Honorable Judge Christen Bishop
Christen L. Bishop is a Circuit Court Judge in the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit, Lake County, Illinois, where she serves as Presiding Judge of the newly-created Restorative Justice Division, which includes the Juvenile Division. She has served as a circuit judge since 2016, and she was an associate judge from September 28, 2012, until her appointment as a circuit judge. Judge Bishop serves on the Illinois Supreme Court Justice and Mental Health Planning Committee. She is a Director for the Illinois Judges’ Association and a member of the Lake County Juvenile Officers’ Association and the Lake County Chiefs of Police Association. She received the Lake County Juvenile Officers’ Association Hall of Fame award in 2012 for her contributions to juvenile justice as Chief of the Juvenile Division for the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office.
Judge Bishop has served in the 19th Judicial Circuit Traffic, Misdemeanor and Felony Divisions. She is the Presiding Judge of the Specialty Courts, which includes Therapeutic Intensive Monitoring Court, Drug Court, and Veterans’ Treatment and Assistance Court. Judge Bishop received her undergraduate degree and her Juris Doctor degree from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.