Judge Brawka set to retire July 8

ST. CHARLES TOWNSHIP – Kane County Circuit Judge Judith Brawka has announced her retirement, effective July 8.

Brawka, who served as the county’s first female chief judge from 2012 to 2015, began her legal career as a Kane County assistant public defender in 1978 and was selected as a Kane County public defender in 1986, a news release stated.

During her 12 years in the public defender’s office, she was elected president of the Illinois Public Defender Association and served on an Illinois task force on gender bias in the courts, the Prairie State Legal Services Board of Directors, the Kane County Task Force on Drinking and Driving, the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority Data Advisory Committee and the state appellate defender training seminar faculty, the release stated.

Brawka was appointed an associate judge in the 16th Circuit in 1991, elected as a circuit judge in 2002 and retained in 2008 and 2014, the release stated.

She has presided over cases in Kane, Kendall, DeKalb and – by Supreme Court assignment – Cook counties, the release stated.

Brawka has been assigned to all the divisions of civil and criminal courts, including civil and juvenile, where she was named presiding judge, the release stated.

While on the bench, Brawka served terms on the board for the Illinois Judges Association and – by Supreme Court appointment – on the Executive Committee of the Illinois Judicial Conference, the release stated.

In 2005, she received the Kane County Bar Association Community Service Award, the release stated.

In retirement, Brawka hopes to continue volunteer public service for the advancement of the law, the courts and the legal profession, while devoting most of her time to her spouse, Joseph Korso, and the rest of her extended family, the release stated.