Skip to content
  • Subscribe
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Youtube
  • Instagram
  • Email
  • Home
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment
  • Features
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe to Ray’s Clumns
Suburban Chicagoland

Suburban Chicagoland

Original News, Features & Opinion on local and regional news you won't find anywhere else

  • About
    • About
    • Advertise
    • Our Writers
      • Ray Hanania
      • Bill Lipinski
      • Biography: Aaron Hanania
      • Steve Metsch
      • Steve Neuhaus
    • Terms of Service
    • Privacy Policy
    • Reach Out
  • Sections
    • Events
    • Opinion
    • News
    • Features
    • Seniors
    • Comic Strip
  • Library
    • “MIdnight Flight” Online Book
      • Midnight Flight Book Overview
      • Midnight Flight Introduction
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 1
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 2
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 3
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 4
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 5
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 6
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 7
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 8
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 9
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 10
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 11
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 12
      • Midnight Flight Chapter 13
    • Villages, Cities & Towns
    • Federal Office Holders
    • County Officials
    • Legislators
  • Subscribe to Ray’s Columns
  • Comment
  • Podcast
    • Ray Hanania on Politics
    • Two Guys on Politics
    • Hanania on Tiktok
  • News Wire
  • Toggle search form
  • Orland Township Trustee Lena Matariyeh joined with High School District 230 Trustee and newly appointed Orland Fire Commissioner Mohammed Jaber to put a spotlight on its important role in helping needy families.
    Orland Township Trustee Matariyeh joins School District Trustee Jaber in showcasing Food Pantry food
  • 05-23-25 Jeffery M. Leving
    Leving team court victory protected dad from crushing debt Dads' Rights
  • Jesse Jackson Jr July 2025
    In response to draft effort, Jesse Jackson Jr. forms Exploratory Committee to consider 2nd Congressional District run Chicago
  • OFPD responds to fire at the loading Dock of Marshalls Retail Store, 101 Orland Park Place Mall. Photo submitted by resident
    Quick Orland Fire response prevents Marshall’s fire from spreading, no injuries Fire
  • Attorneys Jeffery Leving Arthur Kallow
    Leving Matrimonial Law Seminar – Defending Orders of Protection Arthur Kallow
  • Police Blotter
    Orland Park Police Department Investigating Fatal Hit-and-Run accident
  • Taste of Orland Park 2025
    Taste of Orland Park Returns to Village Center with Food, Fun and Festivities Events
  • Orland Park Mayor Jim Dodge
    Exclusive interview with Orland Mayor Jim Dodge says former mayor left huge debt breaking news
  • Chicago Wovles play the Rockford Ice Hogs, Feb. 23, 2025
    Chicago Wolves hockey unveil 2025-26 Season schedule Chicago
  • Cook County Treasurer Maria Papas
    Everything you need to know about your Property Index Number or PIN Blogger
  • Andrew Boutros US Attorney Illinois
    Suburban Chicago Man Sentenced to Two Years in Federal Prison for Threatening FEMA Employees and Law Enforcement Officers Crime
  • SeatGeek Stadium
    Chivas de Guadalajara and Club Leon to meet in Chicago Bridgeview
  • OFPD Trustee DJ Jeffers, COmmissioner Mohammed Jaber, Events and Safety Coordinator Betsy Dine and McDonalds Manager Doug Kwiatkowski join about 100 kids who participated at the Frozen with a Firefighter event Wednesday, July 9, 2025
    Frozen with an Orland Firefighter at McDonald’s Events
  • 05-23-25 Jeffery M. Leving
    Chicago dad’s court victory brought kidnapped daughter home Dads' Rights
  • Congresswoman Robin Kelly official photo
    Leading members of State’s Gun Violence Prevention Community endorse Robin Kelly for U.S. Senate elections
Rouhy Shalabi sworn in as an Associate Judge in the Circuit Court of Cook County on Monday Jan. 6, 2020. Photo courtesy of Dave Shalabi.

Rouhy Shalabi named Associate Judge in Cook County

Posted on January 8, 2020 By Ray Hanania No Comments on Rouhy Shalabi named Associate Judge in Cook County
SHARE THIS STORY
263           
 
  
263
Shares

Rouhy Shalabi named Associate Judge in Cook County

Palestinian American lawyer Rouhy Shalabi was named as an Associate Judge to the Cook County Circuit Court and was sworn in to the post on Monday Jan. 6, 2020. He is the first Palestinian Judge and joins several Arab Americans who have served on the bench including Sam Betar, Bill Haddad and Miriam Balanoff.

Palestinian American Rouhy Shalabi, an attorney and member of the Chicago Park District board of Directors was sworn-in on Monday Jan. 6, 2020 as an Associate Judge of the Cook County Circuit Court. Cook County  Circuit Court Chief Judge Timothy Evans presided over the ceremony.

Shalabi was one of 30 attorneys and individuals who were nominated by the Circuit Court Nominating Committee last November to the position of Associate Judge of the Circuit Court by a panel of judges seeking to fill vacancies. The court selected 15 of the nominees to fill 15 vacancies.

In Mr. Shalabi’s thirty-five years as a sole practitioner, he has litigated numerous civil and criminal trials, recovered millions of dollars in personal injury matters, reached just resolutions in divorce matters, and closed on hundreds of residential and commercial properties.

Rouhy Shalabi sworn in as an Associate Judge in the Circuit Court of Cook County on Monday Jan. 6, 2020. Photo courtesy of Dave Shalabi.
Rouhy Shalabi sworn in as an Associate Judge in the Circuit Court of Cook County on Monday Jan. 6, 2020. Photo courtesy of Dave Shalabi.

Mr. Shalabi has been active in the community for decades. In 2002, he was appointed by Mayor Richard M. Daley as the first Arab-American Commissioner to the City of Chicago Park District.

He was also the first Arab-American appointed to the Board of Commissioners, Chicago Commission on Human Relations. He served as the first President of the City of Chicago Advisory Council on Arab Affairs, and is a founding member and former President of the Arab-American Bar Association.

In addition, Mr. Shalabi served as a member of the Circuit Court of Cook County Racial and Ethnic Committee, the State’s Attorney’s Hate Crimes Commission, the Multi-Cultural Advisory Committee on the Media, the Family Violence Prevention Council, and is President of two Chicago Local School Councils.

Mr. Shalabi is a graduate of Northern Illinois College of Law.  He and his wife have eight children.

The Nominating Committee of the Circuit Court of Cook County today announced its selection of the 30 candidates who will seek appointment to15 Associate Judge vacancies by a vote of the Circuit Judges. All of the candidates received across-the-board positive ratings from the bar associations.

Chief Judge Timothy C. Evans issued a statement about the nominations when they were made in November 2019 but the appoints were not confirmed until earlier this month.

“I am pleased to submit the names of these candidates for consideration to join the bench of the Circuit Court of Cook County,” Evans said.

“With their bar association evaluations, legal experience and diverse backgrounds, these candidates represent excellence. Any one of them is ready to serve the public as a member of the judiciary. The interview process presented a wealth of talented applicants, and we thank them all. The challenge the Nominating Committee faces every time is that there are more excellent applicants than the number of candidates we can nominate.”

The Nominating Committee employed a comprehensive approach in the nomination process that considered multiple aspects such as a variety of legal experience in the public and private sectors, and diversity of race, ethnicity and gender.

The Nominating Committee is made up of the following judges:

  • Honorable Timothy C. Evans, Chief Judge
  • Honorable Mary Ellen Coghlan, Justice, Illinois Appellate Court
  • Honorable Grace G. Dickler, Presiding Judge, Domestic Relations Division
  • Honorable James P. Flannery Jr., Presiding Judge, Law Division
  • Honorable Sophia H. Hall, Administrative Presiding Judge, Juvenile Justice and Child Protection Resource Section
  • Honorable Moshe Jacobius, Presiding Judge, Chancery Division
  • Honorable Raymond L. Jagielski, Presiding Judge, Fifth Municipal District
  • Honorable LeRoy K. Martin Jr., Presiding Judge, Criminal Division
  • Honorable Sharon M. Sullivan, Presiding Judge, County Division
  • Honorable Shelley Sutker-Dermer, Presiding Judge, Second Municipal District
  • Honorable E. Kenneth Wright Jr., Presiding Judge, First Municipal District

A total of 212 licensed attorneys originally submitted applications for consideration, and 18 applicants withdrew from the process before interviews. The Nominating Committee interviewed 194 applicants. However, one applicant withdrew after being interviewed, leaving 193 applicants. The selection of the 30 candidates was unanimous.

Below is the list of the 30 candidates that was forwarded to the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts by the Nominating Committee:

  • ALONSO, Amee Elizabeth
  • AMMENDOLA, Marina E.
  • ANDREOU, Frank John
  • AYALA-GONZALEZ, Laura
  • BATES, Fredrick Hayze
  • BHANDARI, Aileen
  • BROOKS, Lloyd James
  • COLEMAN, Jennifer Frances
  • FAIRMAN, John Abbrey
  • FORTI, Michael Angelo
  • FOTOPOULOS, John S.
  • GUDINO, Ruth Isabel
  • HOGAN, Michael James, Jr.
  • MALONEY, Edward James
  • MAYS, Celestia Laurene
  • O’DELL, Katherine Angela
  • PATTERSON, Monique Lenee’
  • PAYNE, Jennifer Joyce
  • PEZANOSKI, Diane Marie
  • PLOTNICK, Paul William
  • RAKOWSKI, Leo Steven
  • ROSENBERG, Geri Pinzur
  • ROSS, Curtis Bennett
  • SAUCEDA, Eric Michael
  • SHALABI, Rouhy J.
  • SIMON, John Anthony
  • SMITH, Levander, Jr.
  • SMITH, Theresa Marie
  • TIERNAN, Daniel Owen
  • WALTON, Tyria Beatrice

The 252 Circuit Judges have the constitutional authority to fill associate judge vacancies and are required to follow the procedures outlined in Rule 39 of the Rules of the Illinois Supreme Court. Under Supreme Court Rule 39, the Nominating Committee must select twice as many qualified candidates as there are vacancies to be filled; in this case, 30 candidates were selected to fill 15 vacancies.

The Chief Judge must then notify the Director of the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts of the names of the candidates selected by the Committee and request the Director to begin the balloting process. Within 14 days after the Chief Judge’s notification, the Director mails a secret ballot with the names of each candidate to each circuit judge. The judges vote for one candidate for each vacancy to be filled. The judges must return the ballots to the Director within 14 days of the date the ballots were distributed. The Director then counts the ballots which are accompanied by a signed card, tabulates the results and certifies them to the Chief Judge – at all times maintaining the secrecy of the ballots.

Bar evaluations were issued for all of the associate judge applicants by The Chicago Bar Association and the Alliance of Bar Associations for Judicial Screening, at the request of Chief Judge Evans. The Alliance is made up of 12 minority and ethnic bar organizations as follows: the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Chicago Area, the Black Women Lawyers’ Association of Greater Chicago, the Chicago Council of Lawyers, the Cook County Bar Association, the Decalogue Society of Lawyers, the Hellenic Bar Association of Illinois, the Hispanic Lawyers Association of Illinois, the Illinois State Bar Association, the Lesbian and Gay Bar Association of Chicago, the Puerto Rican Bar Association, the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois and the Arab American Bar Association of Illinois.

Each bar association issued its own ratings for individual Associate Judge applicants. Attached with this press release are the evaluations of the 30 candidates. Chief Judge Evans thanks The Chicago Bar Association and the Alliance for the considerable time and resources that were expended to produce the ratings.

newswire info
  • Author
  • Recent Posts
Ray Hanania
Ray Hanania
Ray Hanania is an award-winning columnist, author & former Chicago City Hall reporter (1977-1992). A veteran who served during the Vietnam War and the recipient of four SPJ Peter Lisagor Awards for column writing, Hanania writes weekly opinion columns on mainstream American & Chicagoland topics for the Southwest News-Herald, Des Plaines Valley News, the Regional News, The Reporter Newspapers, and Suburban Chicagoland.  

His award winning columns can be found at www.HANANIA.COM Subscribe FREE today

Hanania also writes about Middle East issues for the Arab News, and The Arab Daily News criticizing government policies in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Hanania was named "Best Ethnic American Columnist" by the New America Media in November 2007, and is the 2009 recipient of the SPJ National Sigma Delta Chi Award for column writing.

Email Ray Hanania at rghanania@gmail.com.

Follow RayHanania at Twitter
Ray Hanania
Latest posts by Ray Hanania (see all)
  • Orland Township Trustee Matariyeh joins School District Trustee Jaber in showcasing Food Pantry - July 17, 2025
  • Leving team court victory protected dad from crushing debt - July 17, 2025
  • In response to draft effort, Jesse Jackson Jr. forms Exploratory Committee to consider 2nd Congressional District run - July 15, 2025
  • Tweet

SHARE THIS STORY
263           
 
  
263
Shares
 
263
Shares
 
 
 263         
Chicago, Crime, elections, Government, News, Politics, Suburban Chicagoland Tags:appointment, Associate Judge, Circuit Court, Cook County, Rouhy Shalabi

Post navigation

Previous Post: Mike Bloomberg in Illinois this week announcing jobs initiative
Next Post: Elitist theatrical performance “Hamilton” finally closes

Related Posts

  • Harvey Mayor Christopher Clark. Photo courtesy of the City of Harvey
    11 Year-old Harvey resident in critical condition, victim of gun violence Crime
  • Lawsuit filed in Lyons SD 103 News
  • money $20 dollar bill, dollars, cash
    Fritz Kaegi’s artificial inflation of property assessments to protect businesses Blogger
  • Illinois Kids Count
    Illinois children’s chances of success varies by County News
  • Congressman Dan Lipinski
    Lipinski urges restoration of humanitarian aid for Palestinians Chicago
  • Orland Youth Program
    Eagles Basketball Tryouts begin for the 2021-2022 Season! News

More Related Articles

Lyons delivers News
Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas. Photo courtesy of the Cook County government Maria Pappas applauds passage of historic property tax reform law cutting the interest on late taxes Cook County
Assault weapons, courtesy of WIkipedia National Association for Gun Rights Calls Out Illinois’ Semi-Auto Ban Lies Cook County
Jeffery M. Leving fights for your rights Leving reminisces about one of his most emotional parental successes Jeffery Leving
Virtual Pet Parade on Saturday News
Two Guys on Politics Podcast with former Congressman Bill Lipinski and former Chicago City Hall reporter Ray Hanania Two Guys on Politics Podcast: Analysis of President Biden’s efforts to pass budget elections

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Login with your Social ID
Subscribe to Ray Hanania's column graphic

Enter Your Email to Subscribe to Ray Hanania’s Columns

  • OPINION COLUMNS
  • Cook County Treasurer Maria Papas
    Everything you need to know about your Property Index Number or PIN
    July 12, 2025
  • Jeffery M. Leving fights for your rights
    Chicago parents and other community leaders must work together to make sure this summer isn’t deadly for our children
    July 3, 2025
  • Cook County Treasurer Maria Papas
    How Technology Changed the Cook County Treasurer’s Office
    June 27, 2025
  • Attorneys Jeffery Leving Arthur Kallow
    Honoring Fathers: A Father’s Day Reflection
    June 13, 2025
  • Cook County Treasurer Maria Papas
    Understanding Cook County Property Taxes: A Guide for Homeowners
    June 13, 2025
  • 06-04-25 Two Guys on Politics Background Zoom LOGO with images
    Two Guys on Politics Podcast on Elon Musk, Trump’s Parade, LA Riots, and Middle East ban
    June 12, 2025
  • NEWS
  • Orland Township Trustee Lena Matariyeh joined with High School District 230 Trustee and newly appointed Orland Fire Commissioner Mohammed Jaber to put a spotlight on its important role in helping needy families.
    Orland Township Trustee Matariyeh joins School District Trustee Jaber in showcasing Food Pantry
    July 17, 2025
  • 05-23-25 Jeffery M. Leving
    Leving team court victory protected dad from crushing debt
    July 17, 2025
  • The-Kings-Pawn-Book-300-x-300.png
  • SPORTS
  • Chicago Wovles play the Rockford Ice Hogs, Feb. 23, 2025
    Chicago Wolves hockey unveil 2025-26 Season schedule
    July 12, 2025
  • SeatGeek Stadium
    Chivas de Guadalajara and Club Leon to meet in Chicago
    July 12, 2025
  • NEWS RELEASES
  • Orland Township Trustee Lena Matariyeh joined with High School District 230 Trustee and newly appointed Orland Fire Commissioner Mohammed Jaber to put a spotlight on its important role in helping needy families.
    Orland Township Trustee Matariyeh joins School District Trustee Jaber in showcasing Food Pantry
    July 17, 2025
  • Jesse Jackson Jr July 2025
    In response to draft effort, Jesse Jackson Jr. forms Exploratory Committee to consider 2nd Congressional District run
    July 15, 2025
John Kass Columns

Order the book PoweR PR; Ethnic Activists Guide to Strategic Communications

YOUTUBE VIDEOS

CLICK TO SUBSCRIBE TO RAY HANANIA'S YOUTUBE VIDEOS


Click here to view the video on YouTube or use the widget below.

Follow Ray Hanania at
Twitter
Facebook
TitkTok
BlueSky
RayHanania Columns

Creative Commons License
All works on this website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Do not edit original work. Give credit to the original source.

Categories

Copyright © 2022 Suburban Chicagoland & Urban Strategies Group

Powered by PressBook Premium theme