Keynote Speaker Bio - CAS - AM - Mary Jane Theis
College of Arts and Sciences Commencement Address, Morning
Mary Jane Theis
JD (BA ’71) • Chief Justice, Illinois Supreme Court
Mary Jane Theis, JD (BA ’71) is an Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice for the First Judicial District, Cook County. Chief Justice Theis earned a Bachelor of Arts from Loyola University Chicago in 1971 and a Juris Doctorate from the University of San Francisco in 1974. From 1974-1983, she was an assistant public defender in Cook County.
Chief Justice Theis has served at every level of the Judiciary in the State of Illinois. In 1983, she was appointed an Associate Judge in the Circuit Court of Cook County, where she served for five years. In 1988, Chief Justice Theis was elected to the Circuit Court, where she was assigned to both the Criminal and Chancery Divisions until 1993, when she was appointed to the Appellate Court, First District. She was elected to the Appellate Court in 1994. When Chief Justice Thomas R. Fitzgerald retired in 2010, the Supreme Court appointed Justice Theis to fill his vacancy on the Court.
In her 17 years on the Appellate Court, Chief Justice Theis served as a Presiding Judge. She was Chair of the Committee on Judicial Education and the Committee on Judicial Conduct of the Illinois Judicial Conference, and a member of the Supreme Court Rules Committee. Chief Justice Theis was President of the Appellate Lawyers Association and the Illinois Judges Association, as well as President and founding member of the Illinois Judges Foundation. She has been a member of the Board of Governors of the Illinois State Bar Association and the Board of Managers of the Chicago Bar Association and is a member of the Women's Bar Association of Illinois (WBAI).
Chief Justice Theis has taught at conferences and seminars for the ISBA and CBA, and at Loyola University Chicago School of Law, Northwestern University School of Law, and the John Marshall Law School.
Chief Justice Theis’ honors include the American Constitution Society’s Legal Legend Award, the Illinois Judges Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award, the CBA’s Vanguard Award recognizing persons who have made the law and legal profession more accessible to and reflective of the community at large, the IJA’s Celebrating the Achievement of a Judicial Icon, the CBA’s John Paul Stevens Award, the Juvenile Justice Initiative’s Champion of Children’s Rights Award, the WBAI’s Ruth Bader Ginsburg Judicial Achievement Award, and the Illinois Bar Foundation’s Distinguished Service to Law and Society Award.
College of Arts and Sciences Commencement Address, Morning
Mary Jane Theis
JD (BA ’71) • Chief Justice, Illinois Supreme Court
Mary Jane Theis, JD (BA ’71) is an Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice for the First Judicial District, Cook County. Chief Justice Theis earned a Bachelor of Arts from Loyola University Chicago in 1971 and a Juris Doctorate from the University of San Francisco in 1974. From 1974-1983, she was an assistant public defender in Cook County.
Chief Justice Theis has served at every level of the Judiciary in the State of Illinois. In 1983, she was appointed an Associate Judge in the Circuit Court of Cook County, where she served for five years. In 1988, Chief Justice Theis was elected to the Circuit Court, where she was assigned to both the Criminal and Chancery Divisions until 1993, when she was appointed to the Appellate Court, First District. She was elected to the Appellate Court in 1994. When Chief Justice Thomas R. Fitzgerald retired in 2010, the Supreme Court appointed Justice Theis to fill his vacancy on the Court.
In her 17 years on the Appellate Court, Chief Justice Theis served as a Presiding Judge. She was Chair of the Committee on Judicial Education and the Committee on Judicial Conduct of the Illinois Judicial Conference, and a member of the Supreme Court Rules Committee. Chief Justice Theis was President of the Appellate Lawyers Association and the Illinois Judges Association, as well as President and founding member of the Illinois Judges Foundation. She has been a member of the Board of Governors of the Illinois State Bar Association and the Board of Managers of the Chicago Bar Association and is a member of the Women's Bar Association of Illinois (WBAI).
Chief Justice Theis has taught at conferences and seminars for the ISBA and CBA, and at Loyola University Chicago School of Law, Northwestern University School of Law, and the John Marshall Law School.
Chief Justice Theis’ honors include the American Constitution Society’s Legal Legend Award, the Illinois Judges Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award, the CBA’s Vanguard Award recognizing persons who have made the law and legal profession more accessible to and reflective of the community at large, the IJA’s Celebrating the Achievement of a Judicial Icon, the CBA’s John Paul Stevens Award, the Juvenile Justice Initiative’s Champion of Children’s Rights Award, the WBAI’s Ruth Bader Ginsburg Judicial Achievement Award, and the Illinois Bar Foundation’s Distinguished Service to Law and Society Award.