Belleville attorney Elaine LeChien has been selected to fill the St. Clair County Associate Judge vacancy created following the retirement of former judge Janet Hormberg.
“She’s a well-respected lawyer in the community,” said Chief Judge Andrew Gleeson. “She has a varied background in the law. She meets the needs of the bench at this time. We need someone who can handle family, or chancery, or other traffic and misdemeanor cases and she has those skill sets.”
The process for picking associate judges is through a vote of elected circuit judges.
LeChien is currently employed as a partner at The Law Offices of LeChien & LeChien, PC in Belleville.
She earned her Bachelor’s Degree in 1983 from St. Louis University and her Juris Doctorate in 1986 from St. Louis University School of Law.
LeChien, who is the niece of the late judge Robert LeChien, will be sworn into office on July 31. Robert LeChien died in August 2018.
She will preside over the traffic and misdemeanor docket.
Hormberg retired June 30 after roughly three years on the bench. She was appointed associate judge in 2016, where she presided over first appearance traffic and criminal misdemeanor cases.
Prior to her appointment to the bench, Hormberg worked as a St. Clair County assistant state’s attorney, where she headed child support enforcement.
Gleeson added that he is eager to have a full roster of judges to fill the needs of the community.
“I’m excited to get my judges back to almost full strength,” he said.