Judge since: 1988

A previous version of the guide said Judge Dickler has been a judge since 1998. She has been a judge since 1988. Injustice Watch regrets the error.

Prior to joining the bench, Dickler worked at legal aid, human rights, and immigration organizations. She was an administrative law judge for the Illinois Human Rights Commission and a federal immigration judge before becoming an associate judge in 1988. She was among the first to hear divorce and child support cases in the Second Municipal District in Skokie. She later won election as a circuit judge in 2006. In 2012, Dickler was named co-chair of the Illinois Supreme Court Access to Justice Commission Language Access Committee. Dickler has received several awards related to access to justice.

Bar Association ratings

This year: The CCL rated Dickler highly qualified, noting her dedication to bringing about systemic reforms in addition to her knowledge, fairness, and good temperament. The CBA rated her qualified and the ISBA recommended her for retention.

Past: In 2012, both the CBA and ISBA rated Judge Dickler as qualified. The CCL rated her “well qualified,” praising not only her administrative skills but also her reform efforts in running “a reportedly successful program through which lawyers volunteer to do emergency orders of protection for indigent persons.”

Notable: As presiding judge, Dickler has been involved in several significant changes Cook County’s Domestic Relations courts, notably the consolidation last year of divorce and parentage calls so that judges in the division hear both kinds of cases rather than one or the other. The change was made to treat the children of married and unmarried parents the same way, Dickler said at the time. In 2014 she and Chief Judge Timothy C. Evans instituted a new rule allowing all aspects of a domestic relations case to be mediated. She also began hearing cases involving incarcerated partners or parents using video calls, so prisoners could get divorces or negotiate time with their children.