Thompson Coburn hosts Asian American Bar Association reception to honor four new Chicago judges

On June 28, Thompson Coburn had the privilege of sponsoring the Asian American Bar Association of Chicago’s celebration of a remarkable milestone: the election and appointment this year of four Asian American judges.

Four Asian American attorneys achieved judgeships in 2012 — three in Cook County and one in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

The event, hosted at Thompson Coburn’s Chicago office, was attended by more than 100 guests, including members of several minority bar associations and nearly a dozen Chicagoland judges.

The guests of honor were Judges Laura Liu, Pamela Leeming and Jessica O’Brien of the Circuit Court of Cook County, and newly confirmed U.S. District Court Judge John Lee.

AABA president Mehpara Suleman, an Illinois assistant attorney general, and AABA board member Shital Thakkar, a Cook County prosecutor, provided opening remarks at the reception. Justice Thomas Kilbride, the chief justice of the Illinois Supreme Court, and Judge Timothy Evans, the chief judge of Cook County Circuit Court, also spoke.

Other judicial attendees included U.S. District Judge Edmond Chang, Cook County Circuit Court Judges Ketki Steffen and Thomas Lyons, and Cook County Associate Circuit Judges Rena Van Tine and Sanjay Tailor.

Participating minority bar associations included the Chinese American Bar Association, Filipino American Bar Association, Indian American Bar Association, Korean American Bar Association, and Pakistani American Bar Association.

Gary Zhao, president of the Chinese Bar Association, and John Fairman, vice president of the Cook County Bar Association, also attended.

The Chicago Daily Law Bulletin ran photos of the event in its July 5 edition.