Bar associations release Cook judicial candidate evaluations

The Illinois State Bar Association, whose membership numbers about 28,000, and the Chicago Bar Association, which has about 20,000 members, released judicial candidate evaluations in advance of Cook County's March 17 primary.

For the Illinois Supreme Court first district vacancy, the ISBA found Jesse G. Reyes, P. Scott Neville Jr., Margaret Stanton McBride and Nathaniel Roosevelt Howse “highly qualified.” Cynthia Y. Cobbs was found “qualified.” Shelly A. Harris was found “not qualified” and Daniel Epstein was “not recommended.” Candidates who do not participate in the ISBA's evaluation process or who have less than the required number of years experience are found “not recommended.”

The CBA rated Reyes, Neville and McBride “highly qualified.” The association found Harris, Cobbs and Howse “qualified.” The CBA rated Epstein “not recommended.”

In the race to fill the Neville vacancy in the appellate court first district, the ISBA found Michael B. Hyman “highly qualified.” Maureen Patricia O'Leary, Carolyn J. Gallagher and Sandra Gisela Ramos were found “not qualified.” For the same vacancy, the CBA found Gallagher and Hyman “highly qualified” and Ramos “qualified.” O'Leary was not recommended.

To fill the Simon vacancy in the appellate court's first district, the ISBA and CBA found John Griffin highly qualified and Sharon O. Johnson qualified.

For judicial candidates running countywide, the ISBA gave “not recommended” ratings to: Tiesha L. Smith, U. O'Neal, Bonnie Carol McGrath, Dan Walsh and Wendelin “Wendi” DiLoach. The association gave “not qualified” ratings to: Joseph Chico, Keely Patricia Hillison, Amanda “Mandy” Pillsbury, Araceli Reyes De La Cruz, Maura McMahon Zeller and James Samuel Worley.

All other countywide candidates were rated “qualified” by the ISBA.

The CBA gave “not recommended” ratings to Tiesha L. Smith, O'Neal, Arthur D. Sutton, McGrath, Joy E. Tolbert Nelson, Dan Walsh, Deidre Baumann and DeLoach. The CBA found all other countywide candidates “qualified” or “highly qualified.”

For the Hanlon vacancy in the 12th subcircuit — which includes parts of Wheeling, Northfield, New Trier, Elk Grove and Maine townships — the ISBA rated Patricia M. Fallon, Howard J. Wise, Carmine Trombetta and Frank R. DiFranco “qualified.” The CBA gave Trombetta a “not recommended” rating.

For the Hoffman vacancy in the 13th subcircuit — which includes parts of Barrington, Palatine, Wheeling, Hanover Park and Schaumburg townships — the ISBA and CBA found Michael P. Gerber “highly qualified.” Both organizations found Joe Gump, Matt Flamm, Susanne Michelle Groebner and Gary William Seyring “qualified.” The ISBA found Michael Harry Minton “not qualified” and the CBA found him “not recommended.” Both organizations found Angel Garcia “not recommended.”

For printable guides, see chicagobar.org and isba.org.