In August of 1987, Mary Maxwell Thomas was appointed by the Illinois Supreme Court to fill a vacancy as a Circuit Judge of Cook County, Illinois. In 1988 she was elected to that vacancy by over a million votes as part of the "Harold Washington Dream Ticket". She handled civil and criminal cases throughout her tenure on the bench, including 13 years when she presided over cases ranging from shoplifting to murder, including death penalty matters, in the Criminal Courts Building in Chicago.  Cook County Court Watchers reported that “Judge Thomas … exhibited authority and knowledge”, “was very thorough”, “excellent”, “understanding … patient but firm…” She retired from the bench in 2006.

 

Daughter of Isaiah Williams and Mary Etta Lawson and granddaughter of Washington and Bettie Jordan, she was a product of the Lake Forest school system. After graduating from Lake Forest High School, she attended Michigan State and she graduated from New Mexico State University with a degree in pre-law. A graduate of the University of Chicago Law School, Judge Thomas was the first African-American female judge to receive a Master of Judicial Studies ("MJS") degree from the University of Nevada, Reno. She began her career as an attorney title examiner at Chicago Title Insurance Company, and later served as both a federal and city prosecutor and partner of a loop law firm. She was the first African-American Assistant City Attorney at the City of Evanston. Her teaching experience includes serving as a faculty member of the Illinois Judicial Conference, an adjunct professor at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. and at the National Judicial College in Reno, Nevada, where she taught judges from all over the world.

 

Judge Thomas has received commendations from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the Cook County Bar Association, the Fraternal Order of Police, the Illinois Judicial Council, the American Bar Association, the National Judicial Council, the National Black Prosecutors’ Association, and the Black Women Lawyers' Association. She was honored by "Ebony Man" magazine as one of five "Women of Distinction", and her biographical sketch appeared in “Who's Who in American Women".  Judge Thomas was commissioned by the Governor of Kentucky as a Kentucky Colonel, and she was featured in “Today’s Chicago Woman” as one of “100 Women Making a Difference” in the Chicago area.

                                                                                                                                                                                                      Judge Thomas lectured at employment and career seminars sponsored by schools including the University of Chicago and John Marshall Law Schools, Northwestern University, and Evanston Township High School (“ETHS”).  She was honored by the Mayor of Chicago and the Superintendents of Police and the Board of Education for over 20 years for serving as a role model, visiting and lecturing at schools throughout Chicago. Judge Thomas served as a board member of the Cook County Bar Association, Chairperson of the Illinois Judicial Council, a member of the Illinois Judges Association and the National Bar Association, and Executive Board member of the National Judicial Council, which she served for several years as Chair of the Youth Outreach Committee. She is a life member of the NAACP and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and a member of Second Baptist Church of Evanston.  

                                                                                                                                           

After her retirement, Judge Thomas served as a mediator and arbitrator for the Circuit Court of Cook County, as the Political Action Chair of the Evanston-North Shore NAACP, and Chair of the Unity Scholarship Committee, an Evanston-based umbrella organization whose member organizations provide scholarships to black students.  She also serves as fundraising Chair of the Illinois Judicial Council Foundation, which provides scholarships to law students.  Judge Thomas was inducted into the National Bar Association Hall of Fame in 2017 and the Cook County Bar Association Hall of Fame in 2023. Judge Thomas has two children: Dr. Stacy L. Thomas, a teacher; and Owen L. Thomas, II, a Dallas Firefighter; and three grandchildren: Thomas “Nate” Mosley, a graduate of North Carolina A & T, who is currently serving on the staff of Senator Tammy Duckworth; and the vivacious sisters, Juliana and Chloe Thomas.