Sangamon County judge assigned to Fourth District Appellate Court

Justice Lisa Holder White and the Illinois Supreme Court announced on Thursday the assignment of Seventh Circuit Judge Raylene DeWitte Grischow to the Fourth District Appellate Court.

“Judge Raylene DeWitte Grischow will make an outstanding addition to the Appellate Court,” Holder White said in a press release. “She is an accomplished, hardworking, community-minded person who maintains the highest ethical standards. I am confident she will thrive at the appellate level.”

Grischow is being assigned to fill the vacancy created by the pending retirement of Justice John W. Turner on July 5. The assignment of Grischow is effective July 8.

Grischow was appointed to the bench as a resident circuit judge in the Seventh Circuit for Sangamon County in 2019 and elected in 2020. Her assignments were the felony division and complex civil litigation, as well as overseeing the veteran’s treatment specialty court.

Before joining the bench, she was a partner at Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP, where she worked from 2002 to 2018. She served as one of the business development leaders for the firm’s government practice group and as a network coordinator for the firm’s women attorneys network.

Grischow earned her bachelor’s degree from Illinois State University and her Juris Doctor from the Washington University School of Law.

“I want to thank Justice Lisa Holder White and the Supreme Court for having confidence in me and providing me with this amazing opportunity,” Grischow said. “I am excited to embrace this new position and work with the esteemed justices of the Fourth District Appellate Court.”

She has professional affiliations with the Illinois Judges Association, the Central Illinois Women’s Bar Association (for which she was a two-term past president) and the Sangamon County Bar Association (for which she was a past president). She previously served as the vice-chairperson of the Illinois Supreme Court’s Committee on Professional Responsibility.

The Fourth District Appellate Court is composed of 41 counties in central and western Illinois: Adams, Boone, Brown, Calhoun, Carroll, Cass, Ford, Fulton, Greene, Hancock, Henderson, Henry, Jersey, Jo Daviess, Knox, Lee, Livingston, Logan, Macoupin, Marshall, Mason, McDonough, McLean, Menard, Mercer, Morgan, Ogle, Peoria, Pike, Putnam, Rock Island, Sangamon, Schuyler, Scott, Stark, Stephenson, Tazewell, Warren, Whiteside, Winnebago and Woodford.