JUDGE STACI M. YANDLE
Staci Michelle Yandle made history in 2014 when she was appointed U.S. district judge for the Southern District of Illinois. This made her the first out gay judge in the Seventh Circuit; the first African-American district judge to be on the federal bench in the Southern District of Illinois; and the first openly lesbian black judicial nominee to be confirmed during Obama’s presidency. (The first to be confirmed at all was Deborah Batts, during Clinton’s administration.) Yandle graduated with a B.S. in political science from the University of Illinois, went on to receive a Juris Doctorate from Vanderbilt University School of Law, was an associate with the law firm of Carr, Korein, Schlichter, Kunin, Montroy, Glass & Bogard for almost 20 years, and until recently, had her own law offices, with a specialty in civil litigation in federal and state courts. “The most rewarding aspect of my work is that I am now able to tap into both my passion for the law and public service,” she says. “In private practice, I represented the interests of my individual clients. As a federal judge, I now serve my entire community and country.” –GH
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