Firsts in state history
Lawyers
- Lloyd Garrison Wheeler (1869):[1][2] First African American male admitted to the Illinois State Bar. However, he relocated soon after to Arkansas.
- Antonio Rosas Sarabia (1950):[3] First Mexican American male lawyer in Illinois
- Theodore "Ted" Burtzos:[4] First deaf male lawyer to argue a case before a jury in Illinois
State judges
- Albert B. George:[5][6] First African American male judge in Illinois (1924)
- James K. Chelos:[7][8][9] First Greek American male judge in Illinois (1952)
- David Cerda:[10] First Latino American male judge in Illinois (1965) and serve on the Illinois Appellate Court (1989)
- George N. Leighton (1947):[11][12] First African American male to serve on the First District Appellate Court in Illinois (1969)
- Charles E. Freeman (1962):[13][14][15] First African American male to serve on the Illinois Supreme Court (1990) and serve as its Chief Justice
- F. Keith Brown (1981):[16][17] First African American male judge to serve as a Chief Judge in the Sixteenth Judicial District Court (Kane County, Illinois; 1991)
- Thomas R. Chiola (1974):[18] First openly LGBT male judge in Illinois (1994)
- Sebastian Patti:[19][20] First openly LGBT male to serve as an appellate court judge in Illinois (1995)
- Theodore "Ted" Burtzos:[4] First deaf male judge in Illinois (1995)
- Kenneth Moy:[21][22] First Asian American male judge in Illinois (1996)
- Israel Desierto:[23] First Filipino American male judge in Illinois (2005)
- Lionel Jean-Baptiste:[24] First Haitian American male judge in Illinois (2011)
- Jesse Reyes (1982):[25][26] First Latino American male elected as a Judge of the Illinois Appellate Court (2012)
- Rouhy J. Shalabi:[27] First Palestinian American and Muslim American judge in Illinois (2020)
- Sanjay Tailor:[28] First Asian American male to serve as a presiding judge in Illinois (2021)
Federal judges
- James Benton Parsons (1949):[29][30] First African American male to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (1961)
- Alexander J. Napoli:[31] First Italian American male to serve on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (1966)
- George N. Leighton: First Cape Verdean male to serve as a Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (1976)
- Joe Billy McDade (1963):[32] First African American male to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois (1991)
- Ruben Castillo (1979):[33] First Latino American male to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (1994)[34]
- Manuel Barbosa:[35] First Hispanic American male bankruptcy judge to serve in the U.S. Northern District of Illinois (1998)
- Samuel Der-Yeghiayan (1978):[36] First Armenian immigrant male to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (2003)
- Edmond E. Chang:[37] First Asian American (male) to serve on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (2011)
- James Shadid:[37] First Arab American male to serve on the United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois (2011)
- John Z. Lee (1992):[38] First Korean American male to serve on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (2012)
- Manish S. Shah (1998):[39] First Indian American male to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (2014)
- Sunil R. Harjani:[40] First South Asian to serve as a Magistrate Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (2019)
- Franklin U. Valderrama:[41] First Panamanian American male to serve as a Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (2020)
Attorney General
- Roland Burris (1963):[42] First African American male elected as the Attorney General of Illinois (1991-1995)
- Kwame Raoul:[43] First Haitian American male elected as the Attorney General of Illinois (2019)
Assistant Attorney General
- James G. Gotter:[44] First African American male to serve as the Assistant Attorney General of Illinois (1917)
United States Attorney
- Gregory K. Harris:[45] First African American male to serve as the United States Attorney for the Central District of Illinois (2021)
State's Attorney
- James R. Burgess, Jr.:[46][47] First African American male to serve as the State's Attorney in Illinois (1972)
Assistant State's Attorney
- Ferdinand Lee Barnett:[48] First African American male to serve as an Assistant State's Attorney in Illinois (1896)
Bar Association
- Lawrence X. Pusateri:[49] First Italian American male to serve as the President of the Illinois State Bar Association (1975)
- Vincent Cornelius:[50] First African American male to serve as the Illinois State Bar Association (2016)