flock when you sing in the shower, you may wish to take up bowling instead. The CBA is not promising to provide vocal transformations. Thus, as you will note when you review the flyer carefully, while the CBA Chorus is not requiring auditions, they do tactfully suggest that some previous experience might be helpful... probably for everyone concerned.

Happy Birthday, America!

On this 250th anniversary of American independence, I have nothing to give my country but my gratitude. Gratitude to my ancestors for coming to this great land. Gratitude to the United States of America itself, the greatest nation in the history of the world.

I doomscroll too frequently on X (or Twitter, if you must) and, in many posts on that site, I have confronted the notion that some Americans are not patriotic; indeed, there is allegedly a belief that patriotism is a mere partisan construct; that only members of one party may be partiotic, whilst members of the other party, if they express the barest patriotic sentiment at all, must, in the same breath apologize for our country's shortcomings.

I realize that, in a nation of 342 millions, there must be some who harbor such stupid opinions. Some academic poseurs were spouting this kind of nonsense when Nixon was still in the White House. There are undoubtedly more such misguided persons these days, since the balanced teaching of history and civics, with any sense of context or perspective, has gone the way of the horse and buggy.

Yes -- granted -- America is not perfect. It has not always lived up to its highest ideals. Neither have you. Because you are human. Humans are imperfect. Things that humans make, like governments and nations, are necessarily imperfect, too. Only God is perfect. All we mere humans can do is strive to do better. And, in the course of its 250 years of independence, America has gotten better and better. Not in a straight line, perhaps, and we can have an honest debate on where we have faltered and where we have surged ahead. But, on balance, we live in the greatest nation that has ever been.

I sincerely believe that, the negative types notwithstanding, most Americans -- the vast majority -- are as proud and grateful as I am today, on America's 250th birthday. May God continue to bless our beloved nation, and may we continue to be worthy of the blessings received.