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SEPTEMBER 2015
for the test, she did well and was inundated
with letters from law schools across the
country, soliciting her application. But the
University of Illinois College of Law offered
her a full scholarship with room and board,
which she readily accepted. She also admits
that she didn’t want to leave Michael—her
then boyfriend and future husband.
In law school, Holmes landed a summer
job with the City of Chicago at a time of
change for the corporation counsel’s office.
“Jim Montgomery became the first black
City of Chicago corporation counsel under
Harold Washington,” Holmes recalls. “I
can’t even begin to tell you how proud
I was.…He and Eugene Pincham were
bigger than life.” In Holmes’ eyes, Mont-
gomery set an example for the profession,
and one that she could model.
Early Career as a Prosecutor
Graduating from law school, the market for
minority attorneys was markedly different
from today. Holmes recalls, “At that point
in time, if you had one minority lawyer in
your firm, then you were good.” Most law
firms at that time did not hire multiple
attorneys of color. “People were trying to
be that one,” Holmes said, “but…once
you’re in, people stuck around for a while.
So there’s no room for number two!”
So Holmes began her legal career where
many diverse young attorneys did: at the
State’s Attorney’s office in the appeals
division. When she wrote her first appel-
late brief, the brief supervisor asked her a
familiar question. “Who helped you with
this?” Undeterred, Holmes quickly became
a brief supervisor in the appeals division
and eventually ended up in the felony trials
division. “I tried hundreds of cases.” She
recalls sometimes taking three cases a day
to trial. “You figure out how to get to the
point real quick,” she notes. A quality she
has retained to this day.
After five years in the state’s attorney’s
office, she applied and interviewed for a
job with Fred Foreman, the then recently-
named U.S. Attorney for the Northern
District of Illinois. Foreman offered her
the job at the end of the interview, and
Holmes spent five years as an Assistant
United States Attorney. She tried 25 cases
in that time. Holmes credits her experience
with the state’s attorney and U.S. attorney
for her courtroom demeanor. “It helped
me be fearless in the courtroom.”
On to the Bench
Holmes’ next career move may seem baffling
to some. She applied for the position of Chief
Assistant Corporation Counsel in charge of
municipal prosecutions for the City of Chi-
cago. While the position itself was exciting,
the prospects it created were even more so.
Almost everyone who had served in that
position eventually joined the judiciary. “I
had always wanted to be a judge.”
She applied and got the job, and within
two years, the County had reopened the
appointment process for associate judges
after having suspending it for budgetary
reasons. Holmes was encouraged to apply,
but with 365 applications for 18 positions,
“it was like a feeding frenzy.” When the
Chief ’s Judge’s office called Holmes to
tell her that she made the short list of 36
candidates, she thought it was a joke. “I’m
like, what’s the number. I’ll call you right
back.” It was not a joke, and over the next
two weeks, she put on her walking boots,
and met with over 400 circuit court judges
across the County. She was appointed as
an associate judge, and at the time was the
youngest African American female ever
appointed. She was 36.
She began hearing cases in the juvenile
court, where she and a group of new judges
reinvigorated the juvenile court system.
“We reduced the number of cases... We
were saving lives and helping children. It
was great.” Holmes eventually took over
the Benchmark Permanency Hearings
Program, which, according to the court
website, “assists teen wards approaching
emancipation to prepare for independence.”
The program became a national exemplar.
But her success on the bench was
interrupted. One day, her law clerk found
Holmes unconscious on the floor in cham-
bers. The clerk and another judge rushed
Holmes to the hospital, where the doctors
diagnosed her with cancer and gave her
six months to live. She reacted, telling the
doctor, “I have a six-month old, a four-
year old, and a sixteen-year old step son! I
don’t have time for this! What do we need
to do here?” She fought the cancer for two
years, and took another two before she fully
recovered from the chemotherapy.
Cancer changed Holmes’ perspective
Holmes, with friend, mentor, and “Board of Director” Judge Ann Williams of the U.S.
Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit