On May 18, Justice Joy V. Cunningham and the Illinois Supreme Court announced the appointment of Edward J. Underhill as an at-large Cook County Circuit judge, according to a press release.
Underhill was appointed to fill the at-large vacancy created by the retirement of the Hon. Timothy P. Murphy, effective Dec. 5, 2022. The appointment is effective June 8, 2023, and will conclude Dec. 2, 2024, following the November 2024 general election.
Underhill is a senior partner and chair of the Commercial Litigation Practice Group at Masuda, Funai, Eifert & Mitchell, Ltd., where he has worked for parts of five decades.
In addition, he has been an investigatory and hearing officer for the Chicago Bar Association Judicial Evaluation Committee and the Alliance of Bar Associations (representing LAGBAC), as well as a court-appointed arbitrator for the Circuit Court of Cook County. Underhill has served on the Illinois State Treasurer's Advisory Council, representing the LGBTQ+ community, since 2018 and provides pro bono services to indigent members of the LGBTQ+ community in estate-planning area. He received the NIU College of Law Outstanding Service Award in 2016.
Underhill, who is married to Liam Nolan, had previously run twice for judge, in 2016 and 2018.
Andrew Davis