Robert C. (R.C.) Bollinger was born in 1971 and is a long-time resident of Macon County. He graduated from Illinois State University, cum laude in 1993 and Southern Illinois University School of Law, magna cum laude in 1996. He is a former Editor-In-Chief of the SIU Law Journal and wrote for the Journal of Legal Medicine.
Justice Bollinger was a partner in a general practice law firm in Decatur for 12 years before being appointed Associate Circuit Judge of the Sixth Judicial Circuit in 2008. Justice Bollinger was elected to the office of Resident Circuit Judge of Macon County in 2014 and retained to that office in 2020. The Illinois Supreme Court assigned him as a Justice of the Fifth District Appellate Court in September 2025.
Justice Bollinger is a past President of the Decatur Bar Association and former two -term Director of the Illinois Judges Association. He has been extensively involved in Illinois judicial education, having taught new and experienced judges throughout Illinois at various educational conferences and seminars. He served as Chair of the Illinois Civil Law Benchbook, Chair of the Illinois Supreme Court’s Committee on Judicial Education and currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the Illinois Supreme Court’s Judicial College.
Justice Bollinger also served as a director on various non-profit boards, primarily focused on child welfare. Justice Bollinger and his wife Jennifer were married in 1995 and have four children.