Chief judge of Cook County Circuit Court to be honored today

"Don't resolve your dispute in the street, bring it to court."

Judge Timothy C. Evans has spent the better part of his professional career championing that point of view, first as a litigator and assistant corporate counsel for the city of Chicago, then as deputy commissioner and alderman, later as a judge and finally as chief judge of the Cook County Circuit Court.

Like his idols Thurgood Marshall and Earl Warren, Evans has long believed the courts can provide solutions to both public and private problems. Throughout his eight years as chief judge, Evans says, he has worked to ensure the Cook County courts do that very thing.

Today he'll be honored for his efforts with the 2009 William H. Rehnquist Award for Judicial Excellence. U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts will present Evans with the award at a ceremony at the Supreme Court.

"It is awe inspiring," said Evans, whose legal career spans 40 years. "I was humbled by (the selection)."

The National Center for State Courts presents the award as recognition for recipients' judicial excellence, integrity, fairness and ethics. Evans is the first Illinois jurist to receive it. Unaware he was even under consideration, Evans considers it recognition for the work of all the judges presiding over Cook County courtrooms.

"I hope I'm the first of many to come," he said.

The award also recognizes Evans' innovations, including expanding problem-solving or specialty courts and supporting the development of a new domestic violence court which has become "a model for the country."

The award committee also recognized him for improving services for litigants representing themselves; creating a new chancery division section devoted to mortgage foreclosures and construction liens; introducing resource judges who share their expertise in specific forensic areas with fellow jurists; and increasing minority representation on the bench.

Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas R. Fitzgerald describes Evans as a "stellar judge administrator." Judge Paul P. Biebel Jr., presiding judge of the county's criminal division, hails Evans' reforms as helping to "change the culture of the court."

Evans doesn't intend to stop there. He also wants to change people's perceptions of the courts. Specifically, he wants to correct the public misconception about what goes on there and encourage residents to take advantage of the solutions the court can provide.

"We can help them by not embarrassing them," said Evans, referring to the recently established foreclosure section. It's not about assigning blame, he says, it's about helping people address their problems.

That principle motivates the specialty courts, which are among Evans' pet projects and which serve as "a reminder that our society should be interested in a humane solution, not just a punishment solution."

The specialty courts offer an alternative to incarceration for people charged with nonviolent, misdemeanor crimes, Evans said.

The recently established mental health courts

hear cases involving defendants charged with misdemeanor property crimes who suffer from mental health problems.

A collaborative effort, such courts involve the judiciary, the state's attorney and public defender; the probation department and the Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities or TASC program, in determining sentences and treatment. Currently in a pilot program at the Chicago, Skokie and Markham court buildings, the program might expand to the Rolling Meadows courthouse in the future, Evans said.

Evans also hopes to establish a veterans court to address issues unique to returning soldiers as well as a prostitution court, both of which could eventually expand to the Northwest suburbs.

Evans' public service dates almost to the day he passed the bar exam.

After graduating from John Marshall Law School in 1969, he became assistant corporation counsel for the city of Chicago and later served as deputy commissioner in the department of investigations. Elected to the Chicago City Council in 1973, he served as 4th Ward alderman until 1991, a stint that included four years as floor leader under Mayor Harold Washington.

In private practice for 23 years, Evans was elected a Cook County judge in 1992. Three years later he became presiding judge of the domestic relations division. Appointed presiding judge of the law division in 2000, he was elected chief judge the following year, the first African American to hold that position.

Evans oversees some 400 judges, along with probation officers, social service workers, court reporters, interpreters and public guardians among others. He presides over eight divisions and six geographic districts and manages a budget that tops $200 million.

But Evans isn't just an administrator. As chief judge, Evans says he must "be familiar with the issues and difficulties judges encounter on a daily basis."

To that end, he says he keeps his skills sharp and his ear to the ground by presiding over the occasional hearing in the law division where judges hear cases involving wrongful death, malpractice, product liability and fraud among other claims.

For all his accomplishments, Evans says, he's "proudest of having the opportunity to work with men and women down through the years who are dedicated to justice in this country."

To see people at their worst, to be privy to their suffering and have the responsibility for justly resolving their problems is no easy task, says Evans. But it has to be done.

Someone has to make the tough choices. Someone has to make the unpopular decisions.

"Someone has to step forward when everyone else is looking away," he said.