The Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism’s Supreme Court Liaison, Justice Elizabeth M. Rochford, and Executive Director Erika Harold were honored by the Diversity Scholarship Foundation, NFP, at its 2026 Annual Unity Gala on Thursday, January 22.
Justice Rochford was the recipient of the 2026 Unity Award, which recognizes leaders who exemplify integrity, service, and a deep commitment to bringing the legal community together. Recipients work to promote fairness, collaboration, and justice while strengthening trust in our legal system.
“Justice Rochford’s dedication to excellence, leadership, and unity within the judiciary truly reflects the spirit of this award,” the Diversity Scholarship Foundation said in a statement.
Separately, Harold received an Advocate for Diversity Award for her “leadership and dedication to advancing diversity, equity, and professionalism in the legal community,” the Foundation said.
The Diversity Scholarship Foundation was established by a group of attorneys and judges to promote diversity in the legal community.
Justice Elizabeth Rochford was elected to the Illinois Supreme Court from the Second Judicial District in 2022. She has served as Illinois Supreme Court Liaison to the Commission on Professionalism since 2023.
Justice Rochford was appointed as Associate Judge of the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit, Lake County (Waukegan) in December 2012, and was assigned to hear criminal matters, family law matters, and in probate presiding over decedent’s estates and guardianships of minors and disabled adults.
In response to the Supreme Court’s mandate on Access to Justice, she took the lead on developing and initially presiding over a courtroom dedicated to self-represented litigants in family law.
She is currently President of the Illinois Judges Association (IJA). She served as the President of the Illinois Judges Foundation (IJF) from 2015-2016.
Justice Rochford is a former co-editor and regular contributor of the IJA’s publication, The Gavel, and served as co-chair of the Paging It Forward literacy initiative. Her volunteer activities include the United Way reading program, the IJF Literacy Initiative, the LCBA Guardianship Help Desk, Volunteer Mediator, the Loan Modification Assistance Program, Habitat for Humanity, Volunteer Estate Planners, The People’s Law School, Lawyers in the Classroom, 100 Club Board of Directors, Leader Council for Mercy Home for Boys and Girls, and the Spirit of 67 Board of Directors.
Justice Rochford’s honors include the North Suburban Bar Association L. Sanford Blustin Award (2024), the Loyola Distinguished Jurist Award (2024), the Hellenic Bar Association Socrates Dikastes Award (2024), the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois RBG Award (2023), the Joyce Fitzgerald Award from A Safe Place (2022), the Democratic Women of Lake County RBG Award (2021), the ISBA Woman of Influence Award (2020), the IJA Presidential Service Award (2020), the Lake County Bar Association Access to Justice Award (2019), the Lake County Women’s Coalition Woman of Vision Award (2019), the 19th Judicial Circuit Liberty Bell Award, on behalf of the LCBA Guardianship Help Desk (2012), the Outstanding Diversity Leader Award, Diversity Scholarship Foundation (2011), and the Lake County Bar Association Leadership Service Award (2011).
Justice Rochford earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Loyola University of Chicago and a J.D. from Loyola University School of Law in Chicago.
The Illinois Supreme Court appointed Erika Harold as Executive Director of the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism in 2022. As an advocate for civility, ethics, and inclusion, she leads and develops educational initiatives for lawyers and judges that promote professionalism as vital to legal excellence and a justice system that works for everyone.
Harold recently spearheaded the Commission’s landmark initiative on bullying in the legal profession, which included the publication of a report of what is believed to be one of the first wide-scale research projects in the U.S. on this topic.
This work builds on Harold’s long-standing bullying prevention advocacy, dating back to her tenure as Miss America 2003.
Previously, Harold served on the Illinois Supreme Court Committee on Equality and the board of Prison Fellowship, a national faith-based nonprofit that serves the incarcerated and advocates for criminal justice reform. She has served as a member of the teaching faculty for Harvard Law School’s Trial Advocacy Workshop and is a General Trustee of the Lincoln Academy of Illinois.
Her leadership has been recognized by the Chicago Bar Association, which awarded her the Earl B. Dickerson Award, and the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois, which selected her to receive a Vanguard Award. Both awards honored her efforts to make the legal profession more inclusive and accessible.
Before being appointed as Executive Director of the Commission, Harold practiced law at Meyer Capel, P.C. in Champaign, Ill., representing clients at the trial and appellate levels in disputes regarding fiduciary and contractual obligations.
Earlier in her career, she was a litigation attorney at Sidley Austin LLP and Burke, Warren, MacKay & Serritella, P.C. in Chicago, representing clients in commercial disputes and advising religious institutions on First Amendment issues.
Harold graduated from Harvard Law School, where she won a Boykin C. Wright Memorial Award for appellate advocacy in Harvard Law School’s acclaimed Ames Moot Court Competition.
She received a political science degree from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, graduating Phi Beta Kappa and as a Chancellor’s Scholar.
About the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism
The Illinois Supreme Court established the Commission on Professionalism under Supreme Court Rule 799 to promote integrity, professionalism, and civility among the lawyers and judges of Illinois, to foster a commitment to the elimination of bias and divisiveness within the legal and judicial systems, and to ensure those systems provide equitable, effective, and efficient resolution of problems for the people of Illinois.
The Commission achieves this mission through professional responsibility CLE, lawyer-to-lawyer mentoring, legal professionalism programming, educational resources, robust communications platforms, and more. To learn more, visit 2Civility.org and follow us on LinkedIn.
Press Contact
Laura Bagby, Communications Director
312-363-6209
laura.bagby@2civility.org
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