JOLIET – Jessica Colon-Sayre's late mother was proud of her, even though she never quite got her title right.

"My mom would tell anyone – friends, people she just met, people she saw at the gas station – 'This is my daughter. She's the district attorney of the state of Illinois,'" Colon-Sayre said.

Colon-Sayre was actually an assistant Will County state's attorney, but on Monday she was sworn in as an associate judge and was certain her mother would have said she was now a judge for the entire state.

She also is the first female Hispanic judge in Will County.

Colon-Sayre became the county's 20th associate judge. Chief Judge Richard Schoenstedt said the 16 circuit judges believed Colon-Sayre was the most qualified of more than 30 applicants.

Colon-Sayre was born in Puerto Rico and graduated from DePaul University in 1996.

She received her law degree from John Marshall Law School and was an assistant state's attorney for 11 years.

"I'm now the senior Puerto Rican of the Will County bench. We have the first Latina," Judge David Garcia said. "But since I became a judge, as we were forming the Will County Latino Bar Association, Jessica was really the person that got it started."

Colon-Sayre will be assigned to traffic court and "will start with about 100 cases on Tuesday," Schoenstedt said.

"Most of you who've worked with me or against me understand my passion for what I do," Colon-Sayre said. "Now that I'm on this side [of the bench] that passion for what is just and fair will not waiver."

Colon-Sayre resides in Crete with her husband, Todd, and two children, Dylan and Elsa.