Circuit shorts

Several awards were presented by the Illinois Judges Association during its 35th annual convention, held concurrently with the ISBA Midyear Meeting last month in Chicago.

Chief Judge Timothy C. Evans of the Cook County Circuit Court received a Lifetime Achievement Award at a joint luncheon of the two organizations on Dec. 8.

The IJA honored the memory of former Supreme Court justice Seymour Simon by awarding the inaugural Seymour Simon Spirit Award to 2nd Circuit Judge James M. Wexstten, immediate past president of the IJA, and renaming its traditional morning jog the Seymour Simon Run for Justice.

ISBA Assembly member William R. Quinlan, a retired Appellate Court justice, received the IJA Amicus Curiae Award, and retired Cook County judge Stuart A. Nudelman accepted the Judicial Ethics Award.

Presidential Service Awards were presented to Presiding Judge Shelley Sutker-Dermer of Cook County's 2nd Municipal District, Judges Rita M. Novak and Nancy J. Katz, and Cook County Commissioner Lawrence J. Suffredin Jr.

The IJA awarded its Harold W. Sullivan Scholarship to the University of Chicago Law School. It was accepted by faculty member Abner Mikva, a retired federal judge and former congressman.

Supreme Court Justice Anne M. Burke was keynote speaker for the luncheon program, which was conducted by IJA President Jesse G. Reyes, a member of the ISBA Assembly.

A State of the Courthouse message from 18th Circuit Chief Judge Ann B. Jorgensen will be heard by members of the DuPage County Bar Association on Saturday, Jan. 20, during a 12 noon buffet brunch.

A member of the ISBA Bench and Bar Section Council and past chair of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Section Council, Judge Jorgensen is a past president of the Illinois Judges Association.

Her speech will be the centerpiece of a day-long DuPage Bar Mega Meeting, at which six substantive seminars will be conducted from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Hilton Hotel in Lisle.

The program also includes an 11 a.m. lecture on professional responsibility by Laurel A. Haskell, an assistant professor at the Northern Illinois University College of Law and former Chicago attorney.

A Law Office Expo of products and services will be available throughout the day. For more information or reservations, call (630) 653-7779.

Judge Terry Foster of Massac County became chief judge of the 1st Circuit in November, when Michael Henshaw retired (see story below). Foster has served on the court since 1982.

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Judge E. Kyle Vantrease of the 2nd District has been elected chief judge. He succeeds George W. Timberlake, who retired Dec. 4 – three days before he was a speaker in an ISBA Midyear Meeting seminar on restorative justice.

Vantrease was appointed to the 12-county circuit bench in 1995 and was elected the following year. A graduate of the Chicago-Kent College of Law, he practiced for 18 years in West Frankfort, including service as city attorney, county state's attorney and public defender.

A past president of the Franklin County Bar Association, Vantrease serves on the Illinois Juvenile Justice Task Force and Illinois Child Death Review Team, and is a master member of the Southern Illinois American Inn of Court.

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Judge Tracy W. Resch, a member of the 5th Circuit bench since 1990, has been elected chief judge. He succeeds Judge James R. Glenn, who was the circuit's chief for four years.

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Judge John Baricevic of the 20th Circuit has been named interim chief judge during adjudication of a traffic case involving Chief Judge Jan Fiss and Judge Patrick Young. Although Fiss stepped down temporarily as chief judge, he and Young continue to handle their dockets.

Marion attorney John Randall Patchett, a former Williamson County state's attorney and judge of the Illinois Court of Claims, has been appointed by Baricevic to prosecute Young on DUI charges after a Dec. 3 incident. Fiss was a passenger in Young's car.

Harrisburg city attorney Todd D. Lambert has been appointed resident Saline County judge in the 1st Circuit. He replaces former Chief Judge Michael Henshaw, who retired Nov. 3 (see story below).

A graduate of the Southern Illinois University School of Law who had practiced in Harrisburg since 1990, Lambert will serve until Dec. 1, 2008.

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Joseph P. Hettel of Marseilles, LaSalle County state's attorney for the past six years, was appointed to the 13th Circuit Court and sworn in Dec. 14. He replaced Chief Judge Robert L. Carter, who was elected to the Illinois Appellate Court, 3rd District.

Hettle will serve until Dec. 1, 2008. Brian Towne has been appointed to the state's attorney vacancy. He was first assistant.

Associate Judge Thomas Mueller of the 16th Circuit became presiding judge in Kendall County on Dec. 4. He succeeded James Wilson, who retired in December.

A graduate of the Loyola University School of law and a jurist since 1995, Mueller headed the Kane County Drug Court before his transfer. A former assistant state's attorney, he also practiced with Lindner, Spears & Reuland in Aurora.

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Elmhurst attorney John Panegasser was sworn in Nov. 30 as an associate judge of the 18th Circuit. A graduate of the Chicago-Kent College of Law, he had practiced in DuPage County for 33 years.

Will County public defender Herman S. Haase, former chief judge of the 12th Circuit, has hired Frank Astrella as chief felony defender, effective Nov. 20. The former first assistant Kankakee County state's attorney was selected from 27 applicants.

The opening was created when assistant public defender Marilee Viola and James E. Egan, an attorney who did public defense work, became judges last June.

Chief Judge Michael Henshaw of the 1st Circuit retired Nov. 3 after 28 years on the bench, including eight years as chief. He has resumed private practice and coaching 5th grade basketball teams.

One year out of law school, Henshaw was elected Saline County state's attorney at age 26, and he was elected to the bench at age 33. He established the Saline County Drug Court, the only one in Southern Illinois, with Judge Brocton Lockwood.

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Judge Frank Lincoln of the 6th Circuit retired in November after 22 years on the bench and 17 years of law practice in Tuscola that included service as state's attorney from 1968 to 1972.

A 1964 graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law, Lincoln joined Harrison McCown to form McCown & Lincoln. He also was assistant to state's attorney McCown for four years.

At the time of his election as a judge in 1984, Lincoln was a partner in Nichols, Jones, McCown & Lincoln. He also served as Tuscola city attorney for six years and alderman for four years.

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Tazewell County Judge J. Peter Ault and Associate Judge Erik Blanc of the 10th Circuit both retired Dec. 1.

A graduate of the Valparaiso University Law School and former county public defender, Ault was appointed an associate judge in 1987 and was elected to the circuit bench in 2000.

Blanc, a graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law, was Tazewell County state's attorney from 1985 to 1995 after nine years as an assistant. He was appointed an associate judge in 1995.

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Associate Judge Ludwig Kuhar of the 12th Circuit will retire Jan. 17 after 20 years on the bench.

Justice Frederick J. Kapala of the Illinois Appellate Court, 2nd District, has been nominated by President George W. Bush to succeed Judge Philip G. Reinhard when he retired from U.S. District Court this month.

Former Rockford attorney Kapala became a 17th Circuit associate judge in 1982, a circuit court judge in 1994, and an assigned appellate justice in 2001.

He is one of three candidates who were interviewed last summer in the White House. The others are Winnebago County State's Attorney Paul Logli and 17th Circuit Judge Joe McGraw.

Anita “Kitty” Zamora has retired after more than 30 years as an interpreter for Spanish-speaking individuals in DuPage County courtrooms. She has assisted participants in legal matters from felony trials to weddings.

One of three Spanish interpreters in the 18th Circuit, Zamora worked on contract and never had a paid vacation or benefits. She often worked 12-hour days, answering pages from court personnel throughout the massive judicial center in Wheaton.

Chief Judge Ann B. Jorgensen told Daily Herald reporter that Zamora has been an angel of justice who “has a phenomenal vocabulary” and translates “as fast as I speak.” Other 18th Circuit interpreters speak languages such as German, Polish, Russian and Vietnamese.

The $46.2 million allocation in the 2007 federal budget for a new U.S. District Courthouse in Rockford may be among local “earmark” projects scratched by new Democratic Party leaders in Congress this year.

Construction will not begin without funding from the General Services Administration, which oversees federal building projects, said Congressman Donald Manzullo of the district that includes Rockford.

Manzullo and U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin of Springfield previously secured $41 million toward the estimated $88 million courthouse project (ISBA Bar News, December 2006, page 25).