WOODSTOCK – Crystal Lake attorney Michael E. Coppedge was selected to fill one of two vacancies on the local bench.
Coppedge will fill an opening for an associate judge position that was left by the retirement of Judge Robert Bearderstadt.
Coppedge, a partner in the law firm Cowlin, Naughton, Curran and Coppedge, was selected from a field of 18 candidates.
A second associate judge vacancy in the 22nd Judicial Circuit remains, and it is unclear when the name of the person selected for that position will be announced.
Coppedge graduated from the College of St. Francis in Joliet and earned a law degree from Northern Illinois University. He was admitted to the bar in 1987.
Arrangements for Coppedge's formal installation and courtroom assignment still have not been announced.
– Chelsea McDougall