Third Circuit Chief Judge Stephen Stobbs announced Thursday he will retire on Dec. 31.
Stobbs, 56, has served 18 years as a Madison County judge - the last four years as an elected circuit judge and the last two as chief judge.
According to the court's press release, Stobbs will return full-time to the private practice of law.
“It was the honor of my life to spend the past 18 years serving the people of Madison and Bond Counties, as a Judge. I will especially miss my friends and colleagues here at the courthouse, including all the wonderful employees that work tirelessly, every day, to serve the people," Stobbs said.
Prior to his judicial career, Stobbs served as a Republican member of the Madison County Board representing Godfrey for eight years, having been elected three times.
Throughout his judicial career, Stobbs has presided over every type of case in the Third Judicial Circuit, including traffic, criminal, probate, chancery, civil, and family, where he served as presiding judge.
Since 2013, Stobbs has presided over Madison County asbestos docket, which is the largest such docket in the country.
Stobbs' tenure is the longest serving presiding judge of the asbestos docket since its inception in the 1980s.
While on the bench, Stobbs has been appointed to committees by the Illinois Supreme Court, including the Legislative Committee, which monitors the legislative activity of the Illinois General Assembly as it affects the judicial branch, and several local circuit court committees, including the Medical Malpractice Mediation Committee and the Foreclosure Mediation Committee.
As chief judge, Stobbs will complete his service on the Illinois Conference of Chief Judges in December of this year.
Stobbs was first licensed to practice law in 1994 following his graduation from the Thomas Cooley Law School in Lansing, MI, with honors, and previously from Saint Louis University, where he completed his undergraduate degree, also with honors.
From 1994 until his appointment as an Associate Judge in 2006, Stobbs practiced law with his father, the late John Dale Stobbs, at Stobbs & Sinclair, Ltd. in Alton.
Stobbs has published several legal articles, is a certified judicial mediator, and regularly featured as a panelist at national asbestos education conferences, from coast to coast.
He is married to wife Katie, for 29 years, and they are the parents of four children, Madeleine, Grace, Caroline and Stephen.