McGlynn
Belleville attorney Stephen McGlynn has been appointed by the Illinois Supreme Court as circuit judge at large in the 20th Judicial Circuit.
McGlynn, 48, is filling the vacancy created by Circuit Judge Michael O'Malley who retired July 30 to enter the private sector as a personal injury attorney.
McGlynn had previously served as an appellate judge of the Fifth District Appellate Court. He was appointed in 2005 to fill a vacancy created by the retirement of Clyde Kuehn. He was then defeated in an election in November 2006 by Bruce Stewart of Harrisburg.
His appointment will take effect Sept. 17 and will terminate Dec. 3, 2012.
Supreme Court Justice Lloyd A. Karmeier recommended McGlynn's appointment after an application process which included review by a screening committee and interviews by Karmeier of three finalists.
Nineteen people applied for the position, one withdrew and the remaining applicants were screened by the six-person committee who presented Karmeier with the names of the three finalists.
"I want to thank the Supreme Court and Justice Karmeier for the confidence they have placed in me, and the bipartisan selection committee that did its job in evaluating a number of very good people who applied," McGlynn said in a statement.
"I really enjoyed my prior tenure on the bench, and I'm very honored because I know that a judge can do a lot of good things, and it's a marvelous way to serve my community."
Members of the screening committee were: Don Bigham, chairman, a partner with Seibert & Bigham in Pinckneyville; Floyd Crowder, chairman of Crowder & Scoggins in Columbia; Karl Dexheimer, of counsel with the firm Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale; Jeff Kerkhover, partner with Fisher, Kerkhover & Coffey Law Office in Chester; Crystal May of Barkau & Unverfehrt in Nashville and serving as assistant state's attorney of Washington County; and William Stiehl, partner with Wimmer, Stiehl & McCarthy in Belleville.
Ed Murnane, president of the Illinois Civil Justice League, said McGlynn is "a very good choice."
"He has the broad experience that an appellate court justice develops and Justice Karmeier knows him well," Murnane said. "He will be a very good judge in the 20th Circuit."
While he was an appellate justice, McGlynn authored more than 109 decisions for the court and participated as a panelist on 390 separate matters on appeal involving a wide array of civil and criminal matters, according to a press release from the Illinois Supreme Court.
After he lost the 2006 election, McGlynn returned to his law practice, McGlynn & McGlynn.
McGlynn received his bachelor of arts degree from the University of Dayton with a major in political science and minors in philosophy and history. He studied abroad in Germany and Ireland. He received his juris doctor from the St. Louis University School of Law in 1987, where he was the recipient of the American Judicature Society's American Jurisprudence Award in Advanced Commercial Transactions.
He was admitted to practice law in Illinois in 1987 and also has been admitted to practice in Missouri, and in federal courts.
He is married to Mary Anne (nee Lindauer) and the couple has a daughter, Dorothy.