Cook County judges have been quietly handing some of the county’s most sensitive criminal cases to outside lawyers, and the bills are piling up. Those fees, paid by taxpayers, are sparking pointed questions about who is watching the money and how conflicts of interest are handled.
According to the Chicago Tribune, court-appointed special prosecutors billed more than $773,000 for a cluster of post-conviction cases between 2024 and 2025. The Tribune’s review of handwritten court orders, payment entries and case dockets shows judges repeatedly calling in private lawyers when the State’s Attorney’s Office was recused or otherwise sidelined.
Public records back that up. County and court payment logs, including board minutes and finance committee agendas, list court-ordered payouts tagged “In re Special Prosecutor” and show six-figure or multi-part payments to firms such as McCarthy & Valentini. Those line items appear in the official Cook County Board record and in court attachments as routine entries in special-court orders, as documented in Cook County Board records…