Fra Noi Embrace Your Inner Italian
Judge Diann K. Marsalek will serve as acting presiding judge of the Traffic Division of the Circuit Court of Cook County. She was appointed to the position by Chief Judge Timothy C. Evans. The supervising judge of the First Municipal Traffic Court since 2014, Marsalek was appoint to the bench by the Illinois Supreme Court in 2011 and elected in 2012. Her previous assignments include the Traffic, Evictions Post Judgment and Torts/Contract Claims courts.
As an attorney, she served as a legal adviser to the Illinois Secretary of State, an Assistant Attorney General in the Policy and General Law Divisions of the Office of the Illinois Attorney General, Chief Legal Counsel for the Illinois Department of Corrections, and Deputy Courtroom Clerk for the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County. She graduated from Immaculata High School and earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from DePaul University and her juris doctor from Northern Illinois University College of Law.
Marsalek was the president of the Illinois Judges Foundation and a board member of the Illinois Judges Association and Justinian Society of Lawyers. She is the co-chair of the Language Access Sub-Committee formed by the Illinois Supreme Court to identify ways to promote the court system to individuals for whom English is not a first language. She is a member of the Chicago Bar Association, Women’s Bar Association, Advocates Society of Polish Lawyers, Justinian Society of Italian Lawyers, Decalogue Society and various other bar associations. Dedicated to developing legal talent, she volunteers at expungement seminars and moot court competitions for law students.
Marsalek has been honored by the Chicago Society, Polish American Police in Advocates Society of Polish Lawyers and the Italian American Police Association.
Marsalek is active in numerous neighborhood community activities. She started a program to beautify her neighborhood and has donated time to paint equipment and worked on improving local parks. She has worked on numerous events to promote public safety and benefit the neighborhood school. Each year, she coordinates collecting school supplies for grade schools.
