Judge Vincenzo Chimera: Professional Background and Legal Expertise

Hon. Vincenzo Chimera is an associate judge for the Cook County Circuit Court in Illinois. He was appointed to the Circuit Court by the Cook County Circuit judges in 2016.

While on the bench, Chimera has held an assignment in the Sixth Municipal District of the Municipal Department.

He attended DePaul University, where he received a B.S. in business administration and management in 1981. Chimera then completed a J.D. at John Marshall Law School in 1984.

He began his legal career with the Illinois Attorney General’s Office, where he first served in the Civil Appeals Division before moving to the Criminal Trials Division in 1986. In that assignment, Chimera provided trial assistance to various State’s Attorney’s Offices within the state. This would prove to be his first stint with the office.

In between his employment there, Chimera worked for the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office and also served for eight years as general counsel for the Richards Building Supply Company (1995 to 2004).

Chimera ultimately returned to the Attorney General’s Office in 2004, serving as chief of the Special Prosecutions Bureau, where he focused on tax and white-collar crimes, until being promoted to deputy chief of Criminal Enforcement in 2011.

He has taught as an adjunct professor at John Marshall Law School.