Local attorneys among finalists for associate judge

Several attorneys with Northwest suburban ties are among 20 finalists under consideration for an appointment to the Cook County Circuit Court.

Cook County Chief Judge Timothy C. Evans announced the finalists for 10 associate judge positions on Thursday. They include longtime Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Ketki Shroff Steffen, assigned to the domestic violence courtroom in Rolling Meadows' Third Municipal District, and private attorney Clarence Lewis Burch, who headed up the defense team of Juan Luna, who was convicted in 2007 and sentenced to life in prison for the Brown's Chicken killings.

Other finalists include Assistant Public Defender Bernard Joseph Sarley, a member of the public defender's homicide task force and the capital litigation bar. Last year, Sarley and co-counsel Jim Mullenix defended Robert Young, formerly of Arlington Heights who faced the death penalty for the 2006 stabbing deaths of Buffalo Grove residents Catonis Jones and Sharmaine Gregory. Young escaped death row after the jury returned a verdict of second-degree murder in the case of Jones.

"The selected candidates reflect the nominating committee's consideration of legal excellence and variety of legal experience as well as diversity of race, ethnicity and gender," said Evans in a prepared statement. "(Their selection ensures that) litigants coming before the bench can be confident of being treated fairly and justly."

The Chicago Bar Association and the Alliance of Bar Associations for Judicial Screening, which is composed of 10 area bar associations, evaluated 261 applicants who were interviewed by a 10-person nominating committee that included Evans, Judge Paul Piebel, presiding judge of the criminal division and Judge Joseph Urso, presiding judge of the Third Municipal District, among others. The nominating committee is expected to announce the new associate judges later this fall.