Eileen O'Neill Burke (born 1965) is an American lawyer, politician, and former judge serving

Cook County State's Attorney The Cook County State's Attorney is the District attorney, chief prosecutor for Cook County, Illinois. The State's Attorney oversees the second-largest prosecutor's office in the United States, with over 600 attorneys and 1,200 employees. The off ...

since 2024. She was previously a justice on the Illinois First District Appellate Court and a judge on the

Circuit Court of Cook County The Circuit Court of Cook County is the largest of the 25 Illinois circuit courts, circuit courts (trial courts of original jurisdiction, original and general jurisdiction) in the judiciary of Illinois as well as one of the largest unified cour ...

. Before that, she worked for a decade as a prosecutor and a criminal defense lawyer.

Early life and education

O'Neill Burke was born and raised in

Northwest Side, Chicago The city of Chicago is divided into 77 community areas for statistical and planning purposes. Census data and other statistics are tied to the areas, which serve as the basis for a variety of urban planning initiatives on both the local and re ...

. She earned her undergraduate degree from the

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

and a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

degree from

Illinois Institute of Technology The Illinois Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Illinois Tech and IIT, is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Tracing its history to 1890, the present name was adopted upon the m ...

Chicago-Kent College of Law The Chicago-Kent College of Law is the law school of the Illinois Institute of Technology, a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It is the second oldest law school in the state of Illinois (after Northwestern Law). Chicago-Kent wa ...

Career

O'Neill Burke began her legal career as an assistant state’s attorney for

Cook County, Illinois Cook County is the List of counties in Illinois, most populous county in the U.S. state of Illinois and the List of the most populous counties in the United States, second-most-populous county in the United States, after Los Angeles County, C ...

, a position she held for ten years, where she prosecuted criminal cases. Following her time as a prosecutor, she worked as a

criminal defense lawyer A criminal defense lawyer is a lawyer (mostly barristers) specializing in the Defense (legal), defense of individuals and companies charged with Criminal law, criminal activity. Some criminal defense lawyers are privately retained, while other ...

, representing juveniles and adults in the legal system. In 2008, O'Neill Burke was elected to the

, where she presided over both criminal and civil cases for eight years. She also taught civil procedure to new judges in Illinois, beginning in 2012. During the 2016 Illinois judicial elections, she was elected to the Illinois First District Appellate Court, where she reviewed more than 1,800 trial court decisions and issued over 800 written opinions. During her tenure, she served as faculty for judicial education programs, training both trial and appellate judges. From 2022 to mid-2023, O'Neill Burke served as 51st president of the Illinois Judges Association, leading educational and community outreach initiatives. During the 2024 Cook County, Illinois, elections, O'Neill Burke was elected

. She narrowly defeated Clayton Harris III in the Democratic primary by fewer than 1,600 votes and won the general election with approximately 67 percent of the vote against Republican candidate Bob Fioretti. On December 2, 2024, she succeeded

Kim Foxx Kimberly M. Foxx ( Anderson; born April 9, 1972) is an American politician who served as Cook County State's Attorney, State's Attorney (district attorney) for Cook County, Illinois from 2016 to 2024. She managed the second largest prosecutor's ...

, who chose not to run for reelection. As State’s Attorney, O'Neill Burke stated her intention to implement stricter policies for prosecuting gun crimes and offenses involving specific firearm enhancements. She also emphasized support for

restorative justice Restorative justice is a community-based approach to justice that aims to repair the harm done to victims, offenders and communities. In doing so, restorative justice practitioners work to ensure that offenders take responsibility for their ac ...

programs for non-violent offenders while addressing challenges such as wrongful convictions and strained relations between

law enforcement Law enforcement is the activity of some members of the government or other social institutions who act in an organized manner to enforce the law by investigating, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing people who violate the rules and norms gove ...

and her office.

Personal life

O'Neill Burke is married to lawyer John "JD" Burke. They have four adult children.

Electoral history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oneill Burke, Eileen Living people 1965 births Judges of the Circuit Court of Cook County Cook County state's attorneys Women prosecutors Politicians from Chicago Lawyers from Chicago University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni Chicago-Kent College of Law alumni 21st-century American women judges 21st-century Illinois politicians 21st-century American women politicians Women in Illinois politics Illinois Democrats