This is a list of the first minority male lawyer(s) and judge(s) in Illinois. It includes the year in which the men were admitted to practice law (in parentheses). Also included are other distinctions such as the first minority men in their state to graduate from law school or become a political figure.
Firsts in state history
Lawyers
Lloyd Garrison Wheeler (1869): First African American male admitted to the Illinois State Bar. However, he relocated soon after to Arkansas. Antonio Rosas Sarabia (1950): First Mexican American male lawyer in Illinois Theodore "Ted" Burtzos: First deaf male lawyer to argue a case before a jury in Illinois
State judges
Albert B. George: First African American male judge in Illinois (1924) David Cerda: First Latino American male judge in Illinois (1965) and serve on the Illinois Appellate Court (1989) George N. Leighton (1947): First African American male to serve on the First District Appellate Court in Illinois (1969) Charles E. Freeman (1962): First African American male to serve on the Illinois Supreme Court (1990) and serve as its Chief Justice F. Keith Brown (1981): First African American male judge to serve as a Chief Judge in the Sixteenth Judicial District Court (Kane County, Illinois; 1991) Thomas R. Chiola (1974): First openly LGBT male judge in Illinois (1994) Sebastian Patti: First openly LGBT male to serve as an appellate court judge in Illinois (1995) Theodore "Ted" Burtzos: First deaf male judge in Illinois (1995) Kenneth Moy: First Asian American male judge in Illinois (1996) Israel Desierto: First Filipino American male judge in Illinois (2005) Jesse Reyes (1982): First Latino American male elected as a Judge of the Illinois Appellate Court (2012) Rouhy J. Shalabi: First Palestinian American and Muslim American judge in Illinois (2020) Sanjay Tailor: First Asian American male to serve as a presiding judge in Illinois (2021)
Federal judges
James Benton Parsons (1949): First African American male to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (1961) Alexander J. Napoli: First Italian American male to serve on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (1966) Joe Billy McDade (1963): First African American male to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois (1991) Ruben Castillo (1979): First Latino American male to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (1994) Manuel Barbosa: First Hispanic American male bankruptcy judge to serve in the U.S. Northern District of Illinois (1998) Samuel Der-Yeghiayan (1978): First Armenian immigrant male to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (2003) Edmond E. Chang: First Asian American (male) to serve on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (2011) James Shadid: First Arab American male to serve on the United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois (2011) John Z. Lee (1992): First Korean American male to serve on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (2012) Manish S. Shah (1998): First Indian American male to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (2014) Sunil R. Harjani: First South Asian male to serve as a Magistrate Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (2019) Franklin U. Valderrama: First Panamanian American male to serve as a Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (2020)
Attorney General
Roland Burris (1963): First African American male elected as the Attorney General of Illinois (1991-1995)
Assistant Attorney General
James G. Gotter: First African American male to serve as the Assistant Attorney General of Illinois (1917)
United States Attorney
Gregory K. Harris: First African American male to serve as the United States Attorney for the Central District of Illinois (2021)
State's Attorney
James R. Burgess, Jr.: First African American male to serve as the State's Attorney in Illinois (1972)
Assistant State's Attorney
Ferdinand Lee Barnett: First African American male to serve as an Assistant State's Attorney in Illinois (1896)
Bar Association
Lawrence X. Pusateri: First Italian American male to serve as the President of the Illinois State Bar Association (1975) Vincent Cornelius: First African American male to serve as the Illinois State Bar Association (2016)