Bar association recommends Cook County judge candidates
The Illinois State Bar Association released recommendations for judicial candidates running for the First District Appellate Court and the Cook County circuit court in the March 15 primary.
Members of ISBA, the state's largest bar organization with about 30,000 members, rate candidates on legal ability, integrity, impartiality, court management, temperament and sensitivity to diversity and bias.
For the First District Appellate Court - which comprises all of Cook County - ISBA found Eileen O'Neill Burke qualified and Bertina E. Lampkin highly qualified.
For candidates running at-large to fill vacancies on the Cook County circuit court, the bar association found Pat Heneghan highly qualified. Candidates found to be qualified are John Fitzgerald Lyke Jr., Scott Edward Lipinski, Rossana Patricia Fernandez, Michael I. O'Malley, Alison C. Conlon, Aleksandra "Alex" Gillespie, Thomas Maloney Cushing, Sean S. Chaudhuri, Mark A. Lyon, Carolyn J. Gallagher, Mary Kathleen McHugh, Devlin J. Shoop, Brendan O'Brien, Maureen O'Donoghue Hannon, Susan L. Ortiz, Deidre Baumann, William S. Wojcik, Daniel J. Duffy, Patrick Joseph Powers and Frederick Bates,
ISBA did not recommend or found unqualified the following at-large candidates: Gregory Raymond Lapapa, Bonnie Carol McGrath, Brian O'Hara and Monica M. Torres-Linares.
In the 11th Subcircuit encompassing parts of Chicago and Des Plaines, ISBA found Marc W. Martin, Catherine Ann Schneider and William B. Sullivan qualified. James DiChristofano was not recommended.
The 12th Subcircuit includes Elk Grove, Maine, New Trier and Northfield townships. To fill the 12th Subcircuit's Kazmierski vacancy, ISBA found Marguerite Anne Quinn highly qualified. Louis George Apostol, Frank J. Andreou and Jennifer E. Bae were rated qualified. Thomas William Flannigan was rated not qualified.
To fill the 12th Subcircuit's Veronica B. Mathein vacancy, the association found James Leonard Allegretti qualified and Janet Cronin Mahoney and Adam Scott Mathein not qualified.
For the Tristano vacancy in the 12th Subcircuit, ISBA found both Carrie E. Hamilton and David L. Studenroth qualified.
For the additional judgeship in the 12th Subcircuit, ISBA found James Edward Hanlon Jr., Allan W. Masters and Steven Kozicki qualified. Alex Kaplan was not recommended.
To fill the Fecarotta vacancy in the 13th Subcircuit - which comprises parts of Arlington Heights, Barrington, Hoffman Estates, Palatine, Schaumburg and Streamwood - the bar association found Ketki Schroff Steffen highly qualified and Gary W. Seyring qualified. Kevin O'Donnell was found not qualified.
More information on ISBA recommendations is available at isba.org.