The Illinois Supreme Court has announced the appointment of Tracie R. Porter as an At-Large Cook County Circuit Judge.

Ms. Porter was appointed to fill the At-Large vacancy created by the election of Justice Michael
B. Hyman to the 1st District Appellate Court. The appointment is effective November 12, 2021, and will conclude December 5, 2022, following the November 2022 general election. 

“I would like to thank the Illinois Supreme Court for this appointment to the Cook County Circuit Court,” Porter said. “My motto is impacting lives and changing communities and that is how I will approach this new position.”

Ms. Porter has worked in private practice and legal academia throughout her 27-year career in law. She is the Principal Attorney at Tracie R. Porter, P.C., an Adjunct Professor of Law at Drake University Law School, and a Professor of Law at the Abraham Lincoln University School of Law. She has also taught law at the Western State College of Law as a Tenured Professor, Southern Illinois University School of Law, Saint Louis University School of Law, IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law, and the UIC John Marshall Law School. In private practice, she worked for several years in real estate law, including at Barnes & Thornburg LLP.

In addition to this work, Ms. Porter also spent four years as a litigation attorney with the Office of the Solicitor in the U.S. Department of Labor from 1994 to 1998.

Ms. Porter earned her Bachelor of Arts from Cornell College and received her Juris Doctor from Drake University Law School. During her time at Drake University, she served in the United States Attorney's Office in Des Moines, Iowa, as a Paralegal Specialist, and was also a law clerk for the Hon. Harold A. Vietor of the Southern District of Iowa, Des Moines. Ms. Porter is currently the Co-Chair of Drake Law School’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Council.

Her professional associations include the American Bar Association, the Black Entertainment and Sports Law Association, the Black Women Lawyers’ Association of Greater Chicago, Inc, and Los Angeles, the Chicago Bar Association, the Cook County Bar Association (where she is a past member of the Board of Directors and a past Chair for the Real Estate Committee), the
 
Illinois Real Estate Lawyers Association, the Illinois State Bar Association, the John M. Langston Bar Association, the National Bar Association, and Phi Alpha Delta, Inc.

Her awards include the Cook County Bar Association Meritorious Service and Presidential Awards, the National Bar Association Educational Initiative Presidential Award, and the American Bar Association, Young Lawyers Division, Committee Chair Award.

Ms. Porter’s philanthropic contributions have included local and national organizations, including the YMCA, La Casa Norte, the Chicago Public Library, The Cancer Support Center of Homewood, Urban Redemption Chicago, Dual Prep Academy, Inc., Children Home and Aid, and The Alexander Family Foundation, Inc.

Ms. Porter is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and resides in Country Club Hills, Illinois. She is the proud aunt and surrogate mother to two nieces and two nephews.