 The luncheon is an annual event hosted by the Logan Bar Association
as part of a nationwide celebration of Law Day, which was
established by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1958, said Blinn
Bates, president of the local bar group and attorney with the
Lincoln firm of Woods & Bates.This year's theme for Law Day, as
designated by the American Bar Association, is "No Courts, No
Justice, No Freedom."
The luncheon at the college will be in the Alumni Room of the
Meyer-Evans Student Center and begins at noon.
Garman has served on the courts of Illinois for almost 40 years
and has sat on the Illinois Supreme Court since 2001. She was first
selected as an associate judge for the 5th Judicial Circuit in 1974
and served in that position until 1986. She was elected a circuit
court judge in 1986 and served until 1995, when she was assigned to
the appellate court from the 4th Judicial District. She was elected
to the appellate court in 1996, appointed to the Supreme Court in
2001 and elected to the Supreme Court in 2002.
Throughout her judicial career, Garman has played a prominent
role in Illinois judicial education. She has served as faculty at
numerous seminars and programs for Illinois judges and has been a
member and chair of the Education Committee of the Illinois Judicial
Conference, which drafted the "Comprehensive Judicial Education
Plan" for Illinois judges and which sets the curriculum for Illinois
judges each year.
Garman serves as liaison to several Supreme Court committees. One
of them is the Committee on Child Custody Cases. She was
instrumental in the establishment of that committee by the Supreme
Court in 2002, and it has resulted in several reforms to ensure that
custody cases, adoption and related matters be expedited when a
child's welfare is at stake. Another is the Judicial Performance
Evaluation Committee. She also serves as co-liaison to the Illinois
Historic Preservation Commission, with Justice Anne M. Burke. The
commission is co-sponsoring several statewide events this year
regarding Mary Todd Lincoln, wife of President Abraham Lincoln,
including a retrial of her insanity commitment. More information on
those events is available at
www.wasmarylincolncrazy.com.
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Garman is a member of the Vermilion County, Illinois State Bar
Association, Iowa Bar Association and the Illinois Judges'
Association.
She received her bachelor's degree in economics with highest
honors from the University of Illinois in 1965 and was named to the
University of Illinois' Bronze Tablet. She was one of a handful of
women in the University of Iowa College of Law, where she received
her Juris Doctor degree with distinction in 1968.
Following graduation from law school, Garman began her legal
career serving indigent clients with the Legal Aid Society. She
later worked as Vermilion County assistant state's attorney, and was
in private practice for a year before becoming an associate judge.
[Text from file received from the
Illinois Supreme Court]
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