Appellate Judge M. Carol Pope to be installed as IJA president

Hon. M. Carol Pope, of Petersburg, an Illinois Appellate Court Judge in the Fourth Appellate District, which includes thirty counties in central Illinois, will be installed as the 40^th president of the Illinois Judges Association (IJA) at the organization’s Annual Meeting, on Friday, June 3, noon, at The John Marshall Law School, 315 S. Plymouth Court, Chicago. Illinois Supreme Court Justice Rita Garman will officiate at the swearing-in ceremony of Judge Pope and the other officers who are Rita M. Novak, of Chicago, first vice president; Mary S. Schostok, of Libertyville, second vice president; Michael B. Hyman, of Northfield, third vice president; Robert J. Anderson, of Wheaton, secretary; and Israel Abaya Desierto, of Chicago, treasurer. During her presidency, Judge Pope plans to expand the IJA’s “Courtroom in the Classroom” education program to encourage high school students to learn more about the rights and duties of citizenship, government, and the Illinois and United States Constitutions. “Many citizens lack an understanding of the courts’ role in society and in protecting Constitutional rights and access to justice.  We hope we can contribute to the educational process,” she said. A new continuing legal education program for retired judges who are not practicing law but want to maintain their law license will also be explored, she continued.  Under the direction of Judge Novak, the organization’s Retired Judges Committee will assess the needs of retired judges for programs that may interest them. The IJA will continue its highly-successful “7 Reasons to Leave the Party” education program.  In the 2010-11 school year alone, judges delivered 72 school presentations, reaching more than 18,000 students throughout Illinois. The hard-hitting, interactive program statewide informs high school students about the consequences of poor lifestyle decisions. A member of the IJA since 1992, Judge Pope was elected to its board of directors in 2004, and has served in posts that include treasurer, secretary and third vice president. Judge Pope’s Background Appointed as a Circuit Judge in the Eighth Judicial Circuit in 1991 by the Supreme Court of Illinois, Judge Pope was subsequently elected to the position in November 1992 and retained in 1998, 2004 and 2010.  In December of 2008, she was assigned to the Fourth District Appellate Court by unanimous order of the Supreme Court of Illinois.  She currently serves in that position. Pope served as Menard County State’s Attorney from 1984 to 1991. After completing law school, she served as a law clerk to the Hon. J. Waldo Ackerman, Chief U.S. District Judge for the Central District of Illinois, before practicing law for one year at Mayer, Brown and Platt in Chicago. Active in her community, she is a member of the Menard County School and Community Task Force, the Menard County Family Violence Prevention Project, Menard County University Women, and the Central Illinois Women’s Bar Association. She and her husband Al have two adult sons and two grandsons.