John C. Griffin

Name: John C. Griffin

Party: Democratic

Age (as of Election Day): 69

Current residence: Palos Heights

Current position: 1st District Appellate Court justice, 2018-present

Past legal experience: Cook County circuit judge, 2008-18; partner-owner, Griffin & Gallagher Attorneys at Law, 1977-2008; arbitrator, Cook County Circuit Court, 1990-96; law clerk to Illinois Court of Claims Judge Leo F. Poch, 1980-92; of counsel, Walter M. Ketchum Ltd., 1977-86; hearing officer, Illinois Secretary of State, 1978-80; law clerk to Cook County Circuit Judge John F. Hechinger, 1976-77; judicial extern, Criminal Division of Cook County Circuit Court, 1976

Campaign funds available, July 1 to Dec. 31: $168,990.46

Campaign funds spent, July 1 to Dec. 31: $61,814.41

Law school: DePaul University College of Law, 1976

Campaign website: judgejohngriffin.com

Family: Married to wife, Mary Ellen; three kids, eight grandkids

Hobbies/interests: Running, reading

Have you ever run for office before?

I ran for the Moraine Valley Community College Board in 1985, and I won. And I ran for committeeman of a ward township, I think in 1991, and I lost. I ran in 2010 for the circuit court and won.

Why should voters support your candidacy?

No. 1, I think experience is really, really important, and I’ve had a wealth of experience in my life. When I was a young lawyer, I did probably 10 appeals. I was doing civil work and did a bunch of transactional work. I served in the mortgage foreclosure section. We had 5,000 cases each between 2008 and 2011. That was a mortgage foreclosure tsunami.

I went into the commercial section, and I became supervising judge there, and that was a real great experience. I tried one six-week jury, one five-week bench trial and then trying a bunch of other stuff.

Now, I’ve been on the appellate court for about 20 months. I think experience is important, and so is hard work. I have always been a hard worker, and I still am. When I was in the mortgage foreclosure section, I volunteered to do mechanic’s lien trials, and I participated in a bench book, which is kind of a tool for the judges, written by judges for judges. It was a 390-page bench book.

I wrote a very small part of it, but I edited the whole thing. And I did that as an extra thing. Then, in the Law Division, as supervising judge, I did a bench book for that section. And we implemented a standing order, because I always found it frustrating as an attorney when you’re going to two courtrooms next to each other in the same division and they have completely different procedures; I found that very difficult as a lawyer. We came up with a standing order in the commercial section, so it doesn’t matter what judge you’re in front of.

In the appellate court, I scheduled the most oral arguments last year. I’m the presiding judge in the 1st Division now, and I’ve always been a very, very hard worker. I get in at about a quarter to eight every morning, take work home every night and every weekend, and I haven’t taken a vacation since I’ve been here.

Never used my time in the circuit court either. I’m a very, very hard worker.

Why do you want to continue being an appellate justice?

I have always found the law fascinating. When you’re a lawyer, you have to focus on things you can make money on. In the Circuit Court of Cook County, you get very specialized. I spent three years hearing cases on one statute — the mortgage foreclosure law — and some stuff on mechanic’s liens. In the circuit court, everyone who loses has a right to an appeal. And unlike the Supreme Court, which chooses appeals, we hear them all. Criminal, civil, everything. And I find it just absolutely fascinating.

What was the most interesting case you handled as a lawyer?

I’ll try to make it short, but it involved a client who came to see me about a will and said she did something stupid and gave away the proceeds of her husband’s life insurance policy. She gave it to a nurse in the psychiatric unit because she had a breakdown after her husband died. So we sued the nurse, who’d turned it over to her husband. We sued the husband and had to go into chancery to do a constructive trust. During the course of the trial, my client had more mental issues, so I went to the probate court and had her dad appointed as guardian, which caused evidentiary issues. I got a judgment in circuit court and went to the Law Division and started post-judgment.

Defendant filed bankruptcies. The defendant, the nurse, she felt very bad. Did not even contest the thing, it was all the nurse’s husband, which is why we had to get a constructive trust. But you can follow the asset in constructive trust. My memory is he did not have a lot of other debts. This was basically the only bankruptcy case I ever had. I couldn’t get other attorneys to take it in bankruptcy. We think of Chapter 7 as where you get a clean slate. Chapter 13, they enter a payment plan, so two or three years and you pay off, say, 50% of the debt or whatever. His first plan was he paid us nothing, and I just said, “That doesn’t seem right,” that you couldn’t do that under Chapter 7 because it was a non-chargeable debt, and you did it under Chapter 13. Then he had a plan where he paid 10% or 15%.

Ultimately, the court of appeals said you had to take these five factors into account. I filed a claim that he was abusing it, and I got laughed out of bankruptcy court.

Then I went to the federal court. I won in federal court. Then the other side appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals, and they set the standard for dischargeability in Chapter 13 cases. So, that’s a long-winded description, but I was in six venues — chancery, law, probate, bankruptcy, federal court, the U.S. Court of Appeals. But the injustice of it would not allow me to give up.

What would you consider your greatest career accomplishment?

The law firm I built up. At the end, I had five attorneys working for me, and they were all females, and it’s still an all-female firm to this date. I’m pretty proud of that.

Maybe all the work I did in the commercial section. I’m proud of what I do here (at the appellate court) though, too. Not that I have one thing that stands out. But maybe the commercial section, I found that very challenging and rewarding.

What qualities do you plan to bring to the bench?

You start out with integrity, punctuality, legal experience, legal knowledge. But a lot of people have that. I think the thing that sets me apart — and I hope I have those things, and the bar associations have found me recommended and qualified — probably being hardworking.