"The Robing Room: IL State Judges

Hon. Susan M. Coleman	See Rating Details
Associate Judge Circuit Court
Cook County Cook Judicial Circuit	See Comments

Attorney Average Rating: 2.5 - 6 rating(s) Non-Attorney Average Rating: 1.0 - 9 rating(s)	Please send me alerts on this judge E-mail Address:

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Only items marked with (*) are averaged into the displayed overall rating.

General Rating Criteria

* Temperament		(1=Awful,10=Excellent)
* Scholarship		(1=Awful,10=Excellent)
* Industriousness		(1=Not at all industrious,10=Highly industrious)
* Ability to Handle Complex Litigation		(1=Awful,10=Excellent)
* Punctuality		(1=Chronically Late,10=Always on Time)
* General Ability to Handle Pre-Trial Matters		(1=Not all Able, 10=Extremely Able)
* General Ability as a Trial Judge		(1=Not all Able, 10=Extremely Able)
Flexibility In Scheduling		(1=Completely Inflexible,10=Very Flexible)

Criminal Rating Criteria (if applicable)

* Evenhandedness in Criminal Litigation		(1=Demonstrates Bias,10=Entirely Evenhanded)
General Inclination Regarding Bail		(1=Pro-Defense,10=Pro-Government)
Involvement in Plea Discussions		(1=Not at all Involved, 10=Very Involved)
General Inclination in Criminal Cases Pretrial Stage		(1=Pro-prosecution,10=Pro-defense)
General Inclination in Criminal Cases Trial Stage		(1=Pro-prosecution,10=Pro-defense)
General Inclination in Criminal Cases Sentencing Stage		(1=Pro-prosecution,10=Pro-defense)

Civil Rating Criteria (if applicable)

* Evenhandedness in Civil Litigation		(1=Not at all Evenhanded,10=Entirely Evenhanded)
Involvement in Settlement Discussions		(1=Not at all Involved,10=Very Involved)
General Inclination		(1=Pro-defendant, 10=Pro-plaintiff)

Comments

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What others have said about Hon. Susan M. Coleman

Comments

Other

Comment #: IL2926
Rating:1.0

Comments:
Divine intervention, Law of Karmic Action or pressure to resign made her finally step down from the bench well ahead of the end of her term in 2019?!

Or perhaps "Greylord" part 2 by FBI clandestine operation shed light on her
conduct unbecoming of the judge?

Court Staff

Comment #: IL2140
Rating:1.0

Comments:
How is it possible that this woman gets elected. I've seen so many unfair and incompetent rulings to make your head spin. Truly an injustice to Cook county.

Other

Comment #: IL2130
Rating:2.0

Comments:
I'm giving her a two, because it's only been six years.. And, there is no reason for anyone to assume while there is a penny left, she gets anything from the lawyer appearing before her other than her nuts off approving the lack of status in her CASE SET FOR STATUS ON (DATE) - CONTINUED orders.

Other

Comment #: IL2046
Rating:1.0

Comments:
Tragic, yet true fact:
Kangaroo Court where law abiding citizen does NOT have any chance and Protection of the Law while undermining trust & faith in Legal System and Courts.
Ruthless, lowest rate, appointed judge
lacking conscience & sense of fairness.
Robbing living and dead while parasting on the body of helpless, tax paying Citizens.

Other

Comment #: IL1959
Rating:1.0

Comments:
Partial, very biased, UNAFAIR, with conflict of interest individual that should never be allowed to adjudicate cases such as Probate Attorney VS members of grieving families fee petitions. Allways allowing dishonest attys with history of ethical and disciplinary violations/records including CENSURE to be granted petition/ payments unjustly without any EVIDENCE such as written financial legally binding agreement. I ask for due investigation of her conduct and REMOVAL FROM this position/COURT, Please. THANK YOU.

Other

Comment #: IL1287
Rating:1.0

Comments:
worst of the worst

Litigant

Comment #: IL1286
Rating:1.0

Comments:
I must concur with the other negative opinions posted. This Judge can not make a clear or rational legal decision and when, on the rare occasions she does rule, she won't enforce her decisions. Chaos rules Judge Colman's court.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: IL778
Rating:1.1

Comments:
In over thirty years of civil litigation, I have not witnessed another jurist as ignorant of the law or as incompetent as she is. She has no business sitting on the bench.

Litigant

Comment #: IL525
Rating:Not Rated
Comments:
Worse Judge I ever seen. Cook county is full of Dems - But how this Judge passed the bar is beyond me.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: IL505
Rating:1.0

Comments:
I am an attorney at a medium size firm which does solely Probate Law and I can't help but concur with the overwhelmingly negative reviews and experiences of those who have been before Judge Susan Coleman. She is known to show great bias toward certain attorneys and if she doesn't like you even a little bit), she will forever hold a grudge, ignore the law and give you nothing in a case. She is also notorious for allowing favored attorneys representing administrators and special administrators to drag a case on for years even if the administrator or special administrator is doing so only to commit fraud, embezzlement, or just milking fees. She actively allows this. There is no form of justice whatsoever when you are before Judge Coleman. She was only a Public Defender before this and has little real practice background at all in civil law (for those that don't know, the lowest paying jobs are those of public defenders, meaning that you must not have done very well in law school). For the Illinois Justices to appoint her time and time again to the bench speaks ill of them.

I also can't help but note that there are all these negative reviews and real experiences with Coleman except one on this site which is strongly positive and since I know the entire legal community who practices before her and we all pretty much think the same of her (negative, even if she is on your side you just can't respect her as a judge), I have to believe that one positive vote is Coleman herself or her husband. That really says a lot about who and what she is. I feel sorry for some of the litigants with their stories who have posted here and hope the IL Supreme Court is listening because again this all reflects poorly on them (write to them or go through the Illinois Judicial Inquiry Board) because they APPOINTED her (she wasn't even elected).

Litigant

Comment #: IL502
Rating:1.0

Comments:
My family has had a probate case before Judge Coleman since October 2007 and we still have not made one inch of progress since this case began. Our Jdg Coleman has allowed continuance after continuance giving the one difficult person in our family multiple opportunities to hide, manipulate and control assets from the our parents estate for five years now. It doesn't help that the appointed administrator and his attorney also keep going along with and encouraging these delays. Jdge Coleman allows certain attorneys unfair leeway and advantages over others while doing nothing to give families relief and justice. Most of the time she doesn't know what's going on with our case then only goes by what little/general information is provided by the attorney who is concerned with his own interests i the case (the longer he drags things our the larger his fee). Jdge Coleman acted on the bench warrant of the person in our family holding up the case and intentionally defying the judge/court's orders because she knows that Jdge Coleman won't do anything. This judge is aware that our one relative is blatantly committing fraud against our family's estate and the state and won't issue orders for her stop or jail her. She's allowed the attorney to dedicate her rulings and her neuter her authority. We've watched her be as indecisive and ineffective with other similar cases in her courtroom while waiting for ours to be heard. Or she's impatient, ill-tempered and unprepared. It's only the aggressive well-prepared attorneys that seem get the rulings they need for their clients. It seems that Jdge Coleman has to be told what to do and how by attorneys. If the majority of the comments on this site and other discussion boards are so negative, why is she still a judge? Five years and we still haven't made one inch of progress towards resolving our case. In the meantime all of the estate assets are being drained by the administrator and one relative who is manipulating everything to her advantage. Has anyone in looked into this judge's financial records or scrutinized her court rulings?

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: IL498
Rating:1.0

Comments:
Very odd that all the ratings are poor for Judge Susan M. Coleman, except one . . . unless that one is Judge Coleman. I've been practicing in front of her for years and she is widely regarded as the nastiest Judge in Cook County. Her temperament is unbecoming of a human being, let alone a judge, and it dishonors the courts. She is an unbending tyrant who always thinks she's right and always sides with those she likes, rather than applying the facts to the law and making an unbiased decision. She is truly a disgrace to the bench.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: IL472
Rating:1.8

Comments:
probably the most biased judge I have ever been in front of. Seriously, she calls some lawyers by a first name basis and when she does, she will rule for them. Truly disturbing.

Other

Comment #: IL236
Rating:1.0

Comments:
Whenever she has to rule on a nonroutine or difficult matter she can't be bothered. She does not read anything put before her and allows attorneys to ignore her orders; having ordered some things three times before they are done. Some attorneys work her like a nine to five in order to draw things out and frustrate the heirs and opposing counsel.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: IL228
Rating:8.9

Comments:
I have appeared before Judge Coleman many times and find her to be very intelligent, industrious, and reasonable. She does not always see things my way, but given a choice, I would still choose to have my cases before her. Her court call does tend to last long but that I think is due to the volume that is sent her way. As a result, I have had many chances to view how she handles other cases and people and believe her to be an excellent judge.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: IL226
Rating:1.3

Comments:
Judge Susan Coleman is hands down the worst judge our firm has ever encountered in any probate court. She is as ornery as it gets, never reads anything, and frequently gets the law dead wrong. She allows cases to drag on and on and does everything in her power to allow terrible abuses of civil procedure. Other judges in probate at least push cases and follow civil procedure and the law. She really should be removed.