An attorney specializing in family law has been named an associate judge of the McLean County Circuit Court.
Amy L. McFarland is currently in private practice with Bloomington Legal Services, a firm that handles divorce, child custody and child support cases. McFarland has also worked as a mediator in family cases and as a court-appointed parenting coordinator.
She fills an associate judgeship previously held by Mark Fellheimer, who was named a full Circuit judge following the retirement last December of Judge Charles Reynard, who had been chief of the court's family law division. Reynard praised McFarland's appointment.
"It's my hope that she'll be a resource, whether she's assigned to the family division or not, she'll be a resource to whoever is in the family division to continue many of the great programs that have been started," Reynard said.
McFarland's appointment brings to four the number of women on the 11th Judicial Circuit, out of 20 judges. There had been only three women on the court since the retirement in 2014 of former Chief Judge Elizabeth Robb.
Reynard said more women are needed on the bench. "There is no litmus test, no gender litmus test, there is not question about that. But it is helpful to have more women on the court and we have been behind that curve for a considerable amount of time," Reynard said.
McFarland is a 1996 graduate of Illinois State University and received her law degree in 1999 from the University of Denver.