Ashonta C. Rice, a family law attorney with two decades of practice, is running as a Democrat for Cook County Circuit Court judge in the Coghlan Vacancy. The seat appears on the Nov. 3, 2026, general election ballot.
Rice received a judicial appointment to the Circuit Court of Cook County effective Aug. 10, 2026, according to Special Order 2026-50 from the court. She is seeking election to retain the seat.
Candidate information
- Party: Democratic
- Office sought: Illinois Circuit Court Judge, Cook County Circuit (Coghlan Vacancy)
- Election date: Nov. 3, 2026
- Hometown: Chicago Heights (far south suburb of Chicago), according to her campaign website
- Education: Bachelor's degree in finance, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; juris doctor, Loyola University New Orleans School of Law; certificate in divorce mediation skills, Northwestern University School of Professional Studies
Experience and public service
Rice took the bench in August. Before that, she worked as an attorney at the Office of the Cook County Public Guardian from 2004 to 2007, according to BallotReady. She then became a founding partner of the Akiwowo Law Group in 2007, a family law and estate planning practice where she has represented clients in domestic relations, child protection and Department of Children and Family Services administrative hearings, according to her campaign website.
Rice has also served as a Cook County Arbitrator since 2007, according to BallotReady. She is a Chicago Bar Association-approved Child Representative and Guardian ad Litem, appointed by the Cook County Circuit Court to serve in complex cases, she said on her campaign website.
Rice said she has served at her faith community's legal clinic, preparing pro se documents for people who could not afford an attorney and preparing expungement applications and orders for returning citizens. She said she has spoken as a panelist in continuing legal education seminars for the Illinois State Bar Association and the Black Women Lawyers Association of Greater Chicago.
Rice said she was named one of the Best Divorce Lawyers of Chicago by Forbes Advisor in 2023. She also said the American Institute of Family Law Attorneys named her one of its 10 Best Attorneys for Exceptional and Outstanding Client Service seven years in a row, from 2018 through 2024.
Endorsements
Rice has received "Qualified" or "Recommended" ratings from 14 bar associations, according to her campaign's bar evaluation page. She has also been endorsed by IUOE Local 150, according to BallotReady. The full list:
- Arab American Bar Association of Illinois
- Asian American Bar Association
- Black Men Lawyers' Association
- Black Women Lawyers' Association of Greater Chicago
- Chicago Bar Association
- Chicago Council of Lawyers
- Cook County Bar Association
- Decalogue Society of Lawyers
- Hellenic Bar Association
- Hispanic Lawyers Association of Illinois
- Illinois State Bar Association
- LAGBAC (Chicago's LGBTQ+ Bar Association)
- Puerto Rican Bar Association of Illinois
- Women's Bar Association of Illinois
- IUOE Local 150
Candidate profile information is drawn from the candidate's campaign website, BallotReady and Cook County Circuit Court records. No candidate questionnaire responses on policy issues were available for this profile.
