David Hylla, Chief Judge

David A. Hylla
Circuit Judge

Chief Judge David Hylla was born and raised in Madison and currently resides in Granite City.  He graduated from Assumption High School in East St. Louis, SIU - Edwardsville and earned his law degree from St. Louis University Law School in 1985.  He was elected Circuit Judge in 2006.  During private practice he was City Attorney for Madison and Venice, Madison County Special Public Defender, counsel for Service Employees International Union Local 98, President of the Tri-City and Madison County Bar Associations and a member of the State Bars of Illinois, Missouri and West Virginia. 

Judge Hylla was elected Chief Circuit Judge of the Third Judicial Circuit in 2013 and Vice-Chairman of the Illinois Conference of Chief Circuit Judges in 2014.  He serves on the Conference’s Jury Representation and Judicial Mentor Committees.  Judge Hylla serves as Chairman of the Illinois Supreme Court’s first e-Business Policy Advisory Board created in 2014 after being Chair of the Illinois Judicial Conference’s Committee on Automation and Technology.  He also serves on the Illinois Supreme Court’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Coordinating Committee, Special Advisory Committee on Justice and Mental Health Planning and Commission on Access to Justice’s Steering Committee for JusticeCorps. 

Judge Hylla is a past President and since 1989 has served on the Board of Directors for New Opportunities, a workshop and training facility for the developmentally challenged.  He is married to Anita (formerly Durborow) and they have a daughter, Amelia.