Pictured: Sherry Pethers.
Sheryl Ann 'Sherry' Pethers is a trial attorney and partner in the law firm of Swanson, Martin & Bell. She's also the only openly lesbian candidate running so far in the 8th Subcircuit race for Cook County Judge next year. There are three gay men also running, and several other candidates.
Windy City Times has interviewed two of the gay men so far, and this week profiles Pethers. Coming soon, the final openly gay candidate running for judge in that district, along Chicago's North Lakefront.
Tracy Baim: We want to start with your background and how it translates to your qualifications to be a judge.
SP: I was a reporter for several years. I have a graduate degree in journalism and political science. At various stages in my career as a journalist, I started covering legal issues. I covered politics in downstate Illinois. Then I was covering the courts, and I got very interested in watching what attorneys do, and I thought I could do that, and better. So I decided to switch gears and go to law school.
TB: When you were in college the first time, was there a lot of gay and lesbian activism on campus?
SP: No.
TB: Were you out on campus? Or once you were into journalism?
SP: When I got into journalism, yes. Everybody even in downstate Illinois knew I was out. But I went to a small, liberal arts, Christian college. I was not out on campus. But I was definitely out when I went to law school [ at Chicago-Kent ] .
TB: Changing gears to go to law school—how did you manage that financially?
SP: It was scholarships. I come from some pretty humble roots. My dad was a firefighter, my mom was a nurse's aide. They could not afford to send me to college in the first place. There was a point in my junior year in college where I had four part-time jobs. My senior year, I had done an internship at the local newspaper in Anderson, Ind., over the summer. The managing editor asked me to quit school and work full time. I said I can't quit. She said try working for us and going to school. It was a morning newspaper, so my shift was 3-midnight. I took more than a full load of courses—school was 8 a.m.-3 p.m., then went off to this full-time job. It was a private school and expensive, but it was a small school where every faculty member had a full Ph.D. and each was in the classroom. ...
I went to graduate school on a scholarship. I didn't make a lot of money as a reporter. The only way I was going to go to law school was on scholarship. That got me in the door. I found out in law school, grades are the great reward, and I did really well. I got more and more money, and by the third year it was a full ride.
TB: How did you pick Chicago-Kent?
SP: It was the place that would give me the most money. Kent is a very good school, but it is not the University of Chicago or Northwestern. I could get in those places, and they would be glad to take me if I could pay the freight. But I could not pay. I needed to go where I got scholarships.
TB: What did you want to do after law school?
SP: I never had interest in doing transactional law, real estate, trusts. But I knew from the get-go that I wanted to be a litigator. You talk about the transition from being a reporter and going to law school—it was so smooth. Being a reporter is such a great preparation for being a lawyer. What you do all day long is ask questions. And the other thing you do is write. People who watch a lot of TV and the courtroom dramas, think we talk all the time. Yes, we like to talk, but we spend most of our time writing. Being a reporter not only helped in my legal career, but it certainly helped in law school. I have known other people who have a journalism background who went to law school, we all do well, because we know how to ask the right questions and we know how to write.
TB: You mentioned also that it helps you 'read' people.
SP: The judge's ability to assess a witness's credibility is essential. When you spent a lifetime asking people questions, you learn to figure out who is telling the truth. I have a lot of legal experience. I am a partner in a nationally recognized litigation firm.
I mention in my literature that I graduated second [ in law school ] . I do that not to brag about how smart I am, although I can assure people I am quite bright. I do that to show my work ethic. Everybody I went to law school with was smart. The difference for me was working hard at it. I needed to work hard at it—I needed to get good grades to even finish school. I mentioned being second, [ because ] I learned the young man who graduated first in my class was the first person in my law school's 100+ year history to have a perfect 4.0 grade point average. So there was never any catching him. But I learned something from that. There are a lot of people running in this race. The guy who finished first in my class is not running [ laughs ] , and I have no intention of coming in second again.
TB: After law school ...
SP: I clerked for Ben Miller, who was then Chief Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court. That is another position you don't get if you're just average. ... Justice Miller is a well-known conservative Republican. He ran always as the tough judge. To his credit, he had a habit of every year picking at least one liberal clerk, so that he would get a lot of different views. And I was that clerk that year.
I really wanted to be a litigator, but not the sort who engages in the paper battle. I wanted to try cases. I had, in law school, worked at a very large law firm out of New York. I knew that I didn't want to be in that environment. I wouldn't fit in. So I knew I wanted to be at a small firm that tried cases. This group of lawyers had just split off a large firm and started their own shop. I got a lot of tips on this new firm from the dean of my law school, etc., and I interviewed with them and I knew this is where I needed to be.
I was the first lawyer they hired outside of the group they came with. I was lawyer No. 15. That was about a dozen years ago. They now have about 75 attorneys, so the firm has been very successful. It has been everything I hoped it would be. I know my way around the courtroom, I have tried cases, I am in court nearly every day, sometimes several times a day. Even though now we're becoming what some people consider a big firm—but by Chicago standards we're really not—this is a place where we have excellent lawyers who happen to be excellent people as well.
TB: How does the partnership track work?
SP: I think it works the way it does everywhere else. It's a combination of doing high quality legal work and getting business. [ I became partner ] in eight years.
TB: You are working as you are running?
SP: I am not taking a leave, but I am not working quite as much. The billable hours at a large firm are high, we work long and hard. I am very committed to winning this, so to do that I have to downscale my practice a bit.
TB: The partners knew you were lesbian?
SP: Yes, right from the get-go. And they have been supportive of that and certainly supportive of this campaign. ... My firm recognizes at this point in its evolution, and with the stature it has, that it's time we got a little more politically active.
TB: Let's talk about your cases.
SP: I specialize in all types of civil litigation. I do not do criminal work, family law ... much of my practice is devoted to professional negligence. Medical malpractice, legal malpractice, that sort of thing.
TB: What about your LGBT community experience and involvement?
SP: My contributions to the community have been varied throughout the years. My partner and I led the lesbian book discussion group at Gerber/Hart Library for several years. We then became members of the building society, which was financial support for the library, expanding and moving to Granville. A few years ago through an ad in Windy City Times, I started a lesbian fishing group, GALS, the Great Angling Lesbian Society. That was just a social group to bring women together to enjoy a traditionally male activity. I made a lot of great friends.
In later years, a lot of my community involvement has been through my checkbook, but also I have given a lot of my professional time to the community. I have done a significant amount of pro bono work, particularly for lesbians.
TB: Were you involved in the Lesbian and Gay Bar Association of Chicago?
SP: It was more membership. I have not been involved in their judicial evaluations.
TB: Why this race, why this year?
SP: I am running because I am a very good lawyer and I am going to be a very good judge. I think the citizens of Cook County need my experience and my work ethic. I am also running because I think there needs to be more diversity on the bench. That's the primary reason for the creation of these subcircuits in the first place—to try to gain more minority participation. And I am the only lesbian running in this race. It's really great to be able to say that in the political arena, there are very few 'firsts' left. We have already elected a gay alderman, a gay state representative and a gay judge from this [ area ] . It's time a lesbian was elected. I think that before men go back for seconds, lesbians need to be invited to the table. [ There are other openly lesbian judges now, but they have gotten there first by being appointed or were elected before they were out. ]
TB: With three gay men, yourself and many others running, candidates are deciding between the two open judgeships.
SP: I think everyone right now is circulating petitions for both openings in the 8th Subcircuit, I know I am. I don't know how we're all going to talk among ourselves about who is going to be in which race.
TB: Judicial races are very much decided based on slating, because the races are so far down on the ballot. Qualifications and ranking don't always matter as much as slating [ by the political parties ] and clout.
SP: I think that slating is more important on the countywide level. There have been scientific studies showing that if you are not slated countywide, that you stand far less than a 10% chance of winning. I don't think that slating is as important in the subcircuits, but even less so in this particular subcircuit.
But I have met with many of the Democratic ward committeemen ... it's important, I want to be slated. But I don't think it's crucial in this race. And I think the LGBT community makes a big difference in that.
TB: What kind of support are you getting from the 'powers that be'?
SP: I am working on a list. I am greatly encouraged by the support I am getting in the LGBT community. Lesbians in particular, but gay men as well. ... Another interesting thing is that in the lesbian community, to our credit, many are involved in charitable organizations, and those organizations cannot make political endorsements. The heads of these organizations are a little fearful about putting their name out there. ... We can talk about the powers that be, but I am really grateful for the support of what an old blue-collar person like me calls the 'rank and file' LGBT community. Lesbians in particular are pretty excited about having one of our own running openly for judge. This is a first. We have had lesbians appointed as associate judges in Cook County. I think we had one who came out after she was elected. But no one has run openly the first time.
TB: What impact do you want to have?
SP: Most judges who are first elected are sent to traffic court. People should know that most judges want to deal with those cases fairly and put in their time and move on to something else. At the same time, there are some judges who want to stay there, because they go to work from 9 a.m.-noon. That is pathetic and that needs to change, and it will once I am on the bench. ... I think the quality of the Cook County judiciary has improved ... but we can do better.
TB: Is there an area you would feel your skills would best match?
SP: I have done some domestic violence, domestic relations work. I think my skills are best suited for the law division at the Daley Center. I think my experience as a civil litigator, and my life experience, qualifies me to do any position. I was talking to a friend who was appointed ... in the criminal division, and she did the same kind of work I did. We have not had exposure to criminal law since law school. She said it's less complicated. Criminal procedure is a lot simpler. It often has larger ramifications, but your skills translate easily.
My focus as a judge would be problem solving. I make my living fighting people's battles for them in court. At the same time, I think litigation is the most inefficient means of resolving disputes. I think it's unfortunate that some disagreements end up in court. I think there are things judges can do to resolve them more quickly. I am talking about alternative dispute resolution, mediation. ... Short of duking it out for years in a process that mostly benefits the lawyers.
TB: Does your partner support this move?
SP: Of course. My partner and I have been together for eight years. She is a clinical social worker at a community mental health center on the West Side. I talked with her about this because it is a tremendous commitment of time and money. ... She said right from the get-go 'I know you want to do this, I know you need to do this, I know it's the right thing.' She's out there as well [ getting petitions signed ] .
I would like to focus my campaign on educating people about the importance of judicial elections. People have this idea that judges don't really matter or effect their lives. Our political process reinforces that by putting the judicial races at the very bottom of the ballot. I thought about the 2000 election, when the U.S. Supreme Court told us who the president was going to be, regardless of the vote. People forget we have three branches of government—executive ... legislative ... and judiciary. Every now and then the judiciary raises its head and trumps the other two. Some of the most pressing issues of the day are now being decided by judges. Judges are going to decide whether women retain their constitutional right to choose. Judges are deciding not only how we live but how we die. When our relationships don't work out, judges decide who gets the property. They really do effect our everyday lives. ...
I also focus on 'your vote counts.' I believe the last time a judge was elected in the 8th Subcircuit, he won by 124 votes. With this many people running, it's going to be close again. So people's votes really do count.
See www.pethersforjudge.com or call Pethers' campaign manager Jim Cowart at ( 773 ) 742-2372.
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