Judge Shannon P. O'Malley: Professional Background and Legal Expertise

The Hon. Patrick T. Murphy is a Circuit Judge for the Illinois Circuit Court of Cook County . He was elected to the bench in 2004 and re-elected in 2010 and 2016. Judge Murphy is currently assigned to the Child Protection Division.

Murphy earned a Bachelor’s degree in History from Loyola University Chicago. He completed his J.D. at the Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law in 1964 and was admitted to the Illinois in 1965.

After graduating from law school, Murphy began his legal career as an Assistant State’s Attorney in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office. He served in that capacity for two years, eventually leaving to volunteer for the United States Peace Corps. He was sent to Somalia where he worked as a legal assistant to the Minister of Justice and then as an adviser to the national police force. He returned in 1967 and spent the next several years working as a staff attorney for the National Legal Aid & Defender Association and the Legal Assistance Foundation.

In 1978, he was appointed Public Guardian for the Office of the Cook County Public Guardian, where he assisted neglected and abused children and elders. In 1987 the public guardian was given the additional responsibility of representing abused and neglected children in the Juvenile Justice Division of the Circuit Court.

He is a registered Democrat.