Bar associations release Cook County judicial candidate recommendations
Illinois' two largest bar associations released their recommendations for Cook County circuit court candidates running in the March 20 primary.
For candidates running countywide, the Illinois State Bar Association rated the following candidates not recommended: Lori Ann Roper, Corri Diane Fetman and Mable Taylor. The ISBA found Amanda Moira Pillsbury, Keely Patricia Hillison, Ioana Salajanu and Keith L. Spence not qualified.
The ISBA rates candidates as highly qualified, qualified or not qualified. Candidates who decline to participate in the evaluation process are rated not recommended.
The Chicago Bar Association found Michael I. O'Malley, Roper, Fetman, Salajanu, Spence, Patrick Dankwa John and Taylor not recommended.
The CBA rates candidates as highly qualified, qualified or not recommended. Candidates who decline to participate in the evaluation process are "automatically not recommended," according to the CBA website.
In the 11th subcircuit (Kennedy vacancy) - which includes parts of Elk Grove, Maine, Norwood Park, Leyden, Proviso and Oak Park townships along with some Chicago neighborhoods - both associations found Joanne F. Rosado and Scott J. Frankel qualified or highly qualified.
In the 12th subcircuit (Maki vacancy), which includes parts of Wheeling, Northfield, New Trier, Elk Grove and Maine townships, the ISBA rated Alan M. Jacob as not recommended and Thomas Raymond Molitor as not qualified. The ISBA rated David Studenroth, Joel Chupack and Carmine Trombetta qualified.
For the same 12th subcircuit, the CBA rated Jacob, Trombetta and Molitor as not recommended. The CBA found Studenroth qualified and Chupack highly qualified.
The 13th subcircuit - which includes parts of Barrington, Palatine, Wheeling, Hanover Park and Schaumburg townships - has three vacancies. For the Crane vacancy, the ISBA found Gary William Seyring and Susanne Groebner qualified and Ketki "Kay" Steffen highly qualified. For the Crane vacancy the CBA found all three candidates qualified.
For the Lawrence vacancy in the 13th subcircuit, the ISBA found Daniel Patrick Fitzgerald qualified, Michael Perry Gerber highly qualified and Shannon P. O'Malley not recommended. For the same vacancy the CBA rated Gerber highly qualified and found Fitzgerald and O'Malley not recommended.
For the 13th subcircuit O'Donnell vacancy, the ISBA found both Christine Svenson and Samuel J. Betar III qualified. The CBA found Betar highly qualified and rated Svenson as not recommended.
Founded in 1877, the ISBA has about 30,000 members. The CBA, founded in 1874, has about 21,000 members.