The Hon. LaShonda A. Hunt

LaShonda A. Hunt was appointed a United States District Judge for the Northern District of Illinois on May 26, 2023.  She previously served as a United States Bankruptcy Judge for six years.  Prior to her judicial service, Judge Hunt held positions as General Counsel of the Illinois Department of Central Management Services, Chief Legal Counsel of the Illinois Department of Corrections, and Assistant United States Attorney in the Northern District of Illinois.

Judge Hunt began her legal career as a litigation associate at a national law firm, followed by service as a Staff Attorney for the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, and a clerkship with the Honorable William J. Hibbler of the Northern District of Illinois.  She also worked in-house in the utility industry overseeing commercial litigation and bankruptcy matters, and, later, transitioned to regulatory affairs. 

Judge Hunt is an active member of the Black Women Lawyers’ Association of Greater Chicago, Inc.  She served as President in 2015, Vice-President in 2014, and Board Member at Large in 2013.  She has also been active in the Chicago Bar Association, as a member of the Board of Managers (2018-2020), and is a current member of the Board of Directors of its charitable arm, the Chicago Bar Foundation.

Judge Hunt is a Leadership Greater Chicago Fellow (Class of 2013).  She served on the board of Just the Beginning, a pipeline organization, and chaired Youth Programs for the 2012 Biennial Conference.  In addition, she previously oversaw the JTBF Schools Project and was responsible for developing and implementing a national Summer Legal Institute for underrepresented high school students interested in legal careers.  Judge Hunt is actively involved with the Public Interest Law Initiative (PILI) and a frequent speaker at PILI events as well as a mentor to many law students.  She received the PILI Distinguished Alumni Award in 2007 and was a 2006 honoree in the Law Bulletin’s “40 Illinois Attorneys Under Forty to Watch.”  

Judge Hunt was appointed by the Chief Justice to a three-year term (2020-2023) on the Federal Judicial Center's Bankruptcy Judge Education Advisory Committee.

Judge Hunt received her JD from the University of Michigan Law School and her BS from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.