Judge Aurelia Pucinski was elected to the Illinois Appellate Court, 1st District, in 2010. She served as a Circuit Court judge in Cook County from 2004 to 2010. As a trial judge she heard more than 10,000 Domestic Violence cases, followed by an assignment to hear adoption, election, property tax and mental health cases. She is particularly interested in the law as it affects senior citizens and the disabled, having created a program in Domestic Violence Court to give additional protections and services to senior citizen victims of domestic abuse. She served as the Clerk of the Court from 1988 to 2000 where two of her major accomplishments were getting child support checks processed in record time and computerizing courtrooms. She started practicing law in 1976 in a neighborhood law office where she developed a reputation for pro bono work, including representing citizens who sued the Chicago Board of Education to keep a local school open, a case she won in the Appellate Court. A native Chicagoan, Judge Pucinski is a graduate of DePaul College of Law.