My name is Tom O'Brien and I am asking for your support in my campaign for the position of Circuit Court judge.
My wife Dana and I recently welcomed a baby girl into our family named Lauren, and are the proud parents of a 4 year old daughter Sarah and a 2 year old son Tommy. Our daughter Lauren was actually born the day I was in Springfield filing my petition for judicial office. We live in a home on the southwest side of Chicago about a mile from the bungalow at 95th and Hoyne Avenue, where I was born and raised.
I am the youngest of 4 boys and attended Christ the King grammar school and Mount Carmel High School. After receiving an Associate's Degree in Liberal Arts from Richard J. Daley College I completed my undergraduate studies at Southern Illinois University earning a bachelor's degree in Biological Science in 1985.
After college, I worked in a variety of positions including delivery person, clerk at the Chicago Board Options Exchange, lifeguard and sales representative. 
I later accepted a position more closely related to my degree with an environmental consulting firm in Chicago. I worked as an Environmental Scientist where I inspected and prepared reports on potential hazardous waste sites throughout the midwest on behalf of the US Environmental Protection Agency. I also spent time as an on-site inspector on behalf of the Illinois EPA monitoring a hazardous waste incineration facility that was in operation on the south east side of Chicago. I personally witnessed the damage caused to the buildings downtown during the "great chicago flood" in 1992 while employed with an environmental emergency response company. It was during my time in the environmental field after working with attorneys involved in environmental regulation and enforcement that I decided to return to school for a law degree. I felt that the practice of law is an area where you can have a positive impact on a person's quality of life.
After graduating from Thomas Cooley Law School in 1996, I worked in private practice for a short time and then accepted a position as an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Illinois. As an Assistant Attorney General I managed a varied caseload representing state officials, officers, employees and agencies as both plaintiff and defendant in civil matters. As an advocate for the state I tried cases in both State and Federal court, the Illinois Civil Service Commission, and the Illinois Court of Claims.
In 2004, I opened my own practice in downtown Chicago as a general practitioner. I have also served as an arbitration panelist for the Cook County Mandatory Arbitration Program both as a panel member and a chairperson.In early 2009 I moved my practice to the southwest side of Chicago based on a desire to provide legal services to local residents and to be closer to home.
Thank you for your support!
