Honorable Thomas R. Mulroy

“ Mr. Mulroy is an accomplished lawyer and has written and lectured extensively in the areas of trial practice and procedure.
Mr. Mulroy is uniformly well regarded for his integrity, legal knowledge, trial skills and outstanding demeanor”

- The Chicago Bar Association


Thomas R. Mulroy
Chancery Division
Richard J. Daley Center
Chicago, Illinois 60602

“Highly Qualified”
- Chicago Bar Association
- Women’s Bar Association
- Chicago Council of Lawyers
- Decalogue Society of Lawyers 

Associate Judge, Circuit Court of Cook County (2007- ); Partner, McGuireWoods (2003 – 2007); founded own firm (2001 – 2003); Partner, Jenner & Block (1976 – 2001); Assistant United States Attorney, Northern District of Illinois (1972 – 1976)

Biography

Judge Mulroy began his career as a lawyer in 1973 when he was appointed an Assistant United States Attorney in Chicago. Thereafter, he joined Jenner & Block where he was a partner until 2001. He was a commercial trial lawyer with a national practice representing corporations and individuals in jury trials involving anti-trust, securities, contracts, appeals, criminal defense and intellectual property matters. He has been active in writing and teaching in the areas of trial practice and procedure, ethics, expert witnesses, mock jury focus groups and evidence. He went on the bench in 2007.

Judge Mulroy is assigned to the Chancery Division, Circuit Court of Cook County in Chicago.

Professional Activities

  • Special Counsel, Attorney Registration & Disciplinary Commission (1990); Chairman, Chicago Bar Association Judicial Evaluation Appellate Review Panel; Chairman, American Bar Association’s Civil Procedure & Evidence Committee; Member, Loyola University School of Law, Trial Practice Advisory Board; Member, Illinois Attorney Registration & Disciplinary Commission, Investigation and Appellate Panels (1976 – 1989)
  • Board of Directors Legal Assistance Foundation (1989-1991); Board of Directors Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education (19871991); Board of Directors Illinois Bar Foundation (1996-1998)
  • Fellow, American College of Trial Lawyers
  • American Bar Association: Chairman, Civil Procedure & Evidence Committee; Chicago Bar Association: member Committee on Evaluation of Judicial Candidates (1981-1985); Committee to Evaluate Federal Judges (1989)
  • Adjunct Professor of Law, trial practice, Loyola University (1983-2001); Northwestern University (1979-1983; 19851987) and DePaul University (1986; 1987; 1989); Lecturer: Northwestern School of Law "Scientific Evidence" (1996-1998); Instructor: International Trademark Association Trial Advocacy Workshop (2000); “How to Prepare Your Case for Trial” National CLE Seminar (1999-2001)

Publications

  • ”Use of Experts in Product Liability Cases,” Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education (2006)
  • “A Suggested Rule for Electronic Discovery,” DePaul Business & Commercial Law Journal (2004)
  • "Illinois Not-For-Profit Corporation Act, A Review" (2002)
  • "The Internal Corporate Investigation," 1 DePaul Business Law Journal (2002)
  • "Negligence and Warranty Theories of Liability," Illinois Product Liability Practice, Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education (1999)
  • "The Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission: Its Structure Operation and Limitations," Loyola Law Journal (1998)
  • "The Attorney and the Testifying Expert," CBA Record (January 1996)
  • "The Key Issues Relating to the Discoverability of Computerized Trial Preparations and Ways for Attorneys to Protect Themselves," Trial Diplomacy Journal (MayJune 1996; American Journal of Family Law (Summer 1996)
  • Editor: "Annotated Guide to the Rules of Professional Conduct," Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education (1991)
  • "Use of Real and Demonstrative Evidence at Trial," 33 Trial Law Guide (1990)
  • "The Use of Hearsay in Illinois Administrative Proceedings," Illinois Bar Journal (1989)
  • "Trial Techniques: A Discussion of Summary Jury Trials and the Use of Mock Juries," Winter Ed. Tort & Insurance Law Journal (1989)

Trial Lawyer, Law Firm Partner Mulroy Opts for Bench
By Stephen Anderson
Illinois Bar Journal Febuary 2007

It is a rare day in Chicago when a distinguished trial lawyer and major law firm partner opts out of practice and into a seat on the bench. Monday, Feb. 26, was one of those days.

“I always wanted to be a judge,” Thomas R. Mulroy Jr. told colleagues who gathered that evening at a reception on the 51st floor of the building where he was a partner in McGuireWoods for the past four years.

He had been sworn in earlier as a circuit judge by his friend, Supreme Court Justice Thomas R. Fitzgerald.

Amid the tributes given Mulroy at the reception were some judicial tips from Chief Judge James F. Holdermann of U.S. District Court.

“Take your coat off before you put on the robe,” Holderman advised, “and learn how to speak sitting down” – not an easy accomplishment for a longtime barrister.

Distinguished lawyering runs in the Mulroy family. His father, Thomas R. Mulroy, was senior counsel of Hopkins & Sutter and president of the 7th Circuit Bar Association and Chicago Crime Commission.

His son, Thomas R. Mulroy III, a trial lawyer at Hinshaw & Culbertson, last year was picked by Law Bulletin Publishing Co. as “One of 40 Illinois Lawyers Under 40 to Watch.”

In the 35 years since he graduated from the Loyola University School of Law, Thomas Mulroy Jr. already has had more trial court experience than many judges.

An assistant U.S. attorney for the first four years, he joined Jenner & Block in 1976 and handled such complex cases as In Re Chicago Flood Litigation. He also chaired the firm's Intellectual Property Department and finance committee.

He ran his own law firm from 2001 until he joined McGuireWoods in 2003 as head of the litigation practice.

Mulroy has tried 60 jury trials in federal and state courts in Illinois, Iowa, Missouri and eight other states, including California. Issues ranged from the environment to patent infringement, products liability and white collar criminal defense.

But Mulroy always found time to share his legal acumen in leadership roles with the not-for-profit sector, including two years each as a member of the Illinois Bar Foundation board and the Legal Assistance Foundation board.

An Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission panel member from 1976 to 1989, he was special counsel to the ARDC in 1990. He chaired the American Bar Association Civil Procedure and Evidence Committee and served on Loyola's Trial Practice Advisory Board.

Mulroy has been an adjunct professor of trial practice at Loyola since 1983, and he also has taught at the Northwestern University School of Law and DePaul University College of Law.

In 2005, he created a Thomas R. Mulroy Prize for Excellence in Appellate Advocacy at Loyola that is awarded each spring to an outstanding student in evidence sections.

As a judge, Mulroy will have to curtail most of his pro bono activity, but the bench has gained a jurist with vast experience in diverse areas of the law. Whatever his assignment, litigants will find a judge who listens carefully, understands the issues and rules fairly.

Judge Thomas R. Mulroy
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