I was in charge of the entirety of the Traffic, Misdemeanor, Juvenile Abuse, Juvenile Delinquency, and DUI divisions, a position 3 attorneys held when I was hired. This entailed every aspect of a case from charging decisions, motions and related hearings, every court appearance, statutory suspension hearings, and jury/bench trials. I also worked with many felony cases as needed, including charging, preliminary hearings, grand jury proceedings, motions, and jury trials. I handled everything from start to finish with these cases, including charging crimes, researching new issues, negotiating pleas, litigating motions, bench trials and jury trials, obtaining search warrants 24 hours a day, working during weekend bond court, and acting as a resource to animal control, DCFS workers, several police agencies, the circuit clerk, and the county board. I litigated 19 trials to jury verdict (14 as solo chair), and hundreds of bench trials and substantive motions as solo chair. In juvenile abuse/neglect court, I assured that children were removed from dangerous homes and terminated parental rights when those parents did not fix their problems in a timely manner. I also mentored/trained the newest ASA in the office (fresh out of law school) while handling these caseloads, along with other projects as needed (warrant review, tax sales, election certification, etc.). With such a small office, we did not have the luxury of formal training, or having a second chair with us at all hearings and trials. We were expected to go right into court our first day and handle our own cases with little to no guidance or training, so I have unique experience in figuring out how to do my job independently.

I handled the weekly traffic calls, conducted weekly bench trials, litigated a jury trial as first chair (guilty verdict - 'no blow' DUI), wrote and argued motions and assisted attorneys as needed.