Two longtime Lake County felony judges to retire in January

Two longtime Lake County court felony judges will step down Jan. 25.

Former Lake County Chief Judge John T. Phillips and Circuit Judge George Brides will retire to pursue other interests, court officials said in a news release. Each judge has served in the 19th judicial circuit for more than 20 years.

"Both judges have been outstanding jurists and will be sorely missed," Chief Judge Jorge Ortiz said. "Their knowledge, wisdom, trial expertise, and management skills will be difficult to replace. I thank them for their many years of service and I wish them well."

Phillips is a 1969 graduate of Coe College and he graduated from the University of Iowa School of Law in 1972. He served in the U.S. Air Force before entering into the private practice in Grayslake, where he became a partner in the firm of Churchill, Baumgartner and Phillips Ltd.

He was appointed an associate judge in 1993, elected circuit judge in 2006, and elected chief judge in 2014.

Phillips has served in every division of the circuit, but is best known for presiding over the treatment courts from 2005 until 2014, which include drug court, mental health court and veterans court. He also continues to serve on the Special Supreme Court Advisory Committee for Justice and Mental Health Planning of the Illinois Supreme Court.

"I have heard from several of our revered retired judges that you will know when it's time to go, and they were indeed correct," Phillips said in the release. "That time has come."

Bridges, a former police chief in Waukegan, has been on the bench since March 1995. He earned a bachelor's degree with honors in 1982 from National Lewis University in Evanston and received his law degree in 1987 from Chicago-Kent College of Law.

He was police chief in Waukegan from 1988 through 1990, and from 1990 to 1993, before being appointed associate judge.

Bridges was appointed circuit judge in 2006. He was also a Lake County assistant state's attorney.

He also serves as an adjunct instructor for the Columbia College of Missouri and the College of Lake County, and serves as co-chair of the Illinois Supreme Court Seminar Series Committee and is a member of the Supreme Court Committee on Education.

"I have been so proud to serve as a judge in this county," Bridges said. "After almost 21 years on the bench, I know that now I am called to do other things."