Luncheon to celebrate career of retiring Chief Justice Fitzgerald

A special luncheon will be held on Wednesday, Nov. 3, to celebrate the distinguished career of retiring Chief Justice Thomas R. Fitzgerald. This event will start at 11:30 a.m. at the Chicago Hilton, 720 S. Michigan. Tickets are $60 a person. For reservations, contact Tamra Drees at (312) 554-2057 or tdrees@chicagobar.org Thomas R. Fitzgerald is a native Chicagoan and attended Loyola University before enlisting in the United States Navy. After his tour of duty in the Navy, he graduated with honors from The John Marshall Law School, where he was one of the founders of the school’s current law review and served as the law review's associate editor. The son of a Circuit Court judge, Chief Justice Fitzgerald began his own career in the law as a prosecutor in the Cook County State's Attorney's office. When first elected to the bench in 1976, he was, at that time, the youngest elected Circuit Judge in Cook County. He served as a trial judge in the Criminal Court form 1976 to 1987 when he was assigned Supervising Judge of Traffic Court. In 1989, he returned to the Criminal Division as Presiding Judge. He also was appointed to serve as presiding judge of Illinois' first statewide grand jury. Chief Justice Fitzgerald was elected to the Supreme Court of Illinois for the First Judicial District in 2000. Chief Justice Fitzgerald was responsible for a broad series of initiatives to improve the judiciary and public confidence in the state's courts. Those initiatives include: newly codified Illinois Rules of Evidence, aimed at expediting the trial process and improving the administration of justice in Illinois courts; mandatory participation for the more than 900 Illinois Circuit and Associate judges in a Judicial Performance Evaluation Program; improvement to the New Judge Mentoring Program and New Judge Seminar; and a Statement of Expectations that was issued to all Illinois judges in December 2009. Additionally, in January of 2009, Chief Justice Fitzgerald presided over the Illinois Senate's impeachment trial of former Governor Rod Blagojevich. Chief Justice Fitzgerald is the recipient of numerous awards and honors. Sponsored by The Chicago Bar Association, Illinois State Bar Association, and The John Marshall Law School Co-Sponsored by the Advocates Society, Arab-American Bar Association of Illinois, Asian American Bar Association, Black Women Lawyers Association, Chinese American Bar Association, Cook County Bar Association, Decalogue Society of Lawyers, Filipino-American Bar Association, Hellenic Bar Association, Hispanic Lawyers Association of Illinois, Illinois Native American Bar Association, Indian American Bar Association, Justinian Society of Lawyers, Korean American Bar Association, Lesbian & Gay Bar Association of Chicago, Muslim Bar Association of Chicago, Pakistani American Bar Association, Puerto Rican Bar Association, and Women's Bar Association of Illinois