Illinois Judges Association

Pro Bono Spotlight - April 2023

The IJA Pro Bono Committee is proud to highlight another outstanding colleague this month who epitomizes giving back to their community, Circuit Judge Alison Conlon. Judge Conlon has been serving the people of Illinois as a judge since February of 2015. She presided in Cook County’s Municipal Division for four years and now sits in the Chancery Division.  

Judge Conlon has been very involved in supporting the judiciary since joining the bench. She has been a member of the Illinois Judicial College Committee on Judicial Education since 2017. This committee coordinates, directs and delivers statewide education for Illinois judges. Judge Conlon was Vice Chair of the Committee from 2019 to 2022 and is now the Chair of the Committee. She will be instrumental in bringing judges their 2024 Education Conference, among other responsibilities. Judge Conlon is also very involved in the IJA and next year will co-chair its Security Committee.  

Access to Justice is also of key importance to Judge Conlon and she focuses her volunteerism here as well. She served on the Evictions Subcommittee of the Illinois Supreme Court Access to Justice Forms Committee from 2016 to 2019. This subcommittee worked to create and maintain standardized, easy to use forms in Illinois eviction cases.  Judge Conlon has also been a member of the Circuit Court of Cook County Pro Se Advisory Committee since 2015. Various court stakeholders in Cook County participate and coordinate efforts through this committee to address issues that people without lawyers face in court. The committee works to improve court services by proposing new rules and providing outreach to self-represented litigants. Judge Conlon is the current Co-Chair of the Committee and has been in that leadership role since 2017.

Judge Conlon has also been steadfast in her support of the legal profession serving as a Hearing Board Member of the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission, acting as a member of multiple committees of the Chicago Bar Association as well as the Co-Vice and Co-Chair of its Tort Litigation Committee. She also served as a member of the Northern District of Illinois Rules Advisory Committee and worked on rules changes to the Northern District’s local rules.

Another way Judge Conlon supports her community is through her service on nonprofit boards of directors. Judge Conlon is currently on the board of both the Public Interest Law Initiative and the Chicago Bar Foundation. She was on the advisory board of the Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago and was a founding board member of Debate it Forward. 

Judge Conlon also currently volunteers at the Helen & Joe Foundation where she provides support to children living in North Lawndale & Little Village. She also represented the Holy Family Church on Roosevelt Road in its participation in the Archdiocese’s “Renew My Church” initiative and has volunteered for the American Diabetes Association. It is abundantly clear that Judge Conlon naturally knows how to give back. She is an inspiration to her friends and colleagues, and we thank her for her giving spirit.