A judiciary representative of the population it serves is a fundamental necessity, says Justice Ramon Ocasio III ’88. “If the community can see that courts have people representing who they are, it expands the legitimacy of the system.”

In 2023, Ocasio became the third Latinx person — and first Puerto Rican — appointed to the Illinois Appellate Court. When, 17 years earlier, Ocasio was elected to serve on the Cook County Circuit Court, the number of Latinx judges was still in the single digits — and Ocasio wanted to play a part in changing that. In 2012, he became the first Puerto Rican to act as presiding judge of the Fourth Municipal District of Cook County. Ocasio grew up the oldest of 10 children in a predominantly Latinx, Chicago community. “I learned about hard work from my father,” he says, “but he also taught me about racism and the challenges this country still had to overcome.”

Ocasio launched his legal career with the Cook County Public Defender’s Office, a Northeastern co-op that became his first job out of law school. Today, Ocasio writes a column for the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin to engage the legal community in conversation about the courts’ role in expanding equal justice and reducing bias. Ocasio’s column is an extension of his view from the bench.

Armed with the vision of treating every defendant fairly, no matter what they stand accused of, Ocasio takes pride in representing the Latinx community from a position of integrity. “You can’t become what you cannot see,” he says.