CBA Record

PRESIDENT’S PAGE BY DANIEL M. KOTIN Why Don’t We Talk about All the Good Judges?

The Chicago Bar Association www.chicagobar.org OFFICERS President Daniel M. Kotin Tomasik Kotin Kasserman, LLC First Vice President Hon. Thomas R. Mulroy Circuit Court of Cook County Second Vice President Steven M. Elrod Holland & Knight LLP Secretary Jesse H. Ruiz Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP Treasurer Executive Director Terrence M. Murphy Assistant Executive Director Elizabeth A. McMeen BOARD OF MANAGERS Ashly I. Boesche Alan R. Borlack Hon. Maureen E. Connors Mary K. Curry Hon. Thomas M. Durkin Hon. Timothy C. Evans Hon. Shelvin Louise Marie Hall Robert F. Harris Patricia Brown Holmes Maurice Grant Grant Law LLC

tion on the matter. All the lawyers would turn our attention to other cases. My client would move on with his life (hopefully better able to cope with his injuries and expenses), and nothing would be said of the remarkable effort displayed by the judge in enabling this settlement to take place. But these are not ordinary times. We are in the middle of an election season, and the experience with this settlement conference has caused me to reflect upon our judicial system and our election process. Although most public attention is currently focused on the crazy presidential race, we must remember that we have an elected judiciary in Illinois, and most of our judges are in their positions because our citizens make it happen. On November 8 th , voters will elect judges to serve on the Appellate Court of Illinois and the Circuit Court of Cook County. Thirty-five candidates are running for judicial vacancies. In addition, voters will be asked to vote for 58 sitting judges who are running for retention. (Under Illi- nois’ Constitution, judges on the retention ballot must receive a 60% favorable vote to stay on the bench.) Unfortunately, the media has covered and will continue to cover stories about the few “bad” judges who sit in our courts (and every other court our nation for that matter). I suppose these stories are what the public enjoys. Yet, nobody writes about the vast majority of Cook County judges who are exemplary public servants, working tirelessly, and providing services beyond those which they are expected to perform. The Circuit Court of Cook County is the second largest unified court in the country, with 257 elected judges (and approximately 140 associate judges), handling more than 2.4 million cases which are filed each year.

I recently represented a plaintiff in a severe injury, complex, construc- tion negligence and product liability case involving six separate defendants. Last month, after nine hours of pre-trial conferences spanning two days with a seasoned judge in the Circuit Court of Cook County, the entire case settled. This settlement occurred despite the fact that the complex web of contractual relation- ships, claims, and counter-claims among the parties made the initial prospect of even engaging in global settlement talks seem almost futile. When the process ended, I told our judge, William Gomolinski, that I was truly impressed by the time and energy that he volunteered to resolve this case. After all, he is a Law Division judge assigned to the Motion Call. He is responsible for managing 1,500 other pending cases. He had no obligation to even hear our pre- trial, not to mention devoting the time it took to learn, analyze and mediate such a complicated matter. In ordinary times, life after this case would simply go on without much reflec-

Matthew T. Jenkins Michele M. Jochner Kathryn Carso Liss Pamela S. Menaker Paul J. Ochmanek Jr. Eileen M. O’Connor Nigel F. Telman Frank G. Tuzzolino

Andrew W. Vail Allison L. Wood

8 OCTOBER 2016