Lake County Judges Vote Among 4 Finalists To Fill 2 Vacant Seats On The Bench

WAUKEGAN, IL — Lake County circuit judges are casting secret ballots to pick a pair of new associate judges to join them on the bench, court officials announced.

Two vacant judge jobs opened up due to the impending retirements of Raymond Collins and Charles Johnson, both of whom spent nearly two decades as judges. Both associate judges' retirements are effective July 12.

Twenty-one Lake County attorneys submitted applications for the job. They were interviewed by circuit judges and evaluated by members of the Lake County Bar Association’s Judicial Selection and Retention Committee.

A committee of circuit judges — who are elected by voters, while associate judges are elected by other judges — then narrowed the candidates to four finalists:

Gabriel Conroe of Highland Park, Matthew DeMartini of Antioch, Roderick Drobinski of Wauconda and Sari Montgomery of Riverwoods.

Conroe is currently a principal assistant public defender in the Lake County Public Defender's Office.

DeMartini is a former Lake County assistant state's attorney who now owns DeMartini Legal.

Drobinski is a former assistant state’s attorney in Lake County and McHenry County, where he was chief of felony and felony review, and is now a sole practitioner at the Law Offices of Roderick A. Drobinski.

Montgomery, who has been litigation counsel at the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission and a special assistant public defender with the Lake County Public Defender’s Office, is currently a partner at Robinson, Stewart, Montgomery & Doppke LLC and an adjunct professor at Northwestern's law school.