Kane County 16th Judicial Circuit Selects new Chief Judge

The Circuit Judges of the 16th Judicial Circuit have announced the election of Robert K. Villa as Chief Judge effective Monday, December 4th, 2023. He replaces current Chief Judge Clint Hull, whose term expires this year.

Judge Villa is a graduate of the University of Illinois, Urbana (LAS '92) and the DePaul College of Law ('95). From 1995-1998, Judge Villa served in the Illinois Attorney General's Criminal Appeals Division as lead counsel on appeals involving statutory and constitutional issues before the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, the Supreme and Appellate Courts of Illinois and the United States District Courts of Illinois.

After leaving government service, Judge Villa was a litigation partner in the Chicago offices of Dykema Gossett PLLC and in 2007, he founded the Villa Law Firm, LLC in St. Charles, which became Griffin/Villa/Williams LLP in 2011. Judge Villa was appointed to the position of Associate Judge in April, 2013.

On December 17, 2018, the Illinois Supreme Court appointed Judge Villa to the position of Circuit Judge. He was later elected as Circuit Judge of the Sixteenth Circuit, Third Sub-circuit in November of 2020.

He has presided over all manner of civil and criminal cases, recently serving as the Presiding Judge of the Misdemeanor/Traffic Division. In 2021, Judge Villa was assigned to the Civil Law Division where he will continue to preside until his Chief Judge term begins.