James E. Chadd was appointed to the Office of the State Appellate Defender by the Illinois Supreme Court on Thursday, Dec. 14. Chadd's four-year term as state appellate defender will begin Jan. 1, 2018. He succeeds Michael Pelletier, who was appointed in 2007 and will be retiring at the end of the year.

Chadd has worked for the Office of the State Appellate Defender for over 33 years, where he has been deputy state appellate defender for four years. In this role, he was responsible for monitoring the legal work of the agency and reviewing agency briefs filed in the Illinois Supreme Court.

He was selected by a screening committee, which was appointed by the supreme court in September and was directed to make a public announcement of the vacancy and invite applications.

Chadd first started with the Office of the State Appellate Defender in 1984, as an assistant defender in the Supreme Court Unit in 1984. In 1989, he moved to the First District Office and in 1995 served as team leader in addition to his assistant defender duties. He became supervisor for the First District Office in 2002 and served as assistant deputy defender before becoming deputy state appellate defender.

He earned his B.A. at the University of Oregon and his J.D. from the University of Illinois College of Law.