Mark M. Boie

Name: Mark M. Boie

Age (as of Election Day): 52

Current residence: Anna, Ill.

Current position: 5th District Appellate Court Justice, 2019-present

Past legal experience: Circuit judge, 1st Judicial Circuit, 2000-19, attorney, Law Offices of Wesley L. Boie and Mark M. Boie, 1997-2000

Campaign funds available, Aug. 26 to Dec. 31: $6,875.00

Campaign funds spent, Aug. 26 to Dec. 31: $5,288.75

Law school: The John Marshall Law School, 1996

Campaign website: friendsforjusticeboie.com

Family: Wife, Emily; three children: Nicolas, Kaelyn and Peyton.

Have you ever run for office before?

Yes. In November 2000, I was elected resident judge of Union County and was retained in 2006, 2012 and 2018.

Why are you most qualified to serve on the 5th District Appellate Court?

As resident judge, you’re the administrative head of the judiciary, and I did that for 18 years. For the past 18½ years, I heard the criminal docket, civil docket, juvenile docket, traffic docket.

I have pretty much been able to handle cases for just about every type of case there is, you know, medical-malpractice tort cases, personal-injury cases. I’ve handled home invasion and criminal sexual assault cases. I’ve handled homicide cases and family cases.

I think I believe that I have the experience from all of these different types of cases and the different dockets that I’ve had experience here in the motion hearings and doing the jury trials, doing bench trials and petition to revoke hearings and all of these things that go along with it.

I think that makes me the better, well-rounded candidate, because of the experience, and, not to mention, since May, I’ve actually been sitting on the appellate court in the assigned position, hearing the appeals and offering opinions and doing the things that the appellate judge would need to do.

I think when you look at my background and everything such as that, that I think that puts me above the others as far as the experience and the qualifications to do the job.

Do you agree that litigants in rural counties in Illinois face greater access to justice issues? If so, how can the court system be made more accessible to rural residents?

I agree with you that in these smaller areas, it just seems like there’s no new attorneys and kids aren’t going to law school. There’s just no new attorneys coming in. So, I think, yes, that might affect someone’s access to justice. Now, I still think that there are a sufficient amount of attorneys, if not in Union County — if someone had a car accident — there’s plenty of personal-injury attorneys in Jackson County and Williamson County and other places.

I think the real access to justice issue comes in with the folks who don’t have the funds to hire an attorney. And that’s one of the things that the Supreme Court has really worked on, is the access for justice.

You know, pretty much all the courthouses now have a kiosk and a computer set up, where someone can go in and, say, download forms and file, and the circuit clerks try to be as helpful as they can. They’re limited on what they can do, because they’re not attorneys and they can’t practice law; but they can help. You can do it online at your home, or there’s the computer if you need to access this here, and try to at least get them where they can get their paperwork filed and into the system.

I know, as judges, a lot of what we in the last few years have dealt with and what we’ve been trying to get more training on is how to deal with these self-represented litigants and what role can the court take. Because, we can’t advocate. We’re supposed to be fair to both sides and to make sure people do have their day in court, and they are heard and they’re properly taken care of.

I would routinely tell [pro se litigants], if you all can come up with is an agreement that you can live with, you’re better off because you know your schedules, you know how you’re going to deal with these things. If I have to make the decision, I’m making it on what I believe is the best interest of the children.

I wouldn’t say we got all of those cases settled. But I think I did a pretty good job trying to get people to come up with an agreement. And, we were fortunate, I think, to do that.

I think between what the Supreme Court is trying to do, what they have done and with the help of the circuit courts in making sure all these things are properly implemented and everybody does have access to justice, it’s going to help these people in these rural counties that, quite honestly, don’t have the funds to give an attorney $1,500 dollars or more to do a case for him.

Why should people vote for you?

I think a lot of it goes back to who is qualified for the position and who has the necessary experience.

I think most attorneys and most judges, if you were to ask them, what do they want with the justices that are sitting on the appellate court and the Supreme Court, they would tell you, “We want judges or justices who have been judges already.”

I was a new judge mentor, helping new judges transition and trying to teach them. I think that gives me the qualifications to serve in this elected position.