Chief Judge Timothy C. Evans of the Cook County Circuit Court has announced the appointment of Judge Grace G. Dickler of the Domestic Relations Division to head a review of procedures intended to protect domestic violence victims.

Establishment last month of the 14-member Committee on Domestic Violence Court follows the murders earlier this year of two women who had received orders of protection from former boyfriends.

The panel will review operations at the three-year-old domestic violence courthouse in Chicago and satellite courts in the five suburban municipal districts.

Matters heard in the courthouse on Harrison Street include all criminal misdemeanor domestic violence cases that originate in Chicago, all civil and criminal calls for orders of protection, preliminary hearings in felony domestic violence cases, and misdemeanor jury cases.

Evans charged the committee with ensuring that the courts remain “on the cutting edge in providing a safe and secure environment for the hearing of domestic violence matters.”

He said he expects to receive recommendations “on whether additional improvements are needed to help protect the safety of victims and the rights of the accused.”

Judge Dickler, a former U.S. immigration judge, was appointed an associate judge in 1988 and elected to the circuit court in 2006. Assigned to Domestic Relations in 1991, she has entered about 3,000 orders of protection.

Lawyers who were appointed to the committee include Benjamin S. Mackoff of Schiller, DuCanto & Fleck, former presiding judge of the Domestic Relations Division, and Mary S. Trew, executive director of the Domestic Violence Legal Clinic.

Others are Mary A. Melchor, the circuit clerk’s inspector general and president of the Black Women Lawyers Association, and assistant state’s attorney Zeophus J. Williams, president of the Cook County Bar Association.