Devine Celebrates African-American Heritage Month with Annual C.F. Stradford Awards

Cook County State's Attorney Richard A. Devine will present two distinguished members of the judiciary, Judge Curtis Heaston, Presiding Judge of Juvenile Justice in Cook County and Justice Shelvin Louise Marie Hall, of the Illinois Appellate Court, with the annual C.F.Stradford Awards. The ceremony will take place at 5:30 p.m. on February 23rd, at The Little Black Pearl and Design Center, 1060 E. 47th Street, in historic Bronzeville.

Judge Heaston was appointed as an associate judge in 1986. He served first in the Juvenile Division until he was elected a circuit judge in 1988, assigned to the County Division for ten years. In 1998, Heaston was assigned to the housing section of the First Municipal District, where he served as chairperson of the Court Housing Court Reorganization Subcommittee. Judge Heaston is a former chair of the Illinois Judicial Conference's Study Committee on Juvenile Justice and a member of the Board of Directors of the Center Foundation, which provides services and housing for disabled minors and adults.

"Judge Heaston has a strong judicial background with twenty years of serving on the bench. He has restructured the juvenile justice system into one of the finest and most respected courts in Illinois, " Devine said.

Fellow award recipient Justice Shelvin Louise Marie Hall received civil rights law training from the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in Houston, Texas, where she and four others formed the first all black, all female law firm in the country. The Illinois Supreme Court appointed Hall to the bench in 1991. In 1995, Judge Hall joined the Law Division, presiding over civil jury trials. She was then elected to a full 10-year term on the Illinois Appellate Court in 2000. Judge Hall has served numerous committees and community organizations. She was the first woman judge on the Executive Committee of the Illinois Judicial Conference and served on the Education Committee. Judge Hall and her sister Pricilla, a Justice of the New York State Supreme Court, are the nation's first African-American sister judges.

"Justice Hall is dedicated to serving justice where there is injustice," Devine said. "She demonstrates strong leadership both in the courtroom and in the community. "

In conjunction with the Stradford Awards, two local students are given $1,000 scholarships donated by State Farm Insurance. This year's student scholarship winners are Jacqueline Rome and Andrea Lynch. C.F. Stradford was a pioneering civil rights attorney and one of the founders of the National Bar Association. The awards ceremony is held in commemoration of African-American Heritage Month and honors African-Americans in the legal field who are outstanding professionals and citizens.

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