Justice Mary Ellen Coghlan

Justice Mary Ellen Coghlan was assigned to the First District Appellate Court on July 30, 2019.

Justice Coghlan was appointed to the bench in 1995 and was elected as a Circuit Court Judge in 1996. She served for 24 years in the Criminal and Probate Divisions of the Circuit Court of Cook County. Prior to being assigned to the Illinois Appellate Court, she served as the Presiding Judge of the Probate Division. Before being appointed as a judge, Justice Coghlan was an Assistant Cook County Public Defender for five years and an Assistant Attorney General in the General Law Division of the Illinois Attorney General’s Office for eight years.

She was appointed by the Illinois Supreme Court to serve as a member of the Judicial Inquiry Board from September 2017 until August 2019. Justice Coghlan previously served as a member of the Cook County Circuit Court Associate Judge Nominating Committee, a member of the Illinois Judicial Conference Study Committee on Complex Litigation, and as a member of the Judicial Conference’s Executive Committee and Strategic Planning Committee.

Justice Coghlan received her B.A. degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and her J.D. degree from DePaul University College of Law.

She has served on the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism since 2021.