Former CIA Officer Will County's Newest Judge

JOLIET, IL - Will County's newest associate judge is unlike any of his cohorts. How is attorney John J. Pavich different? After 9/11, Pavich went to work as an operations officer for the Central Intelligence Agency. In the CIA, Pavich was assigned to counterterrorism.

"The weight of the appointment is certainly not lost on me," Pavich told everyone at Friday's swearing-in ceremony at Will County's Courthouse. "And I will strive each day to meet, and, as much as possible, exceed those expectations of my judicial colleagues as well as the citizens of Will County and the state of Illinois.

"I also want to thank my fellow associate judges who have been wonderful in providing me much needed guidance in the past few weeks and always offering me any counsel that I needed. It's truly appreciated, and it's made this transition much easier.

"It's a very exciting time for me and my family. I hope and believe that my past legal experience has prepared me well to serve on the bench. Although practicing in a small firm, I've been fortunate to work on some unusual and exciting cases that have often required me to deviate from my comfort zone. And I expect that will happen regularly on the bench."

On Friday morning, Will County Circuit Judge John Anderson gave the main speech introducing attorney John J. Pavich to everyone gathered at the ceremony.

Here are some of the key excerpts from Judge Anderson's prepared remarks:

"Many of you may not know Judge Pavich, so I would like to tell you a bit about the John Pavich I know. John is the son of Robert and Marcia Pavich. He was raised in Lynwood with his brother Matt and two sisters, Anastasia and Hope. John attended St. Norbert College in DePere, Wisconsin. While at St. Norbert, John received his degree in International Studies with minors in Russian and Economics. He spent most of his junior year studying Russian in Kharkov, Ukraine.

"Also, it was at St. Norbert that John met his future wife, Kelly. After graduation, Kelly began working with the U.S. Peace Corps in Lithuania. Because he couldn’t stand being away from Kelly, John took a job teaching English in the same city where Kelly was stationed. When the two returned to the U.S., John enrolled at Loyola University-Chicago School of Law. John and Kelly married in 2000. During his third year of law school and immediately following his graduation, John worked as a legal consultant at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in the Netherlands, where his father was representing high profile politicians before the Tribunal. Now, we all know what happened on September 11, 2001.

"That day certainly affected all of us. But, it affected John more than most; he decided to serve his country by accepting a position with the Central Intelligence Agency in the Directorate of Operations as an Operations Officer. While at CIA, John was assigned to counterterrorism and counter-proliferation groups. Eventually, John and Kelly welcomed their first son, Andrew. They decided that John’s life of international intrigue was not conducive to raising a family, and so they returned to Illinois, and they made their home in Beecher. Since 2005, John has practiced law with his father Bob and sister Anastasia. Although a small firm, John has worked on some unusual cases. Along with civil litigation and white collar criminal cases, John has represented victims of the Hungarian Holocaust and victims of war crimes committed in the Balkans during the wars of the 1990s. Most recently, he and his colleagues tried a breach of contract case against the Republic of Iraq in Washington D.C. This case was brought under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act and has been litigated all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court.

"I met John in 2006 when he set out to be the youngest member of Congress. While his congressional run was unsuccessful, it did provide me with an opportunity to get to know John, and we immediately learned that we have a great deal in common. We were both lawyers, both lived in the same area, both married up, both had sons the same age, and it turned out that we worked on different floors of the same building. My only surprise and disappointment in getting to know John is that he used a regular cell phone, when I rather expected him to have a shoe phone or some other gadget from a spy novel. Even when we competed for an appointment to the same state senate seat in 2008, our relationship was always warm and rewarding.

"Today, John, Kelly are raising their two sons, Andrew and Matthew, in Beecher, where they have been living now for over 15 years. Andrew and Mathew lead active lives which necessarily means their parents do too. I know much of John and Kelly’s free time is dominated by driving their sons to hockey games. In the coming weeks, many of you will get to know Judge Pavich better. I understand he will start out as a floater, which really requires a judge to be a jack of all trades. That can be a daunting task for a new judge … But if anyone is up to the task, I know it is you. I also know that in just a few weeks you will be feeling like a wise old pro. And John, I will tell you this … If there is one thing I can leave all of you with, it is this. The Pavich family ethos is built, in substantial part, on public service. Whether it be Kelly’s work with the peace corps or her current work for a large charitable foundation, or John’s service in the CIA and his work for victims of unspeakable crimes and tragedies, one thing has remained constant. That is their passion for what is right and their basic goodness. And I know that John has set out to live his life in accordance with the code and tenets drilled into him at CIA: honor, integrity, and dedication to mission. Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in congratulating and welcoming Judge John Pavich."