Hon. Diann K. Marsalek (’89) Appointed Acting Presiding Judge

The Honorable Diann K. Marsalek (’89), currently Supervising Judge of the First Municipal District’s Traffic Court (Chicago), has taken on the newly-created role of acting presiding judge over all traffic judges in Cook County. She was appointed by Cook County Chief Judge Timothy C. Evans.

Judge Marsalek was first appointed to the bench in 2011, and first elected countywide as Circuit Judge in 2012. From 2011 to 2014, she worked in the First Municipal District, including evictions, torts, contracts, and post-judgment enforcement. Since May 2014, Judge Marsalek has been the Supervising Judge of the First Municipal District’s Traffic Court located in the Daley Center, and oversees judges assigned to traffic court as their first assignment. She has trained approximately 150 new judges. Judge Marsalek was part of a committee that worked on improving training for new judges.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the First District’s Traffic Section has been handled entirely by teleconference or videoconference.  Judge Marsalek said the court will consider continuing to handle minor traffic cases remotely after the pandemic is over, so that litigants don’t have to come downtown and take time off work.

Before her appointment to the judiciary, Judge Marsalek served as an attorney for government agencies, including the Illinois Secretary of State and the Illinois Attorney General. She served as chief legal counsel for the Illinois Department of Corrections, and has extensive jury trial experience in civil rights cases before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Judge Marsalek’s professional affiliations include the Advocates Society of Polish-American lawyers and the Justinian Society for Italian-American lawyers. She was the president of the Illinois Judges Foundation and served on the Board of Directors for the Illinois Judges Association.

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