Shared from the 8/15/2019 Chicago Daily Law Bulletin eEdition

New judicial council chair ready to go

Lyle places community outreach, bench diversity as top goals during her term

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Cook County Circuit Judge Freddrenna M. Lyle will be installed as the chair of the Illinois Judicial Council on Aug. 22 during the council’s 37th annual installation and scholarship awards banquet at the Marriott Marquis Chicago. During her term, Lyle aims to grow the council’s community outreach program and diversity on the bench. Jordyn Reiland

Cook County Circuit Judge Freddrenna M. Lyle, the incoming chair of the Illinois Judicial Council, wants to expand its efforts of reaching out to young people through its scholarship and school programs.

Lyle also stressed the importance of continually working to increase diversity on the bench.

The council, which began as an informal gathering of African American judges in 1982, is open to both state and federal judges, active and retired, of any heritage.

Lyle will be sworn in as chair during the council’s 37th annual installation and scholarship awards banquet at 5 p.m. on Aug. 22 at the Marriott Marquis Chicago. She succeeds 1st District Appellate Justice Cynthia Y. Cobbs, who remains on the executive committee.

Also taking oaths are chair-elect Thaddeus L. Wilson; secretary Bonita Coleman; assistant secretary Toya T. Harvey; treasurer Carl B. Boyd; and assistant treasurer Kevin T. Lee.

Judges Frederick H. Bates, Kimberly D. Lewis, Allen P. Walker and Steven G. Watkins will serve on the executive committee.

The Daily Law Bulletin spoke to Lyle about her new role, her plans and diversity on the bench.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Daily Law Bulletin: How did you get involved in the Illinois Judicial Council?

Lyle: I had been actively involved in the bar associations since I began practicing law. I have been a member of the Cook County Bar Association, serving in many capacities. I was president of the Cook County Bar in 1990. Then I became active in the National Bar Association which is the association of black judges and lawyers nationwide, and in fact, a few other countries. I had maintained my involvement with the bar while I was on the city council.

When I became a judge I naturally went into the Illinois Judicial Council and became active there. I am a bar association person … since 1980.

LB: What do you hope to achieve in your new role?

Lyle: I want to enhance some of the programs that we currently have, for instance, our scholarship fund. We give scholarships to young people every year and I want to do some things to strengthen that. I want to continue the community outreach, we have a Law Day program, we have summer externs that work with us, we do a PUSH oratory contest, we work with the National Black Prosecutors Association.

During the summer we go out to churches, we fellowship with churches every Black History Month, and at other times, and then we have judges we send to churches and we do community programs for their members. I’m not going to change any programs in terms of removing them, I want to enhance them and enlarge them.

Additionally, I want to work on making us better judges. I want to continue to do CLE [Continuing Legal Education] for judges and talk about the issues we face as judges of color and the judiciary, particularly, now at a time when we recently seem to be under attack.

LB: When you say the courts are under attack what exactly do you mean by that?

Lyle: We have people locally and nationally that are calling into question not necessarily the ruling but in fact the character of the judges and impugning the integrity of the judges who make the ruling. On any given day anywhere someone is going to disagree with a particular ruling but people should at least walk away feeling that they had a fair hearing and a fair trial was held. To the extent that we are having people cascading that it diminishes all of us.

LB: Last May’s associate judge elections in Cook County only resulted in one new black lawyer joining the court. Soon-to-be former chair and 1st District Appellate Justice Cynthia Y. Cobbs highlighted the importance of bench diversity during her term. What progress has been made, if any, and what still needs to be done?

Lyle: The subcircuit elections did send some additional judges of color to the bench. I think we have to continue working to increase diversity by working on our scholarships, going into the high schools, talking to the young people, explaining to them and showing them that they too can do this. Then working with the law schools to encourage them to come in and partake of the programs that we have throughout the circuit court of Cook County for internships and law clerks.

Then we have to look at our system of access to the bench and see if there was maybe something we didn’t do that we should do. We need to take a look at what we are doing to increase the turnout among our community in terms of retention judges and just judges period. Are we doing enough to educate our community on the fact that judges need your vote at election time and they are at the back of the ballot?

I sometimes tell people to start from the back and work your way to the front, don’t forget the judges, because it’s such a long ballot and many people do.

We’re going to re-examine the whole process in terms of the associates and we’ve already started meeting trying to see what we can do differently this time so that we will never repeat the outcome that happened in the last associate judges process.

I’m very concerned about it. Diversity is important for a number of reasons. One of those reasons is different views from the bench are good and healthy. It gives you different opinions, it gives you different outlooks, different abilities to evaluate the evidence and testimony of the parties that appear before you.

You may be more familiar with the cultural nuances that a particular case has and additionally when you do have people coming into your courtroom it helps them believe that they are somehow vested in the system because they are people that look like them on the bench.

To know that we are part of the bench gives them a feeling of ownership also. If they believe in the process they are more likely to abide by the court’s orders.

See this article in the e-Edition Here