Judge James A. Wright: Professional Background and Legal Expertise

Hon. James A. Wright is an associate judge for the Cook County Circuit Court in Illinois. He was elected to the Circuit Court by the Cook County Circuit judges in 2018.

While on the bench, Wright has held an assignment in the Forcible Entry and Detainer Section of the First Municipal District.

Wright attended Illinois State University, where he earned a B.S. in accounting and economics in 1981. Upon graduating from university, he passed the C.P.A. exam, after which he served as a senior auditor in the Regulated and Financial Industries Division of Arthur Andersen & Company (1981 to 1985). Wright went on to complete a J.D. at the University of San Francisco School of Law (1988) and an M.B.A. at Northwestern University, Kellogg Graduate School of Management (1998).

He began his legal career as an attorney and advisor at the United States Comptroller of the Currency in Washington, D.C. in 1988. Wright remained in that capacity until becoming a trial attorney and advisor in the Tax Division of the United States Department of Justice in 1991.

After returning to Illinois, Wright joined the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in 1995, a position he would maintain for three years. Upon his departure from the Department of Justice, he then briefly joined the Chicago Board of Education’s Law Department, where he served as chief of Commercial Litigation (1998 to 1998), before taking the position of executive leadership trainee with the United Technologies Corporation in Hartford, Connecticut. As such, he served as manager of Post Merger Integration in the Hamilton Sundstrand Division, team leader of the Strategic Planning Division, and manager of the Corporate Quality Division.

Wright ultimately returned to Illinois in 1999, during which time, he became chief of staff of the Chicago Board of Education.

He would go on to work in several positions, transitioning from the public and private sectors, until assuming the bench in 2018. These included serving as of counsel in the Government Division of the Law Offices of Altheimer & Gray (2001 to 2003), inspector general with the Illinois Toll Highway Authority (2003 to 2005), executive inspector general for the Agencies of the Illinois Governor (2005 to 2010), a sole practitioner at his own private practice (2010 to 2013), and of counsel at Chico & Nunes, P.C. (2013 to 2018).

Wright also taught criminal justice as an adjunct professor at Harold Washington College.