The candidacy of Furmin D. Sessoms to remain a judge in the 5^th Subcircuit of the Court of Cook County is the culmination of a childhood dream.  He recalls how, even as a youngster, friends would seek him out to settle arguments or ask his advice. “When I was four, my oldest brother proclaimed he would be a doctor and I would be a lawyer.  That’s the way it worked out!” 

Along his journey, he earned degrees from the University of California at Berkeley and Georgetown University Law Center.  He sold vacuum cleaners door to door and worked on Wall Street.  He was a key administrator for the nation’s most venerable civil-rights organization and at one of the largest public defenders offices.  His varied experiences exposed him to people from all walks of life, teaching him the importance of keeping an open mind.  He also learned that no work fulfilled his sense of destiny more than being part of a court system that could protect the rights of those who had nowhere else to turn.

Furmin has been practicing public and private law in Illinois since 1990.  He served in the Law Office of the Cook County Public Defender for 11 years, rising to supervisor attorney and deputy public defender.  As executive director of the Southside Branch of the NAACP, he witnessed – and helped shape – legal remedies for discrimination in such areas as education, employment, voting, and the treatment of victims of police abuse and hate crimes.    

When the Illinois Supreme Court appointed him to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Bernetta Bush, Furmin realized he had found his true calling. “A judge should be fair and impartial,” he points out.  “My background enables me to see those accused of crimes as underserved and at risk.  The younger ones especially deserve the same presumption of ‘a good future ahead’ as anyone else.”