Retired Chief Circuit Judge Beth Robb knew she wanted to be a lawyer as early as junior high school in Macomb. It wasn't easy. She went to Illinois Wesleyan University and on to law school, then came back to Bloomington-Normal and couldn’t get a job.
“There were lots of sons and daughters of lawyers also coming back,” said Robb.
So, she taught business law, economics, and finance at Illinois State University before starting a small private practice. Robb’s entry into the public sphere started with a part-time job as an associate public defender, right out of law school. She was assigned to the juvenile division. It was a rough start.
"I didn't know anything about juvenile law. About two days after I was hired, I was representing some 13-year-old who was charged with shoplifting, and we were in a trial. He was telling me what to do," laughed Robb.
Robb said she wasn't a social work major, so she learned on the job. She went to meet all the social service agencies, DCFS, and the juvenile probation office just to try to figure out what services were available to kids and families.
When Robb started practicing law there were only five women attorneys in Bloomington-Normal. It was a challenge she accepted.
"Well, you're called a 'little lady' in court ... yeah!" said Robb.
And going to a smaller county or a county that didn't have any women lawyers was "extremely hard" to do.
"Nobody tells you what the rules are. In one county south of here everybody took Thursday afternoons off to play golf together: the doctors, the lawyers, the bankers, the judge. I didn't know that. I kept trying to schedule things on a Thursday afternoon and it never happened, and I didn't know why because I wasn't a part of that group," said Robb.
Breaking in took time.
"The way I did it was to just be persistent and be polite and stand your ground. And you're prepared and you do your work and reputation is developed," said Robb.
She also found ways to take on certain types of cases that others may not have wanted. She got a lot of clients who were women who wanted divorces. They felt they could talk to her easier than they could talk to a male attorney. She did a lot of real estate and in the early '80s the market was booming. And she built her own network.
"And a lot of Realtors were women and there were several women Realtors who funneled me all kinds of business because I was a woman. They told people in their offices if someone needs a real estate closing you give it to Beth Robb," said Robb.
Now, women make up close to a majority of the McLean County Bar, said retired Chief Circuit Judge John Freese. It’s a long way from the "patronizing" male lawyer behavior of the 1970s and ‘80s.
“There was probably a sense of superiority some male attorneys felt over the female attorneys. I think they were treated differently than their male colleagues. Fortunately, that has changed substantially in McLean County, and Beth should get credit for helping change that,” said Freese.
Robb became the first woman judge and chief judge in the 11th Judicial Circuit. Now there are five women judges in the circuit out of 20 judges. Freese mused that change within a career path percolates into the broader community.
“I think women who succeed in any profession benefit the total community on a couple of levels. They become role models for young women who see women doing well. I also think they help individuals who may have been reluctant to see those changes occur to realize the value of the changes,” said Freese.
A common career track to judge is a stint in private practice, more time as a prosecutor or chief prosecutor, an appointment as an associate judge, and then an election to a full circuit judge’s seat. Robb was never a prosecutor. And she says her early experience as a public defender and in juvenile cases shaped her.
"When you have a chance to really sit down with the kids and with their families and learn about their circumstances and the things they don't have in their lives, it gives you a better understanding of what they face in court," said Robb.
Problem-solving courts
As judge, Robb fought for better domestic violence training and better coordination of services. She started the first drug court in McLean County.
According to Freese, the problem-solving courts have had a notable impact on the system.
"Individuals can really focus their attention on the offender and the issues the offender needs assistance with," said Freese.
And that subject-matter expertise tends to humanize a legal structure built to move cases through.
"The more knowledge one has about a particular illness or a particular issue that brings them before the criminal justice system necessarily means that you become more skillful at understanding how you attempt to impact that in a positive way," said Freese.
It helps hold people accountable without being punitive because a judge may see a person more often and have more personal interaction than they do in a general courtroom.
"The defendant understands the judge's expectations. The judge is saying to them many times, 'I'll see you next week and within this next week I expect you to do A, B, and C.' And next week the defendant comes before the judge either having done A, B, and C or not, and there's that interchange that takes place," said Freese.
As an associate judge Robb led the first incarnation of the Family Violence Coordinating Council in the circuit, a body designed to representatives from all the pieces of the system that deal with such cases talking with each other.
Becoming chief judge
Freese was one of the judges that picked Robb for an associate judge’s post in 1993. And when he retired as chief judge, Robb succeeded him. It’s not an easy job. You manage your own cases and assign the loads for the other judges in the five-county circuit. And when there is a public issue, a chief judge is the person tapped to respond.
"I think the personality of the individual doing that dance is critical. And one thing to keep in mind, you become chief judge because you are elected by a majority of your colleagues and it's safe to say one does not become chief judge without being able to build relationships with your colleagues and be trusted by your colleagues," said Freese.
Robb was elected chief five straight times, among the longest tenures of chief judges in the circuit, he said. That's a long way from the days of "little lady."
As chief judge, Robb continued to emphasize interagency communication through the Behavioral Health Coordinating Council, the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, and a Family Violence Coordinating Council.
"The collaborative nature of our county was initiated by other judges, Judge Freese in particular when he was chief judge, but I certainly found value in that, and really appreciated the opportunity to put that out there and work on that," said Robb.
Those councils made a difference, creating training for the first time in many areas.
"It was always a struggle because there wasn't enough funding. And those were uphill battles too," said Robb.
Training is not a one and done thing because of turnover in the system. She also said it was hard to get people to understand the dynamics of family violence and accept that reality.
"Why does a woman stay with a man who beats her? Why doesn't she leave? Why does she go back? Why do children like parents, love parents, who beat them, who abuse them, who neglect them? Just that dynamic right there," said Robb.
Since then, the culture has changed to view abused women differently. Federal dollars have come to states. Education has worked, said Robb.
Statewide, she was involved for a lot of years in starting those councils in a lot of circuits. She chaired the Conference of Chief Judges. She started a pilot project that brought cameras and microphones into McLean County courtrooms and served as an example to other circuits.
Even after she retired from the bench Robb has stayed on a couple state supreme court committees, including Justice and Mental Health Planning, which develops standards and certification processes for all problem-solving courts in Illinois. She has chaired the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority, a statewide agency. She has served on the Commission on Criminal Justice Sentencing Reform.
"She's made her mark beyond McLean County," said Freese.
