Circuit shorts

Federal judges have selected Benton attorney A. Courtney Cox, a partner in Hart & Hart, to take office Nov. 4 as U.S. attorney for the Southern District.

Cox expects to be nominated by the White House and confirmed by the Senate. He replaces interim district attorney Randy G. Massey, whose appointment will expire next month.

Cox has concentrated in federal litigation of employment and civil rights matters. He is a former member of the ISBA Workers' Compensation Law Section Council and a past president of the Franklin County Bar Association.

A 1982 graduate of the Southern Illinois University School of Law, he has a master's degree in music. He taught at Rend Lake College for three years before entering law school, composes music and plays piano in the Courtney Cox Trio.

A previous member of the law firm, William Ward Hart, was U.S. attorney during the 1940s. Cox is the son of the late Lloyd D. Cox, who practiced in Benton.

Chicago attorney Susan E. Cox was inducted Sept. 27 as a magistrate judge of U.S. District Court for the Northern District. She succeeds Ian H. Levin, who retired, and will serve an eight-year term.

The ceremony was conducted by Judge Wayne R. Andersen, for whom Cox was a law clerk for three years before 11 years in private practice and eight as an assistant U.S. attorney. She also was counsel to the monitor of city compliance with a ban on patronage hiring.

A 1983 graduate of the Boston University School of Law, Cox is married to Baxter Healthcare senior counsel Michael John Bolton, who made the motion for her induction.

David R. Herndon, a judge of U.S. District Court for the Southern District since 1998, has succeeded G. Patrick Murphy as chief judge and is expected to serve for the next seven years.

A partner in Lakin & Herndon until he became a 3rd Circuit judge in 1991, Herndon succeeded William Beatty nine years ago when he took senior status on the federal bench.

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Chief Judge Timothy C. Evans of the Cook County Circuit Court was elected Sept. 11 to his third consecutive three-year term in a secret ballot of the 251 circuit judges. He will serve through the first Monday in December 2010.

Four Chicago attorneys were appointed to vacancies on the Cook County Circuit Court and were sworn in last month. They are:

James A. Shapiro of Shapiro & Brindley, a former assistant U.S. attorney and president of the Decalogue Society. His father is a New York judge.

Thaddeus L. Wilson of Brookins & Wilson, an election hearing examiner for the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners.

Furmin D. Sessions, an assistant Cook County public defender and former head of the South Side branch of the NAACP.

Demetrios G. Kottaras, an assistant Cook County state's attorney, to fill the vacancy of retired judge Gay-Lloyd Lott for a term from Sept. 24 to Dec. 1, 2008.

Two Springfield attorneys were appointed Sept. 1 to 7th Circuit associate judge vacancies. They are:

Assistant U.S. attorney John E. Childress, a former law clerk to U.S. Judge Richard Mills, assistant Sangamon County state's attorney, and lawyer with Brown, Hay & Stephens. He was wounded in Iraq while on duty in 2005 as an Army National Guard judge advocate.

Rudolph M. Braud Jr. of Zack Stamp Ltd., a former assistant state's attorney who also was with Brown, Hay & Stephens and served as chief counsel to Senate President Emil Jones. He is married to Springfield corporation counsel Jennifer A. Johnson.

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Wheaton attorney Paul M. Fullerton was named an associate judge of the 18th Circuit on Sept. 7. Formerly with Clingen, Callow & McLean, he replaces Nicholas Galasso, who retired.

The recall appointment of 18th Circuit Judge Stephen J. Culliton has been extended through 2010. This is his third recall since 2002.