Appointed by the Illinois Supreme Court as Cook County Circuit Judge on December 3, 2021, after nearly twenty years’ service as an Associate Judge, he sits in the Law Division, Commercial Calendar, presiding over motions and trials in business disputes. For ten years before coming to the Commercial Calendar, he heard personal injury trials. He has presided over nearly four hundred jury trials. He serves on the faculty of the National Judicial College. He served as the founding board chair of the Illinois Judicial College. Before becoming a judge, he served as an assistant public defender for thirteen years. He has served as President of the Catholic Criminal Justice Reform Network, sponsored by the Lumen Christi Institute, since 2021 conducting dialogues between the system impacted and system responsible in ten cities across the country.
Tom has taught at Loyola Law School since 1987. He currently teaches Illinois Litigation: Race, Injustice and Poverty. Tom serves on the advisory boards/committees for Loyola’s Hank Center for the Catholic Intellectual Heritage, the Athenaeum Center for Thought and Culture, and St. Gregory’s Hall. He served as president of the Catholic Lawyers Guild of Chicago from 2015-16, which had named him the 2014 Catholic Lawyer of the Year; he has served on the Guild’s board since 1988. Married to Anne Wicker, they have four sons and live in Queen of Apostle’s parish where he teaches RCIA.
