CBA Record October 2016

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PRESIDENT’S PAGE
BY DANIEL M. KOTIN
Why Don’t We Talk about All the
Good Judges?
The Chicago
Bar Association
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
Maurice Grant
Grant Law LLC
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
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
Irecently 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-
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 8th, 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.