| Justice Shelvin Louise Marie Hall Judicial Experience: Justice Shelvin Louise Marie Hall is running for retention as a justice of the Illinois Appellate Court. Justice Hall has been found qualified or highly qualified by all bar associations and reviewing organizations. Justice Hall has been a sitting judge for 19 years. She has served on the Illinois Appellate Court for 11 years, first appointed in 1999 and elected in 2000. Justice Hall is currently serving a second term as Presiding Justice of the First Division of the First District Appellate Court. She previously was appointed in 1991, elected in 1992 and then retained in 1998 as a judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County, serving first in the Domestic Relations and subsequently in the Law Divisions. Statement: Justice Hall is seeking to be retained as a justice of the Illinois Appellate Court because she has served with diligence and skill in this capacity for 11 years. She possesses the requisite legal knowledge, even-handed judicial temperament and common sense that the people of Illinois are entitled to in their judges. In addition to working in her official capacity, she has volunteered a prodigious amount of her time to judicial and legal education, and to her religious and secular communities. Legal Experience: Prior to becoming a judge, she was General Counsel to the Illinois Department of Human Rights. She had been Legislative Director to U. S. Congressman Mickey Leland (D. TX). She began her legal career in private practice in Houston, Texas, first with the firm of McDonald & McDonald, then with the all-female firm of Burney, Edwards, Hall, Hartsfield and Scott, and finally as a partner in the Houston firm of Hall & Wright. Justice Hall is a graduate of Proviso East High School – Maywood, IL, Hampton University – Hampton, VA and Boston University School of Law – Boston, MA. Memberships: Justice Hall was the first woman judge on the Executive Committee of the Supreme Court’s Illinois Judicial Conference and is currently serving a second term on the Conference’s Executive and Education Committees. She has also served as Presiding Justice of the Fourth Division of the Appellate Court and on its Executive and Mediation Committees. She is a member of the National Bar Association, Illinois Judicial Council, Illinois Judges Association, National Association of Women Judges, Illinois State Bar Association, Cook County Bar Association (CCBA), Women's Bar Association (WBA), Black Women Lawyers Association of Greater Chicago (BWLA), Chicago Bar Association, American Bar Association (ABA) and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. She is a member of the bars of the Supreme Courts of Illinois, Texas and the United States. Justice Hall served from 1998 - 1999 as the Chairperson of the Judicial Council of the National Bar Association (NBA). She is also past Chair of the Illinois Judicial Council, (1996-97). Justice Hall has served as Vice-President of the NBA, the first woman President of the Houston Lawyers Association (1977-78), Vice-President of the CCBA and on the boards of numerous organizations including Lutheran Family Mission, Legal Assistance Foundation, Just the Beginning Foundation, NBA and on the ABA Gavel and Awards and State Justice Initiatives Committees. Awards: Justice Hall has received numerous awards from bar associations, community and religious organizations, including the ABA-Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section’s Liberty Achievement Award, the Unity Bar’s Advocate for Justice Award, The Historymakers, and awards from the NBA, BWLA, CCBA,WBA and Illinois Judicial Council. Community: Justice Hall is a dedicated member of the Friendship Baptist Church, on Chicago’s Westside, where her father, the late Rev. Dr. Shelvin Jerome Hall, past President of the Baptist General State Convention of Illinois, served as Pastor from 1955-2006. Justice Hall has continuously worked over the years as Chair of the church's Youth, Care, Unity, Education, and Worship departments. Personal: Justice Hall is married to Mr. Ephraim Martin, president of an events production company. Her stepdaughter, Dana, is a college senior. Her sister, L. Priscilla Hall, is a Justice of the Appellate Division of the New York State Supreme Court. The Justices Hall are the nation's first elected and first Appellate, African-American sister judges. |
