District Judge LaShonda A. Hunt was appointed to the Northern District of Illinois by President Joseph R. Biden in 2023.
Judge Hunt is a native of Chicago who grew up in public housing and attended Chicago public schools. After law school, she worked as an associate at Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP from 1995 to 1998, then as a staff attorney for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit from 1998 to 2001. She clerked for Judge William J. Hibbler on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois from 2001 to 2003. She served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Northern District of Illinois from 2003 to 2005 and again from 2010 to 2015. She was Assistant General Counsel at Exelon Company from 2007 to 2009 and Regulatory Outreach Manager at ComEd from 2009 to 2010. She served as General Counsel for the Illinois Department of Central Management Services in 2016 and Chief Legal Counsel for the Illinois Department of Corrections from 2015 to 2016. She was a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Northern District of Illinois from 2017 to 2023 before being elevated to district judge.
Education
- University of Michigan Law School, J.D., 1995
- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, B.S., 1992
Career
- U.S. Bankruptcy Judge, Northern District of Illinois (2017–2023)
- General Counsel, Illinois Department of Central Management Services (2016)
- Chief Legal Counsel, Illinois Department of Corrections (2015–2016)
- Assistant U.S. Attorney, Northern District of Illinois (2003–2005, 2010–2015)
- Regulatory Outreach Manager, ComEd/Exelon (2009–2010)
- Assistant General Counsel, Exelon Company (2007–2009)
- Law Clerk, Hon. William J. Hibbler, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois (2001–2003)
- Staff Attorney, U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit (1998–2001)
- Associate, Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP (1995–1998)