Judicial Experience
In 2008, Judge Anna H. Demacopoulos was elected as a Circuit Court Judge in Cook County in the Fifteenth Subcircuit. She currently serves in the prestigious General Chancery Division presiding over complex high profile cases involving requests for temporary restraining orders, preliminary injunctions, release of information under FOIA, mandamus, declaratory judgments, class actions, corporate derivative actions, the constitutionality of statues, and other cases seeking equitable relief. Prior to that she presided over a high volume felony courtroom in the Sixth Municipal District, Markham. She has also presided over domestic violence, misdemeanor and major traffic cases.
Judge Demacopoulos is admired for her fairness, knowledge of the law, impartiality and strong work ethic. Many of her opinions have received local and national news coverage. She has served on the Illinois Supreme Court Committee on Education and served as a faculty member for the Continuing Education Conference. She was also a topic writer for the Illinois Judicial Bench book on DUI/Traffic and serves as a mentor judge for newly elected judges.
Legal Experience
Prior to her election to the bench Judge Demacopoulos’ professional experience and strong background in law includes over twenty three years in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office. Throughout her career, she successfully prosecuted some of the county’s most violent criminals and complicated media sensitive cases. In 2008 she received the Illinois State Crime Commissions Bishop Sheil award for her unprecedented work in the investigation and ground breaking prosecution of Chicago Police Officers of the Special Operation Section.
For more than fifteen years Judge Demacopoulos served as a Supervisor in the Cook County State’s Attorney’ Office. As the Supervisor of the Narcotic’s Felony Trial Unit for the, she was responsible for the professional development and training of Assistant State’s Attorneys assigned to prosecute complex felony narcotic cases. In this capacity, she created, implemented, and supervised the Repeat Offender and Geographic Urban Enforcement Strategy (ROGUES) program to combat open air drug markets in the Chicago land area and lead the prosecution of the first fentanyl overdose case. She served as the Supervisor of Special Grand Jury/Preliminary Hearings, Deputy Supervisor for the Felony Review Unit, and Deputy Supervisor for the First Municipal District where, in addition to training attorneys, she implemented the first policy for videotaping of confessions and authored the 2 million dollar Targeted Abusers Call (TAC) grant proposal, for the Department of Justice, Violence Against Women’s Office which is still considered a national model.
Nationally, she gained acclaim in the areas of domestic and workplace violence. As a consultant to the United States Department of Justice, she was frequently invited to speak on these critical issues including prevention of gun violence, workplace violence and restorative justice. She is the past president of the Chicago Chapter of the Association of Threat Assessment Professionals.
Community Engagement
Judge Demacopoulos is a member of the Illinois Judges Association serving on the Media Response and Community Engagement committees. She is also a member of the select Chicago Inns of Court. Judge Demacopoulos has been active for more than 20 years with WE: Women Everywhere and is also active in the Hellenic American community in the Chicago land area. As a past officer and board member of the Hellenic Bar Association she initiated the law school matching funds program, career corner, Annual Judges night and was instrumental in the Association joining the Alliance of Bar Association for judicial review. She is a member of the Hellenic American Leadership Council, and the National Hellenic Museum.