Champaign County to appoint new judge to meet rising population
Feb. 16—URBANA — The Champaign County Courthouse will soon be home to a new judge.
Rob Jacobson, a partner at local law firm Tummelson, Bryan and Knox, will don the robes on March 1 and be sworn in as an associate judge at the Champaign County Courthouse.
Chief Judge Randy Rosenbaum said Thursday that the 14 elected judges of the Sixth Circuit selected Jacobson from a pool of 12 applicants to fill a brand-new position that the Illinois Supreme Court allowed Champaign County to create.
A University of Illinois College of Law graduate with 27 years of private-practice experience in civil law, Jacobson was selected at the end of a lengthy process during which the applicants were vetted, interviewed and evaluated by a bar poll.
"I know that a person doesn't have to know everything, but they have to be the kind of person who can learn the law quickly, can be fair and impartial and has the right temperament — temperament, perhaps, being the most important thing, " Rosenbaum said. "And Rob has that. He is a soft-spoken, even-tempered person."
Jacobson described his career as having primarily been split between litigation and transaction law. He's overseen divorces and planned estates while practicing family law, and represented credit unions and other businesses while practicing banking law.
Originally from Rockford, Jacobson decided he wanted to become an attorney after spending a semester as a high school freshman shadowing one. He enjoyed how the job allowed attorneys to write, research, think on their feet in the courtroom and work with so many different people.
He went on to study English and philosophy at Trinity College in Deerfield, and then graduated from the UI's College of Law in 1996. From there, he immediately went to work for the firm he clerked at while in school, practicing there for seven years.
Jacobson then left and became a partner with the firm Flynn, Palmer, Tague & Jacobson, where he practiced for 14 years. After all the other partners of that law firm passed away, Jacobson joined his current firm in 2017. He must now begin the process of handing off clients as he prepares to transition behind the bench.
Jacobson will raise the total number of judges presiding in the Champaign County Courthouse to 12. It's an increase that Rosenbaum estimated has not happened for at least 30 years and one that Jacobson said he hopes will be beneficial to Champaign County as caseloads are redistributed.
The new judge will oversee juvenile abuse and neglect cases, a load currently split between Judge Matthew Lee and Judge Brett Olmstead. Jacobson's courtroom also will call guardianship cases, which Judge Anna Benjamin currently oversees.
However, Champaign County Courthouse's addition was built in 2002 to house only 11 judges. That means the building's law library will be relocated to the first floor to make room for Jacobson's office, and, starting March 4, Judge Benjamin and Judge Chad Beckett will share Courtroom H.
Jacobson will hear cases in Courtroom J, where Judge Benjamin currently presides.
Rosenbaum requested in August that Champaign County be able to create a new judge position due to the fact its population has grown by 2.7 percent since 2010 to 205,000 in 2020. Meanwhile, the county still had three fewer judges than the next biggest county in the circuit, Sangamon, which boasted 196,000 people in 2020.
The state supreme court quickly granted Rosenbaum's request in September. Any Illinois attorney was eligible to apply once applications opened mid-January, but all were local, and only two weren't practicing in Champaign County.
Jacobson said he was excited when he learned he was chosen for the position, and that, in one sense, his 27 years in the field have helped prepare him to become a judge.
He's learned that the judge's most important role is to listen and apply the law to whatever facts are available. He also said that, while attorneys and judges must manage many cases at a time, it's important to make sure individuals know that their case is important to you.
"I would want people to leave, attorneys or parties to the case, knowing, whether they agree with a particular decision, that they know that they were heard," Jacobson said. "I think that's part of practicing law as an attorney. Cases are not always about winning and losing."
While Jacobson said he knew it was a possibility he would become appointed to judge, it still feels surreal to be pivoting quickly into a new role.
"I think it's a really good group of judges," Jacobson said. "So I'm honored and excited to be joining this group."
