Aurelia Pucinski

Aurelia Marie Pucinski (born April 29, 1947) is a judge on the Illinois Appellate Court for the First District. She previously served as a trial judge and clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County. Her second term expires in 2030.

Early life Born Aurelia Marie Pucinski in Chicago, Illinois, she was named for her paternal grandmother. Her mother was Aurelia Bordin Pucinski. Her father, Roman Pucinski, was a U.S. Congressman from Illinois's 11th congressional district (1959-1973) during her childhood and youth. After his defeat in the nationwide 1972 Republican landslide, he represented the 41st Ward on the Chicago Alderman from 1973 until 1991. Aurelia Pucinski graduated from Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. in 1968 with a B.A. in History. She then taught at a grammar school in Skokie, Illinois. She decided to become a lawyer, enrolled at the DePaul University College of Law in Chicago, and received a J.D. degree from DePaul in 1975.

Career After beginning her career in a neighborhood law office (1977-1980), Pucinski followed her father's lead into Democratic party politics. One of her first public efforts was representing citizens who sued the Chicago Board of Education to keep a local school open. She also served as an assistant corporation counsel for the City of Chicago and as regional counsel for the U.S. Small Business Administration. She would win reelection to two additional terms in 1992 and 1996. As Circuit Court Clerk, Pucinski became Cook County's first official to institute a code of ethics and internal ethics board, as well as led the office into the 21st century by adopting new technology to improve efficiency and respond to law enforcement, attorneys and all citizens, including greatly improving processing of child support payments.

In December 1997, Pucinski switched parties to the Republican Party to run as that party's nominee for President Cook County Board of Commissioners in the 1998 election, in which she lost to Stroger in the general election.

Pucinski did not seek reelection as clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County in 2000, and Democrat Dorothy A. Brown was elected to succeed her.

Judiciary In August 2002, Governor George Ryan appointed Pucinski to head the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. Ryan would later reassign Pucinski to the Illinois Environmental Regulatory and Review Commission. In the 2002 general election, Pucinski ran for the a judgeship in the First District of the Illinois Appellate Court. Democratic candidate James Fitzgerald Smith defeated Pucinski by a sixteen point margin (58%-42%).

In 2004, she rejoined the Democrats and became a judge on the Cook County Circuit Court. As a trial judge, Pucinski helped handle more than 10,000 domestic violence cases (including against the elderly), and later was assigned to hear adoption, election, property tax and mental health cases.

Pucinski ran for the Democratic nomination for Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court in 2012, but Judge Mary Jane Theis won that seat, so Pucinski continued on the intermediate appellate court. Civil rights groups, including Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts, report she has criticized judicial campaign financing.

In 2020, she succeeded in her first retention election for the Illinois appellate court.

Personal life Pucinski is divorced and has three children.