KATE THAYER reports that Chief Judge Don Hudson will be honored for his work with a group that addresses issues relating to domestic violence. Hudson was selected to receive the Justice Benjamin K. Miller Recognition Award for his service with the Illinois Family Violence Coordinating Council.
He is chairman of the council’s steering committee.
The award will be presented to Hudson at a lunch in September.
“It’s an award that should be shared with the council,” he said, adding that domestic violence “has always been an important issue to me.”
Hudson is the chief of the 16th Judicial Circuit, which includes Kane, Kendall and DeKalb counties.
Prosecutor honored
A Kane County prosecutor was honored with a community service award from the Kane County Bar Association.
Assistant State’s Attorney Elizabeth Lovig is the winner of the 2007 Community Service Award, which was presented June 14 during the association’s general membership dinner.
The award is given annually by the bar association to a member who has “demonstrated a broad-based involvement in the community, and is an active member of the legal profession.”
Lovig, 42, joined the state’s attorney’s office in 1993, and has been first chair of the office’s Domestic Violence Unit since 2002. As the lead attorney in the unit, Lovig oversees prosecutors, support staff and advocates who work in unison to protect victims who are battered by their spouses, boyfriends, girlfriends, parents, roommates, etc.
As a member of the Sixteenth Judicial Family Violence Coordinating Council, Lovig works with police, teaching them how to interview victims, collect evidence and what to look for in investigating domestic violence cases. She also carries a felony caseload of more than 100 offenders.
Before joining the Domestic Violence Unit, Lovig showed her commitment to social justice as a member of the office’s Child Support Division and in the Abuse/Neglect courtroom.
Outside the office, Lovig serves as a judge for the St. Charles Moot Court Competition, which takes place each March, and organizes another moot court competition that takes place each year at the Aurora Police Department.
Lovig is the 22nd recipient of the KCBA award, which first was presented in 1986, and is the first active prosecutor to win it. Previous winners had been prosecutors, but not at the time the award was presented.
Lovig is a native of Geneva, a 1982 graduate of St. Charles High School, and attended law school at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio. She lives in Kane County with her husband, Jay, and children, Jake and Rachael.