Justice Joy V. Cunningham and the Illinois Supreme Court have announced the appointment of Ginger Leigh Odom as a Judge in the First Subcircuit of the Circuit Court of Cook County.
Ms. Odom is being appointed to fill the vacancy created by the election of Justice Carl A. Walker to the First District Appellate Court. Ms. Odom’s appointment is effective June 23, 2025, and will conclude on December 7, 2026.
Ms. Odom has worked at the Office of the State Appellate Defender (OSAD) for over 20 years. She began as an Assistant Appellate Defender in 2004, representing indigent criminal defendants in direct appeals and participating in oral arguments before Illinois Appellate Courts and the Illinois Supreme Court. In 2020 she was named as Director of the Expungement Unit, overseeing all aspects of OSAD’s Expungement Program which allows people with qualifying arrests and convictions to petition the court of their sentencing county to expunge or seal their records. Ms. Odom additionally serves on the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Access to Justice where she is a member of the Forms Committee.
Ms. Odom earned her Bachelor of Arts from Adelphi University and earned her Juris Doctor from the Chicago-Kent College of Law. Since 2015 she has served as an adjunct law professor teaching criminal procedure at the DePaul University College of Law.
Her professional affiliations include the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois, the Lesbian and Gay Bar Association of Chicago, the Illinois Prosecutors Bar Association, the Decalogue Society of Lawyers, the Nordic Lawyers Association, and the Appellate Lawyers Association, where she is a Board Member.