Professor Monica Llorente (JD ’00) and Judge Patricia Logue (JD ’86) Receive Chicago Bar Association’s Vanguard Award

Professor Monica Llorente (JD ’00), Senior Lecturer at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, has received the Vanguard Award from the Chicago Bar Association. Judge Patricia Logue (JD ’86), who passed away in February, also received the award. Given out each year by the Chicago Bar Association, the Vanguard Award honors the individuals and institutions who have made the law and legal profession more accessible to and reflective of the community at large.

“I am deeply honored to receive this award with one of our most distinguished alumni, Judge Logue,” said Monica Llorente. “I hope to continue to follow her shining example as a trailblazer in her field and the legal profession at large. I look forward to continuing to support others at all levels and from all backgrounds in their development as professionals and wonderful beings, while working towards making legal instruments and processes more straightforward and easier to follow, understand, and use.”

Founded in 1874, The Chicago Bar Association is one of the oldest and most active metropolitan bar associations in the United States. The Association’s voluntary membership of 17,000 consists largely of lawyers and judges from Cook County and the State of Illinois. The purposes and objectives of the Association are: to establish and maintain the honor and dignity of the profession of the law and to promote the general welfare of the members thereof, particularly by sponsoring and supporting continuing legal education programs covering new developments in all fields of law; to cultivate social relationships among its members; and to increase the usefulness of the legal profession in promoting the due administration of justice and the public good.

 “We are so grateful for Monica Llorente and Patricia Logue’s leadership and contributions to the Chicago legal community over the years and are thrilled the Chicago Bar Association has honored them with the Vanguard Award,” said Dean Hari Osofsky. “Professor Llorente is an amazing educator whose dedication to justice can be seen in her advocacy for children and her work on the Judicial Screening Committee. In the wake of Judge Logue’s passing, her receipt of the Vanguard Award is an especially fitting tribute to her life and groundbreaking work in service to the LGBTQI+ community.”

Monica Llorente

Monica Llorente is a faculty member at the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law. She was also appointed by U.S. Senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth to the Judicial Screening Committee, which evaluates and recommends candidates for federal district court judge in the Northern District of Illinois. 

Monica has broad experience in both the private and public sectors. Monica started her legal career as an attorney in the corporate & securities department of Baker & McKenzie’s Chicago Office, where she focused on mergers, acquisitions, and strategic alliances of publicly and closely held corporations, limited liability companies, and partnerships in the United States and across the world.  Monica transitioned to Northwestern from the firm in 2003 to continue practicing through the law school’s Bluhm Legal Clinic and run and develop the Children’s Law Pro Bono Project, through which she recruited, trained, and supported pro bono volunteer attorneys from law firms in juvenile delinquency and school law matters. 

Monica remains actively involved in local and national campaigns collaborating with youth, parents, educators, legislators, and others to advocate for changes in education and juvenile justice. Throughout the years, she has blended her private and public experience to create and develop new organizations and policies to better serve those most in need. For example, in 2005, she co-founded Dignity in Schools, a new organization uniting advocates, policymakers, and other stakeholders to improve juvenile justice and school expulsion policies and implement alternatives through legislation and practice.

In addition, Monica is an active leader, trainer, and writer in contract drafting and the development of different types of business entities with the goal of making agreements and commercial laws and practices more accessible to everyone. In 2024, Monica co-authored the 3^rd Edition of Drafting Contracts: How and Why Lawyers Do What They Do, which is used to teach the subject in law schools and organizations of all types across the country, even to non-lawyers.

Before receiving her JD from Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, Monica was a teacher. She received her bachelor’s degree in comparative area studies and political science from Duke University. 

Pat Logue

Patricia Logue was a pioneering attorney for Lambda Legal for 14 years before becoming a judge. After opening the Chicago office of Lambda Legal as its managing attorney in 1993, she worked on groundbreaking cases involving LGBTQI+ youth, sodomy laws, “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy in the U.S. military, and the rights of LGBTQI+ parents. “It is no exaggeration to say that because of Pat’s work, countless thousands of children around the country have grown up knowing–and being loved by—the adults who brought them into their families as parents,” Lambda Legal stated in a press release.  

Judge Logue graduated from Brown University and earned her law degree from Northwestern University School of Law. She worked for Jenner & Block, LLP and Business and Professional People for the Public Interest before joining Lambda Legal. She served as a lawyer with Lambda Legal for 14 years in varying capacities, including as Interim Legal Director and Director of Constitutional Litigation. Before joining the staff, she served on Lambda Legal’s board of directors for five years. 

In 2007 she became a judge at the Cook County Circuit Court in Chicago, serving in the Domestic Relations Division. As a judge, she performed marriage ceremonies for many same-sex couples. In recognition of her scholarship and contributions to the fight for LGBTQ equality, Judge Logue received numerous honors over her lifetime, including the National Lesbian and Gay Lawyers Association’s Dan Bradley Award, the highest honor given to outstanding leaders in the LGBTQ legal community, the American Constitution Society Chicago Chapter’s Abner Mikva Legal Legends Award, the Alliance of Illinois Judges (AIJ) From Stonewall to Lawrence Award, and the AIJ  Community Leadership Award in recognition of advancing respect, civility, equality, and access to justice for the LGBTQ+ community. She was inducted into Chicago’s LGBT Hall of Fame in 2003.

“Pat Logue was a brilliant lawyer, a trailblazing jurist, and a hero to the LGBTQ community,” stated Lambda Legal. “Lambda Legal and the LGBTQ+ community have lost a giant, and while we mourn her passing, we also express our tremendous gratitude for her life of service to our community.”