HON. FRANCIS J. DOLAN (Ret.) has spent more than 37 years in the legal profession acquiring extensive experience as a member of the judiciary, as a private sector practitioner and practicing in public service law.
JUDICIAL SERVICE
In June, 2001, he was assigned to the Civil Jury Trial Section of the First Municipal District of Cook County, Illinois. In presiding over a high-volume, civil jury trial call, Judge Dolan:
• Conducted over 2,000 pretrial settlement conferences,
• Presided over 328 jury trials to verdict.
Judge Dolan developed a computer based, real-time data collection system that provided him tools necessary both to facilitate efficient and effective case management in his high-volume court room and to quantify and analyze the jury trial experience.
Some examples of databases include:
• Demographic information collected and analyzed on over 6,000 persons questioned during voir dire and those serving on the jury to
verdict
• Information on both case and verdict statistics and analysis of same
• Comparative analysis of difference between jury verdicts and arbitration awards
• Duration of trial proceedings
• Inventory of all cases giving current trial status and aging of each case.
Judge Dolan’s innovative development and use of his real-time data collection system led him to conduct a six-year study (June, 2001 - June, 2007) of the first 300 jury trials he presided over to verdict. Publications based on this study include:
• A manual for judges titled: Judicial Case Management of Civil Jury Trials: Marshaling Information on Cases, Trials and Juries with
a Modest Use of Information Technology (2008);
• Co-author: Achieving Diversity on the Jury: Jury Size and the Peremptory Challenge (publication November, 2009):
Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, Society of Empirical Legal Studies, Cornell Law School. Findings presented in
this publication were cited in an amicus brief filed in late 2008 supporting a Petition for a Writ of Certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court
in the case of Gonzalez v State of Florida. This case challenged the constitutionality of a six-person versus 12-person criminal jury.
In a recent lecture, “Jury Demographic Study: Making the Case for Sustained Collaboration Between the Judiciary and Academia,” Florida A & M University Law School, Orlando, Florida, March, 2009, Judge Dolan articulated methods available to foster such collaborative study using his “real-time” databases as a model. He remains committed to advocating and implementing this type of study.
His special judicial appointments by order of the Illinois Supreme Court included: Federal-State Judicial Council (Member, Dec., 2001 to Jan., 2009) and Automation and Technology Committee of the Illinois Judicial Conference (Associate Member, 2005 to 2009). Judge Dolan’s judicial teaching included lecturing for both the Annual Joint State/Federal Conference and the Illinois Judicial Conference.
PRIVATE PRACTICE
For nearly 20 years Judge Dolan was the owner and principal of Frank J. Dolan & Associates. His firm engaged in a general litigation practice with concentration in the area of business and commercial litigation representing, primarily, corporate clients in both state and federal courts. Judge Dolan counseled clients and litigated their interests in areas that included: breach of contract and restrictive covenants; defense of corporations and prosecution of shareholders' suits alleging waste and mismanagement, civil fraud and defense of civil RICO claims; prosecution of major wrongful death claims, personal injury, property damage and civil rights claims. The judge’s settlement of his client’s civil rights claim against a local municipality’s police officers for $3.5 million is one of the largest settlements ever paid by a municipality for permanent brain injuries suffered as a result of a beating during arrest.
A sample of the firm's diverse clientele includes:
• Manufacturers of products sold both domestically and abroad
• Domestic partnerships formed for construction projects abroad
• Banks, bank holding companies, bank officers and employees
• Print media publishers
• Medical diagnostic laboratories and physicians
• Commercial construction companies
• Domestic airlines and barge transportation companies
Judge Francis J. Dolan was appointed and served (1986-1990) as a special assistant attorney general of the State of Illinois. During this time he represented employees of the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) in suits brought in the federal court alleging child abuse resulting from certain practices and procedures of that agency.
Judge Dolan remains licensed to practice in the State of Illinois, Trial Bar of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court.
A select list of his professional appointments includes:
• Advisory Committee for the Study of the Rules of Practice and Internal Operating Procedures of the District and Bankruptcy Courts of
the Northern District of Illinois. Member, Feb., 1990 - Sept., 1999. Creation of this Committee was mandated by the Congress of the
United States (28 USC 2077(b)).
• Merit Selection Panel Appointed to Select Candidates for Appointment of United States Magistrates to the Northern District of Illinois.
Member
• Federal Bar Association, Chicago Chapter, President (1985-6)
• Chicago Bar Association, Young Lawyers Section, Trial Technique Committee, Chairman (1978-9)
PUBLIC SERVICE PRACTICE
Judge Dolan began his legal career in the Corporation Counsel’s Office of the City of Chicago. As an assistant corporation counsel assigned to the General Counsel Division he advised and represented the Mayor's Office, members of the City Council, agency and department heads and other employees of this municipality in the areas of business licensure, taxation, federal civil rights defense, and constitutionality of municipal ordinances and procedures. His primary responsibility was negotiating settlement of, or litigating, complex cases involving both legal and political issues primarily in federal court. He served as lead trial counsel for the case of Carter v. Miller, (434 U.S. 356). When Judge Dolan left the Corporation Counsel’s Office to begin his private practice he was appointed a special assistant corporation counsel. Serving in this position for over four years, he gained invaluable professional experience as a private practitioner participating in the resolution of local government issues.
MEDIATION AND ARBITRATION CERTIFICATION
Prior to his retirement from the bench, Judge Dolan successfully completed Training to Obtain Certification as Mediator, 2008, State of Illinois and State of Florida (Florida participation requirement is pending).
Judge Dolan is an approved mediator in the Cook County Law and Chancery Divisions Court-Ordered Mediation Programs.
The Judge’s Arbitral Certifications gained prior to his taking the bench include:
• NASD (National Association of Stock Dealers) Regulation, Inc., Dispute Resolution
• NFA (National Futures Association)
• Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, London, UK, Associate
EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND
Judge Francis J. Dolan’s educational background is as follows:
• Benedictine University, Lisle, Illinois - B.A. (Political Science - 1969)
• De Paul University, Chicago, Illinois - J.D. (1972)
• National Institute of Trial Advocacy, Boulder, Colorado (June-July, 1973)
• National Institute of Trial Advocacy, Advocacy Teachers Training Seminar, (Harvard Law School), Cambridge, Massachusetts (1979)
ELECTED OFFICE
In October, 1999, he was appointed by the Illinois Supreme Court to the Office of Judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County. In March, 2000, he was elected in the Democratic Primary Race as a candidate for that Office and in November, 2000 he was elected in the General Election. In November, 2006, Judge Dolan was elected in the General Election for retention to that Office for a six year term. He retired from the bench in 2009.
