JUSTICE THOMAS KILBRIDE
Partner
Former Chief Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court Tom Kilbride served on the Court for 20 years, from 2000 to 2020. During his tenure on the Court, Tom earned a reputation as an independent and thoughtful yet respectful justice. He participated in approximately 1,800 cases, including writing opinions in 360 cases.
While serving on the Court, Tom led several efforts to modernize the state judiciary. During his term as Chief Justice, the Court implemented e-business and e-filling standards that later resulted in the statewide availability of e-filing, introduced cameras in the courtroom for the first time in Illinois history, enhanced funding for the judicial branch (with a special focus on boosting the resources available for probation services), and founded the Illinois Access to Justice Commission. The Access to Justice Commission, in turn, grew into the groundbreaking Access to Justice Division of the Administrative Office of the Illinois Court.
Under Tom’s leadership, Illinois’ focus on access to justice evolved from being a merely aspirational goal of the bar and bench to becoming an integral part of the state judiciary’s daily work. Of all his achievements on the Supreme Court, Tom is most proud of the creation and successes of the Access to Justice Commission, promoting the interests of all Illinois’s citizens. Due to his efforts and leadership, the American Bar Association appointed him to its Standing Committee on Legal Aid and Indigent Defendants and its Committee on Interest on Lawyer Trust Accounts.
During his 20 years on the Supreme Court, Tom acted as its liaison to the Access to Justice Commission, the Supreme Court Rules Committee, and the Lawyers Trust Fund. He also served as Chairman of the Illinois Courts Commission from 2008 through 2010. By appointing numerous women and persons of color to the judiciary, Tom was instrumental in updating the face of the state’s courts.
Prior to serving Illinoisans on the Supreme Court, Tom practiced law for 20 years in the Quad Cities, beginning his career as a legal aid attorney followed by many years in private practice. His areas of practice included general civil and criminal law matters, with an emphasis on appeals, environmental law, labor law, employment law, and the representation of numerous local governmental units. He became a partner at Klockau, McCarthy, Ellison & Marquis, P.C., and later founded the Law Offices of Thomas L. Kilbride.
In recognition of his many accomplishments and longstanding devotion to public service, Tom has received many awards and honors, culminating in the 2021 creation of the “Thomas L. Kilbride Public Service Award” by the Chicago Bar Association and Chicago Bar Foundation. The annual award honors dedicated attorneys and judges who have devoted a significant portion of their legal careers to the public sector, achieving excellence in their work while demonstrating a firm commitment to expanding access to justice statewide and making the court system fairer and more accessible to all.
In addition to that honor, Tom received the 2021 American Board of Trial Advocates’ Lex Adjuvat Omnes Award and its 2009 Judge of the Year Award, as well as the 2020 Illinois Judges Association “Lifetime Achievement Award.” In 2020, he was honored by a resolution of the Illinois State Bar Association in recognition of his distinguished legal and judicial career. In 2018, Tom was the first recipient of the “James J. Shields Medal of Excellence” from the Celtic Legal Society of Chicago. That same year, he was presented with “Hon. Charles E. Freeman Judicial Merit Award” by the 2018 Decalogue Society of Lawyers. Those awards were preceded by the Jewish Judges Association of Illinois’s 2017 “Honorable Richard J. Elrod Public Service Award” and the 2017 “Award of Merit,” as well as the “2016 Legal Legend Award,” now known as the “Abner J. Mikva Award,” from the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy, Chicago Chapter; the 2016 “Seeker of Justice Award” from the Black Bar Association of Will County; a 2014 “Justice John Paul Stevens Award” from the Chicago Bar Association and the Chicago Bar Foundation; the 2012 “Extraordinary Achievement Award” from the Black Women Lawyers Association of Greater Chicago; the 2012 “Mary Heftel Hooton Award” given by the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois; and the 2011 “Judge Joel M. Flaum Award” from the Chicago Inns of Court. Tom was also honored by the Rock Island County Bar Association and Prairie State Legal Services in 2012 when it created the “Thomas L. Kilbride Volunteer Lawyer of the Year Award.”
Those are just a sampling of the numerous honors Tom has humbly received, but his greatest and most cherished achievement by far is bearing the titles of husband, father, and grandfather. Tom and his wife Mary are the proud parents of three adult daughters and the devoted grandparents to three grandchildren. Having raised their family in Rock Island, Tom and Mary now reside in Moline. Tom is an avid Chicago White Sox fan, although he’s quick to note that he has nothing against the Cubs or the Cardinals.
JUSTICE THOMAS KILBRIDE
Partner
Former Chief Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court Tom Kilbride served on the Court for 20 years, from 2000 to 2020. During his tenure on the Court, Tom earned a reputation as an independent and thoughtful yet respectful justice. He participated in approximately 1,800 cases, including writing opinions in 360 cases.
While serving on the Court, Tom led several efforts to modernize the state judiciary. During his term as Chief Justice, the Court implemented e-business and e-filling standards that later resulted in the statewide availability of e-filing, introduced cameras in the courtroom for the first time in Illinois history, enhanced funding for the judicial branch (with a special focus on boosting the resources available for probation services), and founded the Illinois Access to Justice Commission. The Access to Justice Commission, in turn, grew into the groundbreaking Access to Justice Division of the Administrative Office of the Illinois Court.
Under Tom’s leadership, Illinois’ focus on access to justice evolved from being a merely aspirational goal of the bar and bench to becoming an integral part of the state judiciary’s daily work. Of all his achievements on the Supreme Court, Tom is most proud of the creation and successes of the Access to Justice Commission, promoting the interests of all Illinois’s citizens. Due to his efforts and leadership, the American Bar Association appointed him to its Standing Committee on Legal Aid and Indigent Defendants and its Committee on Interest on Lawyer Trust Accounts.
During his 20 years on the Supreme Court, Tom acted as its liaison to the Access to Justice Commission, the Supreme Court Rules Committee, and the Lawyers Trust Fund. He also served as Chairman of the Illinois Courts Commission from 2008 through 2010. By appointing numerous women and persons of color to the judiciary, Tom was instrumental in updating the face of the state’s courts.
Prior to serving Illinoisans on the Supreme Court, Tom practiced law for 20 years in the Quad Cities, beginning his career as a legal aid attorney followed by many years in private practice. His areas of practice included general civil and criminal law matters, with an emphasis on appeals, environmental law, labor law, employment law, and the representation of numerous local governmental units. He became a partner at Klockau, McCarthy, Ellison & Marquis, P.C., and later founded the Law Offices of Thomas L. Kilbride.
In recognition of his many accomplishments and longstanding devotion to public service, Tom has received many awards and honors, culminating in the 2021 creation of the “Thomas L. Kilbride Public Service Award” by the Chicago Bar Association and Chicago Bar Foundation. The annual award honors dedicated attorneys and judges who have devoted a significant portion of their legal careers to the public sector, achieving excellence in their work while demonstrating a firm commitment to expanding access to justice statewide and making the court system fairer and more accessible to all.
In addition to that honor, Tom received the 2021 American Board of Trial Advocates’ Lex Adjuvat Omnes Award and its 2009 Judge of the Year Award, as well as the 2020 Illinois Judges Association “Lifetime Achievement Award.” In 2020, he was honored by a resolution of the Illinois State Bar Association in recognition of his distinguished legal and judicial career. In 2018, Tom was the first recipient of the “James J. Shields Medal of Excellence” from the Celtic Legal Society of Chicago. That same year, he was presented with “Hon. Charles E. Freeman Judicial Merit Award” by the 2018 Decalogue Society of Lawyers. Those awards were preceded by the Jewish Judges Association of Illinois’s 2017 “Honorable Richard J. Elrod Public Service Award” and the 2017 “Award of Merit,” as well as the “2016 Legal Legend Award,” now known as the “Abner J. Mikva Award,” from the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy, Chicago Chapter; the 2016 “Seeker of Justice Award” from the Black Bar Association of Will County; a 2014 “Justice John Paul Stevens Award” from the Chicago Bar Association and the Chicago Bar Foundation; the 2012 “Extraordinary Achievement Award” from the Black Women Lawyers Association of Greater Chicago; the 2012 “Mary Heftel Hooton Award” given by the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois; and the 2011 “Judge Joel M. Flaum Award” from the Chicago Inns of Court. Tom was also honored by the Rock Island County Bar Association and Prairie State Legal Services in 2012 when it created the “Thomas L. Kilbride Volunteer Lawyer of the Year Award.”
Those are just a sampling of the numerous honors Tom has humbly received, but his greatest and most cherished achievement by far is bearing the titles of husband, father, and grandfather. Tom and his wife Mary are the proud parents of three adult daughters and the devoted grandparents to three grandchildren. Having raised their family in Rock Island, Tom and Mary now reside in Moline. Tom is an avid Chicago White Sox fan, although he’s quick to note that he has nothing against the Cubs or the Cardinals.