Retired Judge Coady Named President of Illinois Judges Association

Retired Fourth Judicial Circuit Judge John Coady of Taylorville was installed as President of the Illinois Judges Association during the annual meeting on June 2 at Chicago-Kent College of Law in Chicago.

The Illinois Judges Association, which represents 1,200 active and retired Illinois state court judges, was founded in 1972 to provide services, support, and education to its member judges and raise public understanding of the Illinois judicial system.

Coady said, “I appreciate the opportunity to serve the active and retired state court judges of Illinois. I have deep respect and appreciation for the men and women who do the day-to-day work of court throughout the state and who decide matters based on principles of law rather than upon the winds of public opinion.”

Judge Coady spent many of his early days in practice in Effingham. Coady was appointed an associate judge in 1987. The Illinois Supreme Court appointed him a Circuit Judge-at-Large in 1993 in the nine-county Fourth Judicial Circuit. He was elected to that position in 1994 and retained in 2000 and 2006. He retired from the bench in 2009. He is the first retired judge to serve as president of the association.

Coady graduated from the University of Illinois with a B.A. Degree in Political Science in 1974 and with a J.D. Degree from The Ohio State University in 1977. He served as a public defender for the Fourth Judicial Circuit from 1977 to 1980. He worked for the Taylorville office of the Chicago Title Company from 1980 to 1981. He was a member of Meyer, Miley, Austin, Spears, and Coady, P.C. in Taylorville from 1981 to 1984. He was elected Christian County State's Attorney in 1984 and remained in that position until becoming a judge.

During his tenure as a judge, Coady served as Chair of the Illinois State Bar Association Standing Committee on Law Related Education, as a member of the Illinois Supreme Court's Alternative Dispute Resolution Coordinating Committee, and as member of the Illinois Judicial Ethics Committee. He is past Chair of the Illinois Judges Association Retired Judges Committee.

Coady is the Immediate Past President of the University of Illinois Liberal Arts and Sciences Alumni Association Board of Directors. Coady also serves as president of the Illinois State Employees Association of Retirees.

John and his wife Kathy, a former public school music teacher, reside in Taylorville. They have 3 children and 5 grandchildren.

The Illinois Judges Association installed other new officers for 2017-18 at the annual meeting. They are: 1st Vice-President, Judge James E. Snyder, Cook County; 2nd Vice President, Judge Margaret J. Mullen, Lake County; 3rd Vice President, Judge Diane M. Shelley, Cook County; Secretary, Judge Barbara Crowder, Madison County and Treasurer, Justice Eileen O’Neill Burke, 1st Appellate District.

For more information about the Illinois Judges Association, see www.ija.org.