Joy Virginia Cunningham (born 1951) is an American lawyer from

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

who serves as a justice of the

Illinois Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Illinois is the state supreme court, the highest court of the judiciary of Illinois. The court's authority is granted in Article VI of the current Illinois Constitution, which provides for seven justices elected from the fiv ...

. She previously served as a justice of the

Illinois First District Appellate Court The Illinois Appellate Court is the court of first appeal for civil and criminal cases rising in the Illinois circuit courts. In Illinois, litigants generally have a right to first appeal from final decisions or judgements of the circuit court. ...

from 2016 until 2022. Before becoming a lawyer, she worked as a nurse, and later worked as counsel for several university hospital systems.

Early life and education

Cunningham is a New York native. She received a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

from the

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a Public university, public research university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York ...

in 1975, working as a nurse before attending law school and going on to receive a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

from the John Marshall Law School in 1982.

Career

In 1982, she served as an assistant attorney general in the Office of the

Illinois Attorney General The Illinois attorney general is the highest legal officer of the state of Illinois in the United States. Originally an appointed office, it is now an office filled by statewide election. Based in Chicago and Springfield, the attorney general ...

, she then served as a law clerk to First District Appellate Court Justice Glenn T. Johnson. She later served as associate general counsel and chief counsel for healthcare at

Loyola University Chicago Loyola University Chicago (Loyola or LUC) is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1870 by the Society of Jesus, Loyola is one of the largest Catholic Church, ...

for ten years. In 1996, Cunningham was sworn in as an associate judge of Cook County Circuit Court where she was assigned to the civil trial division. She served in that capacity until 2000, thereafter she served as senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary at Northwestern Memorial Healthcare. In 2006, she was elected as a justice of the First District Appellate Court, assuming office in December that year, and she was retained by voters in 2016. In 2012, she ran for a seat on the Illinois Supreme Court, to permanently fill the seat left by the vacancy of Justice Thomas R. Fitzgerald but lost the primary to then-incumbent appointee

Mary Jane Theis Mary Jane Theis (born February 27, 1949) is a justice of the Illinois Supreme Court for the First Judicial District in Cook County. In 2022, she became chief justice after the retirement of then-chief justice Anne M. Burke. Early life She was ...

Appointment to Illinois Supreme Court

On September 12, 2022, she was appointed by the court as a justice of the

to succeed retiring Chief Justice

Anne M. Burke Anne Marie Burke (née McGlone; born February 3, 1944) is an American jurist who served on the Illinois Supreme Court from 2006 until 2022. She served a term as the chief justice from 2019 until 2022. Burke had previously been appointed to the Il ...

. Her term began on December 1, 2022. With her appointment, Cunningham became the second black woman appointed to the court in 2022, and as of 2022, she is one of three Black people serving at the same time on the court.

Memberships and associations

Cunningham is a member of the following organizations: Board of Trustees of Loyola University Health System, the Chicago Bar Association's Strategic Planning Committee, the Governor's Commission for Eradicating Poverty, the Board of Directors of the James R. Jordan Foundation, the Board of Directors of the Chicago Bar Association Media Organization, and is the Chair of the Associate Commissioners of the Illinois Supreme Court Historic Preservation Commission since 2010. From 2004 to 2005 she served as president of the

Chicago Bar Association Founded in 1874, the Chicago Bar Association (CBA) is a voluntary bar association with over 20,000 members. Like other bar associations, it concerns itself with professional ethics, networking among members, and continuing legal education. It is ...

, becoming the first black woman elected as president.

Personal life

Cunningham is a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cunningham, Joy V. 1950s births Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 20th-century American lawyers 20th-century Illinois state court judges 20th-century American women judges 20th-century American women lawyers 21st-century American judges 21st-century American women judges African-American judges African-American nurses American nurses City College of New York alumni Illinois Democrats University of Illinois Chicago School of Law alumni Judges of the Circuit Court of Cook County Judges of the Illinois Appellate Court Justices of the Supreme Court of Illinois People from New York (state) Place of birth missing (living people) 20th-century African-American lawyers