Inspirational Woman Award

Inspirational Woman Award

The Inspirational Woman Award evolved from “The Glass Ceiling Buster Award.” A great thanks to the hard work and distinguished service of many of the women who have come before us. Today, women lawyers can take pride in the fact that the glass ceiling has not been merely cracked by a few, but shattered by many.

2024 Inspirational Woman of the Year: Hon. Anne T. Hayes

Judge Hayes

After graduating from the University of Notre Dame, Judge Hayes worked for several years as a business consultant with Andersen Consulting, later known as Accenture, serving clients in primarily the Oil and Gas Industries. Deciding to change career paths, Judge Hayes attended Loyola University Chicago School of Law. Her legal career began as an associate attorney with the Chicago law firm of Vedder, Price, Kaufman & Kammholz, PC where she focused on commercial litigation.

Most of her legal career, however, was spent as an Assistant State’s Attorney with the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office. ln February of 2015, Hayes was selected by the 18th Judicial Circuit judges as an associate judge. Judge Hayes is now in her tenth year as an associate judge and has previously served in both the Traffic/ Misdemeanor and Domestic Relations Division. She is currently assigned to the Chancery Division.

We honor and congratulate this year’s Inspirational Woman Award recipient, Hon. Anne T. Hayes.

Past Winners

  • Judge Helen C Kinney (Year Unknown)
  • Tom Leahy (Year Unknown)
  • Irene Bahr – 1999
  • Professor Dawn Clark Netsch – 2001
  • Justice Ann Jorgensen – 2003
  • Haydee Olinger – 2004
  • Irene Bahr – 2006
  • Judge Bonnie Wheaton – 2007
  • Jane Radostits – 2008
  • Susan Alvarado – 2009
  • Brenda Carroll – 2010
  • Brigid Duffield – 2011
  • Michelle Moore – 2012
  • Judge Dorothy French – 2013
  • Margaret O’Connell – 2014
  • Lynn M. Mirabella – 2015
  • Judge Linda Davenport - 2016
  • Kimberly Davis - 2017
  • Rebecca Laho - 2018
  • Deborah A. Carder - 2019
  • Judge Ann Celine O. Walsh - 2020
  • Wendy M. Musielak - 2021
  • Lisa M. Giese - 2022
  • Terry Fawell (posthumously) - 2023