Experienced Judge since 2017
Cecilia A. Horan joined the bench in 2017, and presently sits in the General Chancery Division where she hears a wide variety of cases seeking equitable and other relief. She was formerly assigned to the Mortgage Foreclosure/Mechanics Lien section of the Chancery Division, and the First Municipal Division, where she presided over cases involving tort and contract claims, evictions, and traffic matters.
Prior to her judicial service, Judge Horan was a litigation partner at the national law firm of Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP, where she practiced for 20 years. Her law practice mainly involved the defense of individuals and businesses in high-exposure and complex personal injury lawsuits. She was actively involved in firm culture: she was a co-chair of her firm’s mentoring committee in the Chicago office and a co-founder of her firm’s LGBTQ affinity group.
Judge Horan is a member of the Illinois Judges Association (“IJA”), and co-chairs its Media Committee. She is the current president of the Alliance of Illinois Judges (“AIJ”), an association of LGBTQ judges in the Illinois state and federal judiciary. She is also the immediate-past president of LAGBAC, Chicago’s LGBTQ+ Bar Association, one of the largest LGBTQ bar associations in the country. She continues to sit on the organization’s board of directors, and is active on its Mentoring Committee.
As a lawyer and a judge, Judge Horan has organized and presented numerous continuing legal education programs on topics ranging from litigation strategy to the state of the law affecting women and minorities. She regularly teaches judges around the state at the Illinois judiciary’s biennial judicial education conference.
Judge Horan lives in the northern suburbs with her wife and their two children.