Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez honors Illinois Appellate Court Justice Bertina E. Lampkin and Justice Sharon Johnson Coleman with the C.F. Stradford Award, given during the 20th Annual C.F. Stradford Awards Ceremony.
Justice Bertina E. Lampkin is currently serving as a judge on the Illinois First District Appellate Court of the Third Division. Justice Lampkin was initially appointed to the appellate court in 2009, until she moved to the Sixth Division, and finally to the Third Division on February 3, 2014. She successfully ran for retention to the Cook Judicial Circuit Court in 2016, for a term from December 5, 2016, to December 6, 2026.
Earning her bachelor’s degree from the Roosevelt University, Justice Bertina Lampkin subsequently received her Juris Doctorate from the DePaul University College of Law. She began her legal career as an Assistant State’s Attorney of the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office from 1974 to 1985. Justice Lampkin later became Assistant Corporate Counsel of the City of Chicago from 1985 to 1987.
Prior to being Judge of the Illinois Appellate Court in 2009, Justice Lampkin was first an Associate Judge of the Illinois Circuit Court from 1987 to 1992, and then a Judge of the Illinois Circuit Court from 1992 to 2009, serving as a supervisor of the Domestic Violence Courts and of the Criminal Division.
Justice Sharon Johnson Coleman is a judge on the Illinois Appellate Court since 2008. Judge Coleman began her legal career as an Assistant State’s Attorney at the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office from 1984 to 1989 and then joining the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois from 1989 to 1993. Later on, Justice Coleman returned and joined the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office as a Deputy State’s Attorney and Bureau Chief from 1993 to 1996, until she was elected as the judge of the Illinois Circuit Court from 1996 to 2008, where she served in the Child Protection Division and the Law Division.
Justice Coleman earned her bachelor’s degree from the Northern Illinois University and subsequently received her Juris Doctorate from the Washington University School of Law.
During the C.F. Stradford Awards Ceremony, two local students were given scholarship grants amounting to $1,000 donated by the State Farm Insurance. The grants were bestowed upon Elizabeth Brent – a 2009 graduate of the Mother McAuley High School and an undergraduate of the University of Illinois in Champaign – and Ghaffar Ghenro – a 2099 graduate of ACE Tech Charter High School, and an undergraduate of the Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois.
The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office recognizes eminent attorneys and judges of the African-American Community by granting outstanding professionals and citizens the C.F. Stradford Award. The aforementioned award is given in honor of Cornelius Francis Stradford – a pioneering civil rights attorney of the African-American Community, and a co-founder of the National Bar Association and the Cook County Bar Association. The C.F. Stradford Awards Ceremony is held in commemoration of the African-American Heritage Month.
Updated: August 17, 2020