Sonni Choi Williams (’99) was recently elected Vice Chair of the NIU College of Law Board of Visitors. The Board of Visitors is an advisory board to the Dean whose purposes include, but are not limited to, increasing awareness of the College of Law, providing valuable linkage between the college and the community, and developing mechanisms for the interchange of ideas between the College and the legal profession.
Sonni is the City Attorney for the City of Lockport. Previously, she served as the Deputy Corporation Counsel for the City of Peoria, where she worked for the City’s Legal Department for more than 17 years, starting as the Assistant Corporation Counsel.
She was appointed to serve as chair of the ISBA Local Government Law Section Council for 2020-2021, vice-chair for the 2020-2021 ISBA Standing Committee on Racial & Ethnic Minorities and the Law, and to the Illinois Bar Foundation’s Board of Directors for the 3rd District. In June 2020, Sonni was also elected to the Board of Directors for the Asian American Bar Association of Chicago and the Korean-American Bar Association of Chicago.
Sonni was appointed by the Illinois Supreme Court to the Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism from 2005 to 2016 and was appointed and still serves as a Chair member of the Hearing Board for the Illinois Attorney Registration & Disciplinary Commission (ARDC), presiding over attorney disciplinary cases. She is a member of the American Bar Association (ABA); Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA); Will County Bar Association (WCBA); Will County Women’s Bar Association (WCWBA); Korean-American Bar Association (KABA); and National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA). Sonni has served two terms on the ISBA Assembly and has served two terms as an ISBA Board of Governor (2012-2018). She is also on the Boards of Prairie State Legal Services, Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education and the Illinois Local Government Attorneys Association (ILGL).
Sonni received the 2020 Northern Illinois University College of Law Alumni of the Year Award and the 2006 Young Alumni of the Year Award; the 2008 Illinois Institute of Local Government Law Annual Achievement Award; the 2010 ISBA Board of Governors Award; and the 2014-2015 ISBA Diversity Leadership Award. She has been the past chair of the PCBA Diversity Committee (2005-2007); PCBA Young Lawyers Committee (2002-2003); PCBA Lincoln Memorial Banquet Committee (2013); ISBA Standing Committee on Racial and Ethnic Minorities and the Law as its Chair (2009-2010); and PCBA Standing Committee on Mentoring (2012-2013).
