BIOGRAPHY OF JOAN ELLEN SMUDA

Joan Ellen Smuda has practiced law in the Chicago area since 1978.  She is a graduate of DePaul University where she first majored in Political Science, graduated with honors, and went on to earn her Juris Doctor at DePaul’s College of Law.  She is licensed to practice law in the State of Illinois and before the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court.

            Ms. Smuda currently serves as an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Illinois.  She is assigned to the office’s Revenue Litigation Division where she attends to civil and bankruptcy matters on behalf of the State.
           
            In 1995, the Supreme Court of the State of Illinois appointed Ms. Smuda on the basis of merit to serve as a Judge in the Circuit Court of Cook County.  When her term ended, she served as Legal Analyst in the office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County and also performed legal services for agencies such as the Illinois Liquor Control Commission before returning to her solo law practice.

            Ms. Smuda served from 1998 - 2001 as General Counsel to the Polish Roman Catholic Union of America, the oldest Polish ethnic fraternal organizations in the United States.  Nearly 70,000 persons in 24 states belong to the PRCUA.  Ms. Smuda was the first woman to hold the position in the PRCUA’s 124 year history.  In 2002, delegates elected Ms. Smuda as the first woman to chair the PRCUA’s Quadrennial National Convention.  In 2006, they reelected her by acclamation.

            Joan Ellen Smuda also served as President of the National Advocates Society of Lawyers from 2005 – 2007, hosting its national convention in St. Charles, Illinois in August, 2007.  She also served as President of the Advocates Society of Chicago in
1989-90 and is currently a member of that ethnic bar association’s Board of Governors.    She is active in the Illinois State Bar Association, the largest professional group of attorneys in the state.  She served several terms as an elected member of the ISBA Assembly.  Ms. Smuda also belongs to the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois.

            During Ms. Smuda’s legal career, she has engaged in legal practice at a small general practice firm, as a solo practitioner and for several agencies of federal and state government.  Ms. Smuda lectures and writes articles directed to both lay persons and attorneys on legal and political topics.  She hosted a Polish language current affairs television show called “Leaders” during the 1994 – 1995 season.

            Ms. Smuda is also active in many civic and community organizations.  She is a current member of the Polish Women’s Civic Club, the Legion of Young Polish Women, Polish American Police Association and the Polish Museum of American.