The Illinois Supreme Court has announced the assignment of Cook County Circuit Court Judge Stuart E. Palmer to the Illinois Appellate Court for the First Judicial District.

In a related move, the Supreme Court also announced that Judge P. Scott Neville Jr., a Circuit Court judge who now sits by assignment on the Appellate Court, will be appointed to the vacancy created by the recent death of Appellate Justice Robert Cahill.

Supreme Court Justice Mary Jane Theis recommended that Judge Palmer be assigned to the Appellate Court, and implemented a judicial screening committee which favorably reviewed the qualifications of Judge Palmer.

Judge Palmer sat in the felony trial courts of Cook County for almost 12 years, and now sits in the Chancery Division of Cook County Circuit Court.

Judge Palmer was screened in 2009 by bar associations for a potential appointment to the Appellate Court and received high marks, including a "well qualified" rating from the Chicago Council of Lawyers and highly qualified ratings from several other bar groups, including the Chicago Bar Association and the Illinois State Bar Association.

When he ran for retention as a Circuit Court judge in 2006, he received the highest ratings from all evaluating bar associations, including a "Highly Qualified" rating from the Chicago Council of Lawyers.

"The assignment of Judge Palmer to the Appellate Court merits acclaim," said Gino L. DiVito, chairman of the screening committee which Justice Theis utilized. "He has conducted his personal and professional life–as a practicing lawyer and as a revered trial judge presiding over the most complex criminal and civil cases–in stellar fashion."

Mr. DiVito chairs the judicial screening committee which former Chief Justice Thomas R. Fitzgerald used before his retirement in October 2010.

Judge Palmer's Appellate Court assignment is effective January 6, 2012, and until further Order of the Supreme Court.

Judge Palmer has sat in the Chancery Division since December 2005, presiding over a court call with a caseload of about 400 matters. A former assistant state's attorney, he was in the Criminal Division of Cook County Circuit Court from July 1994 to December 2005, and was appointed Supervising Judge of the Criminal Division in June 2005.

He was appointed to the Circuit Court in January 1994, elected in November 1994, and retained in 2000 and 2006.

He has served often as a lecturer and faculty member for judicial education seminars and events. He also has served as chair of a judicial committee responsible for the writing and publication of the Illinois Judicial Benchbook on Criminal Law and Procedure, which was published in 2009. Judge Palmer also served by appointment from the Supreme Court on the Special Supreme Court Committee on Capital Cases.

Judge Palmer received his B.A. in 1976 from the University of Illinois, graduating cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. He received his juris doctor from Northwestern University School of Law in 1979, when he went to work for the Cook County state's attorney. There, he worked as a felony trial attorney, prosecuting several capital murder cases, numerous murder and other violent felony cases.

Judge Neville was appointed to the Circuit Court in October 1999, and was elected to a six-year term in November 2000 and retained in 2006. The Supreme Court assigned him to the Appellate Court in June 2004.

He received his juris doctor degree from Washington University School of Law in 1973.
The appointment to the Appellate Court is effective January 6, 2012, and will terminate on Dec. 3, 2012.

Even though Judge Neville was appointed to fill the vacancy of the late Appellate Justice Cahill, he will retain his current appellate caseload and Judge Palmer will be assigned the caseload of Appellate Justice Cahill.