Judge Lewis Nixon
Commissioner, Circuit Court Member, First District
Appointment to Commission: January 1, 2021 — December 31, 2023
Date Admitted to Bar
1975 – Illinois. Subsequently admitted to the United States District Court Northern District of Illinois, Federal Trial Bar, and the United States Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, the United States Court of Military Appeals and the United States Supreme Court in 1979.
Court
Currently the Supervising Judge, Chancery Division.
Legal Experience
Before becoming a judge, Lewis Nixon was the Regional Counsel for the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development from 1983 to 2002. He was a trial attorney for the Burlington Northern Railroad from 1980 to 1983 handling litigation, trials and appeals involving FELA matters in state and federal courts in Illinois. He was an associate at Conklin & Adler from 1979 to 1980 handling aviation litigation. He began his career as an assistant United States attorney for the Northern District of Illinois prosecuting federal criminal cases from 1975 to 1979.
Judicial Experience
In November 2001 Judge Nixon was appointed to the Circuit Court of Cook County. He was elected in November 2002. Judge Nixon’s first assignment was in the 1st Municipal District where he was assigned to the Traffic Division. In 2003 he was assigned to the Chancery Division’s Mortgage Foreclosure Pilot Project. In 2004 Judge Nixon was assigned to the Chancery Division’s Mechanics Lien section and is currently assigned to that division’s newly renamed Mortgage Foreclosure/Mechanics Lien section as the Supervising Judge since 2008.
Awards
Judge Nixon has received the Cook County Bar Association’s Presidential Award (1987) and a Judicial Award (2003). He received the Illinois Judicial Council’s Judicial Award. In 1999 prior to becoming a judge, Judge Nixon received the S. Leigh Curry Award; the highest award given to a HUD attorney. Judge Nixon was inducted into the John M. Marshall Harlan High School Hall of Fame (2003). Judge Nixon has been given awards by the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. Judge Nixon was the 2013 recipient of the Cook County State’s Attorney’s C.F. Stradford Award. In May, 2014 Judge Nixon received the Donald H. Hubert Award. Judge Nixon has been given the Diversity Scholarship Foundation Advocates Award in 2020.
Memberships / Organizations
Past President of the Illinois Judges Association 2010-11; National Bar Assn., Chicago Bar Association, Illinois Bar Association, Cook County Bar Association, Past member Illinois Supreme Court Committee on Criminal Law & Probation, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated. African American Genealogical & Historical Society of Chicago, Illinois Judicial Council; Chairman of the Special Illinois Supreme Court Committee on Mortgage Foreclosure, 2011-2013. Member, Illinois Courts Commission, (present).
Education
DePaul University College of Law, 1974, Juris Doctor Degree. St. John’s University, Collegeville, MN, B.A. Sociology, 1974.
Hobbies
Genealogy, reading
Additional Information
Judge Nixon serves as a mentor judge for new judges. Judge Nixon is an adjunct faculty at Roosevelt University’s School of Paralegal Studies. He has served in this position since August, 1989.