Five Candidates seek 7th Subcircuit Cook County judicial seat 

By Susan S. Stevens 

Cook County Circuit Court Judge Anthony Young’s retirement last year prompted five Democratic candidates to compete Feb. 5 for the 7th District Subcircuit seat: Anita Rivkin-Carothers, who was appointed to fill the rest of Young’s term; three attorneys in private practice; and one assistant public defender.

            His "experience, fairness, and patience" led attorney T. Lee Boyd Jr. to run for judge, he said.

            “In order to be a good judge, you have to be very fair-minded and patient and respect those who come before you,” Boyd said. “I want people to believe they are getting a fair and impartial take from me.”

            A former assistant Cook County state’s attorney, Boyd was lured into private practice by Eugene Pincham, who later served as a judge. Boyd currently practices mostly criminal law and has two employees. “I am better known as a criminal attorney but do some other cases,” he said.

            He also has been a City of Chicago administrative hearing officer since 2005, did Cook County arbitration, was a State of Illinois civil hearing officer, and has been an administrative law officer for south suburban University Park since 1992.

            “Being an administrator, you handle a lot of ordinance violations—buildings, consumer services, etc," Boyd noted. "You get a complaint just like a judge. You do basically the same thing a judge does¾write opinions.”

            Boyd received a couple recommendations from bar groups, “but my thing is what my experience is. I have tried over 100 jury trials. Most lawyers are not trial lawyers.”

            Boyd, 60, grew up in the ABLA housing project on the Near West Side and attended the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and DePaul Law School. He and his wife live on the Near West Side.

            Anita Rivkin-Carothers has held the 7th Subcircuit seat since her appointment last July 5. Now, she seeks a permanent place on the bench.

            Before becoming a judge, she was a public defender for two years and in private practice for the next 20, trying more than 200 cases and becoming financially secure. She wants to continue as a judge because she believes she provides “a forum where people are treated with dignity and respect, regardless of where they come from.”

“Being a judge is really the pinnacle of a career for a trial lawyer,” Rivkin-Carothers said. “I just turned 60, so the timing was right. Everything was right.”

            She was assigned to the Traffic Division after her appointment. “It seems that is where everybody gets their start,” she said, noting that since she "did criminal work for so long," many colleagues urged her to seek a move to Criminal Courts.

A graduate of Northwestern University and John Marshall Law School, the resident of Chicago’s West Side teaches advanced criminal procedure as an adjunct faculty member at DePaul University Law School and is director of the 29th Ward/Austin Community Free Legal Clinic. A widow, her husband was a labor union business agent whose nephew is Ald. Isaac S. Carothers (29th Ward).

            “It is time to give back to the community,” David H. Latham said in explaining his run for judge.

            Latham has operated a solo private practice the last ten years, dealing in civil law. “I am what you call a commercial litigator, also sometimes called a civil litigator.” His cases have included business fraud, consumer fraud, and partnership dissolution¾representing both plaintiffs and defendants.

            He previously worked for Altheimer and Gray. When he and his wife decided to have children, he scaled back to have time for his family. At Altheimer and Gray, “I would get in at 7:30 a.m.; I would leave at 7:30 p.m.,” he said.

Practicing alone has taught him more about the client's perspective. “I see it is very hard for clients to pay my fees out of their own pockets,” he said. “I would like to speed up the process and reduce the costs to litigants. I think it can be done.”

            “There are two great loves in my life,” Latham said, “children and the law. If I can do something with children, I would love to do that.” He added that Juvenile Court stories “just break your heart.”

            A graduate of UIC and Loyola University Law School, he volunteers at the Lincoln Park Zoo and Chicago Community Trust. Latham, 47, lives in River Forest; he has two soccer-playing daughters and coaches their team. “I try to be more than a coach and try to teach them a few lessons.”

Wanting to advocate for young people inspired Melanie Nuby to seek a seat on the bench. Nuby is especially sensitive to youth because she is a Cook County Public Defender at Juvenile Court and has been “a public defender my entire 14-year legal career,” she said. Nuby spent eight years at the criminal courts at 26th St. and California Ave.; she also worked in the courts in Markham.

            “I feel the youth need quality representation,” she said. She wants them to be guided, rather than only punished, when they appear in court, and she thinks “there needs to be more discretion on behalf of youth. We need restorative justice.” She endorses sealing and expunging juvenile records.

Nuby volunteers for the Constitutional Rights Foundation of Chicago, is a member the Expungement Committee of the North Lawndale Juvenile Justice Collaborative, and coaches Chicago Public Schools students for mock trials.

            A Chicago native who grew up on the South Side, she now lives in North Lawndale. She moved to the West Side because “I really love graystones [Chicago residential buildings from the turn of the last century that feature limestone facades], she said, and West Side structures are “much more affordable than South Side graystones."

            Nuby is 39 and single. Her sister’s family lives down the block. “I guess my biggest hobby and most precious time is with my 13-year-old niece,” she said.

            Nuby attended the University of Southern California and University of Pittsburgh School of Law. State Sen. Rickey Hendon (5th District) and 24th Ward Democratic Committeeman Michael Chandler, chairman of slating in the 7th Judicial Subcircuit, have endorsed her.

            Kevin Pechous seeks the judgeship because he believes he “can be a positive influence for judges and people.” After practicing criminal law since 1991, Pechous said he well understands the judicial system and can bring integrity to the bench. “I feel confident stepping into a judicial role,” he said.

            “I was an assistant state’s attorney for eight years, so I have prosecuted hundreds and hundreds of cases—from misdemeanors to felonies,” he said. As a solo practitioner since 1999, he specializes in criminal law.

Pechous also is chairperson of the Cook County Mandatory Arbitration Program, “so I hear personal injury cases and contract disputes over amounts ranging from $1 to $50,000," he explained. "If you sue anyone in Cook County, by law before you get to court you have to go in front of a three-person arbitration panel and we will rule. It is a way of disposing of 80% of the cases."

People who lose before the arbitration panel can go to court for trial.

A lifelong resident of Berwyn, “I love being part of the community,” Pechous said. He was a losing Democratic candidate for Berwyn mayor in 2005. No animosity lingers, he said. “I get along with the person who beat me. He signed one of my petitions.”

A graduate of Loyola University and John Marshall Law School, Pechous, 45, said he spends what little free time he has with his daughter and traveling.