The Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism is pleased to announce that Executive Director Erika Harold has received the 2025 Distinguished Service Award from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Department of Political Science.
The award recognizes individuals who have significantly advanced the interests of the department, its students, or alumni. Harold, who earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Illinois in 2001, was honored for her work at the Commission on Professionalism, her impact on the legal profession, and her commitment to civic and ethical leadership.
“The Department of Political Science at the University of Illinois is pleased to recognize Erika Harold with our Distinguished Service Award. Through her commitment to the principles of civility and justice, she has advanced the interests of the people of Illinois and the legal profession more broadly. We are proud to celebrate Erika Harold as a distinguished alumna,” said Professor Thomas J. Rudolph, Head of the Department of Political Science.
As Executive Director of the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism, Harold leads and develops educational initiatives that promote professionalism among Illinois lawyers and judges.
The Commission develops continuing legal education focused on ethics, civility, and inclusion; elevates these principles through media interviews and creating content for its robust multimedia platforms; facilitates a nationally recognized lawyer-to-lawyer mentoring program; conducts judicial trainings on topics such as navigating vicarious trauma and combating harassment and incivility; and participates in law school professionalism orientations that introduce students to the values of the profession.
Harold recently spearheaded the Commission’s landmark initiative on bullying in the legal profession, which included the publication of a report of what is believed to be one of the first wide-scale research projects in the U.S. on this topic.
This work builds on Harold’s long-standing bullying prevention advocacy, dating back to her tenure as Miss America 2003.
“My time at the University of Illinois shaped my passion for harnessing public service for the greater good,” Harold said. “As Executive Director of the Commission on Professionalism, I use this passion to advance the Illinois Supreme Court’s goal of fostering civility, integrity, and ethics in the practice of law, to ensure access to equitable, effective, and efficient legal services for the people of Illinois. I am grateful to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Department of Political Science for my foundational education and thank them for this honor.”
Harold graduated from Harvard Law School, where she won a Boykin C. Wright Memorial Award for appellate advocacy in Harvard Law School’s acclaimed Ames Moot Court Competition. She received a political science degree from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, graduating Phi Beta Kappa and as a Chancellor’s Scholar.
Previously, Harold served on the Illinois Supreme Court Committee on Equality and the board of Prison Fellowship, a national faith-based nonprofit that serves the incarcerated and advocates for criminal justice reform. She is a member of the teaching faculty for Harvard Law School’s Trial Advocacy Workshop and a General Trustee of the Lincoln Academy of Illinois.
Her leadership has been recognized by the Chicago Bar Association, which awarded her the Earl B. Dickerson Award, and the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois, which selected her to receive a Vanguard Award. Both awards honored her efforts to make the legal profession more inclusive and accessible.
Before being appointed as Executive Director of the Commission, Harold practiced law at Meyer Capel, P.C. in Champaign, representing clients at the trial and appellate levels in disputes regarding fiduciary and contractual obligations. Earlier in her career, she was a litigation attorney at Sidley Austin LLP and Burke, Warren, MacKay & Serritella, P.C. in Chicago, representing clients in commercial disputes and advising religious institutions on First Amendment issues.
About the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism
The Illinois Supreme Court established the Commission on Professionalism under Supreme Court Rule 799 to promote integrity, professionalism, and civility among the lawyers and judges of Illinois, to foster a commitment to the elimination of bias and divisiveness within the legal and judicial systems, and to ensure those systems provide equitable, effective, and efficient resolution of problems for the people of Illinois.
The Commission achieves this mission through professional responsibility CLE, lawyer-to-lawyer mentoring, legal professionalism programming, educational resources, robust communications platforms, and more. To learn more, visit 2Civility.org and follow us on LinkedIn.
Press Contact
Laura Bagby, Communications Director
312-363-6209
laura.bagby@2civility.org
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