Justice Lisa Holder White and the Supreme Court of Illinois have announced that Seventeenth Circuit Court Judge Eugene G. Doherty has been assigned as an Appellate Court Justice in the Fourth District. 

Judge Doherty is being assigned to fill the vacancy created by the elevation of Justice Holder White to the Supreme Court. His assignment is effective July 14, 2022, and will expire on Dec. 2, 2024. His installation will take place on Thursday, July 14, at 1:00 p.m. via Zoom. It will be available via livestream on the Court’s YouTube channel. 

“Judge Doherty is an accomplished jurist who has proven himself to be a leader among his peers,” Justice Holder White said. “The citizens of the Fourth District will be well served with him on the Appellate Court.”  

Judge Doherty has served on the bench in the Seventeenth Circuit since 2007. He won election in 2008, was retained by voters in 2014 and 2020, and served as Chief Judge of the Seventeenth Circuit from 2018 to 2021.  

His work on Illinois Supreme Court Committees includes serving as the current Chair of the e-Business Policy Board, as Vice-Chair of Court Operations During COVID-19 Task Force and Chairman of the Task Force’s Evictions Subcommittee, and as a member of the Weighted Caseload Task Force and the Statutory Court Fees Task Force. During his time as Chief Judge, he served as Chairman for the Technology Committee and the Supreme Court Article V Committee of the Conference of Chief Judges. 

“I am humbled and gratified that Justice Holder White and the Illinois Supreme Court have entrusted me with this assignment,” Judge Doherty said. “I will do my very best to meet my new responsibilities with diligence, fairness, and adherence to the law.” 

Prior to joining the bench, Judge Doherty worked for 16 years as an attorney for Holmstrom & Kennedy, P.C. in Rockford. He had previously served as a Law Clerk for Second District Appellate Court Justice Philip G. Reinhard. 

Judge Doherty earned his Bachelor of Science from Northern Illinois University and his Juris Doctor, summa cum laude, from the Northern Illinois University College of Law. 

His professional associations include the Illinois State Bar Association, the Illinois Judges Association, and the Winnebago County Bar Association, of which he is a past President. 

The Fourth District Appellate Court is composed of 41 counties in central and western Illinois: Adams, Boone, Brown, Calhoun, Carroll, Cass, Ford, Fulton, Greene, Hancock, Henderson, Henry, Jersey, Jo Daviess, Knox, Lee, Livingston, Logan, Macoupin, Marshall, Mason, McDonough, McLean, Menard, Mercer, Morgan, Ogle, Peoria, Pike, Putnam, Rock Island, Sangamon, Schuyler, Scott, Stark, Stephenson, Tazewell, Warren, Whiteside, Winnebago, and Woodford.