2020 News Archive

Most courthouses in Cook County are now equipped with “Zoom Rooms,” with computers that allow litigants to safely monitor court proceedings, Circuit Court of Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans said on Friday.

Circuit Court of Cook County Chief Judge Timothy C. Evans today appointed Honorable Robert Balanoff to serve as the Acting Presiding Judge of the court’s Child Protection Division. The appointment is effective Monday, December 7.

Judge Balanoff became a circuit judge in 2004, after 22 years in private practice. He has served in Child Protection since 2005. 

Due to the surge in COVID-19 cases across the state, Chief Judge Timothy C.

Since 2017, more than a hundred other young North Lawndale men and women facing nonviolent felony or misdemeanor charges have encountered a wholly different brand of justice at the North Lawndale Restorative Justice Community Court, writes the Chicago Tribune editorial board. The Restorative Justice courts demonstrate the power of a second chance.

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A new Loyola University study finds that a bail reform order issued by Chief Judge Timothy C. Evans in 2017 has saved Cook County residents from having to post more than $31 million in bail in just one six-month period and kept hundreds out of jail, while not contributing to an increase in crime. 

The following is a statement from Circuit Court of Cook County Chief Judge Timothy C. Evans regarding appellate court decisions:

Kelly Gallivan-Ilarraza, a specialist in the field of problem-solving alternatives in criminal court cases, will be the new Specialty Court Coordinator starting October 1, Circuit Court of Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans announced on Thursday. 

“As director of specialty courts, Kelly Gallivan-Ilarraza will be responsible for integrating these courts throughout the system by expanding existing courts and developing new ones,” said Judge Evans. “She also will help in establishing protocols, training and evaluation to ensure their continued success.” 

South Side aldermen, state and federal lawmakers, judges and community representatives joined Circuit Court of Cook County Chief Judge Timothy C. Evans on Wednesday to cut the ribbon for the new Restorative Justice Community Court in Englewood. 

The court, located at the Salvation Army’s Adele and Robert Stern Red Shield Center at 845 W. 69^th Street, follows on the success of the first Cook County Restorative Justice Community Court, established in North Lawndale in 2017. A new community court also opened this week in Avondale, on the Northwest Side. 

The following is a statement from Chief Judge Timothy C. Evans: 

“At this time, as the general public, quite appropriately, prepares for the November 3 election by reviewing the qualifications and performance of many of our judges, it is important to remember that people who take the oath to be a Cook County Circuit Court judge are ethically bound to be independent in their rulings, free from fear or favor.

The Circuit Court of Cook County is holding a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Wednesday, September 16, to launch its new Restorative Justice Community Court in the Englewood neighborhood, Chief Judge Timothy C. Evans announced today. 

This new court, the first on the city’s South Side, follows the success of the state’s first Restorative Justice Community Court in the North Lawndale neighborhood, launched in 2017. Both the Englewood court and a new Avondale community court open this week.