Experience Matters
Judge Ray Nash currently presides over a court call involving thousands of juvenile cases involving drugs, alcohol, theft, battery, and other offenses. Judge Nash focuses on the role of family in guiding juvenile offenders to a more productive path in life. Judge Nash, along with other local law enforcement officials, has been particularly outspoken in alerting parents about the rapid rise of heroin use in Will County and the dangers posed to our youth.
Judge Nash has been recommended by 96.86% of lawyers in a recent non-partisan poll conducted by the Illinois State Bar Association. This is the second highest score ever received in this poll. In 2008, Judge Nash received the highest score, up to that time , of any judge running for election in Will County in that same poll. The lawyers practicing in front of Judge Nash provide such high praise because he possesses the years of legal experience and the concern for the community necessary to do the job for Will County.
Judge Nash was a role model as a prosecutor with the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office for almost a decade. He prosecuted countless felonies and personally took 14 first degree murder cases to trial. He spent years as the First Chief of the Gang Crimes Unit and served as Chief of the Criminal Division. Nash built a grass-roots network of parents, community leaders and governmental officials that helped citizens stop gang violence in their communities.
After leaving the States Attorney’s Office but prior to taking the bench as an Associate Judge, Judge Nash built a successful private practice concentrating in child-representation in the family law and juvenile courts. He served as a court-appointed Guardian Ad-Litem – protecting the rights of children in hotly contested divorce cases. He was certified as an arbitration judge and family law mediator and recognized as an expert in gang crimes identification in the Twelfth Judicial Circuit.
As a prosecutor, private practitioner and Associate Judge, Ray Nash’s career has been about service to his community.