Illinois Supreme Court Appoints Juan R. Thomas ARDC Review Board Member
The Illinois Supreme Court has appointed attorney Juan R. Thomas of Aurora to serve as a member of the Attorney Registration & Disciplinary Commission (A.R.D.C.) Review Board effective on January 1, 2025, and expiring on December 31, 2027. The A.R.D.C. is the Supreme Court agency that investigates allegations of lawyer wrongdoing in Illinois.
Dr. Thomas is of counsel to the law firm of Quintairos, Prieto, Wood & Boyer, P.A., in Chicago and is the founder and principal of The Thomas Law Group in Aurora. He practices in the areas of real estate, estate planning, civil litigation, labor relations, and family law.
He is listed as one of the National Black Lawyers Top 100 Trial Lawyers for his exceptional work in family law. He is also an adjunct professor at the University of Illinois College of Law in Urbana-Champaign where he teaches a course on the history of the African American lawyer in America. In August 2023, Dr. Thomas was elected Secretary of the National Conference of Bar Presidents, a national association of lawyers/leaders whose mission it is to provide high-quality programming and leadership development training for members of the legal community. He is in line to serve as President of that organization in the 2026-2027 bar year.
Dr. Thomas is currently a member of the American Bar Association’s Board of Governors and serves as the Second Vice President of the Illinois Bar Foundation. He received the American Bar Association’s 2024 Sprit of Excellence Award for his efforts to promote a more racially and ethnically diverse legal profession.
Dr. Thomas obtained his bachelor’s degree from Morehouse College and his law degree from the University of Illinois College of Law. He also holds degrees from the University of Illinois College of Education, the University of Chicago Divinity School, and the Chicago Theological Seminary.
Dr. Thomas replaces A.R.D.C. Review Board member Michael T. Reagan, whose term expires on December 31, 2024. The A.R.D.C. Review Board is composed of nine members, all of whom are lawyers appointed by the Illinois Supreme Court. The Review Board sits in panels of three and considers appeals from reports of the A.R.D.C. Hearing Board, which functions like a trial court in attorney disciplinary proceedings. Review Board members receive no compensation for their service.
More than eighty employees and over one hundred lawyer and non-lawyer volunteers work for the A.R.D.C. All funds expended by the agency are from annual registration fees paid by Illinois attorneys; there are no tax dollars used to support the disciplinary system. There are two A.R.D.C. offices: 130 East Randolph Drive, Suite 1500, in Chicago and 3161 West White Oaks Drive, Suite 301, in Springfield.