One of the gifts Cook County Circuit Judge Dominique C. Ross received the day she graduated from law school in May 1993 was a letter.She had written it to her mother several years earlier while she was away at college.“I told her in the letter, which I didn’t even remember — I said ‘One day, I’m going to surprise you and I’m going to be a lawyer,’” Ross said. “She handed that to me on the day of graduation. It was a really special day for all of us.”Ross credits …