By Pat Milhizer

Law Bulletin staff writer

Two years ago, an elderly woman who was being harassed by her son didn't show up for a scheduled appearance before Aurelia Pucinski to discuss the status of an emergency civil order of protection.

“My notes indicated that the thing she was complaining about was that her adult son wouldn't let her out of the house,” said Pucinski, a Cook County circuit judge. “And then she didn't come back on the return date.”

So Pucinski called the Chicago Department of Senior Services, formerly known as the Department on Aging. A city worker went to the woman's home, accompanied by police officers.

When they arrived, they found that the man was holding his mother hostage in her own home. “There was a lot of discussion as to whether that [phone call] was appropriate or not …. If I had not made that original phone call, I think that she would have been dead,” Pucinski said.

Shortly after that experience, Pucinski started a pilot program to inform the city about elderly residents who file for civil orders of protection. The program has been running for a year.

“I just thought it through,” Pucinski said. “What needs to happen is for senior citizens to be aware of city services … and it works beyond any expectation. It turned out to be a very simple process. It was not an extra burden on me or the-staff. It involved faxing something, not a big deal — the petition with the complaint and the emergency order of protection.

“And if a petitioner doesn't return to court, the department can call and find out why,” Pucinski said.

Pucinski has handled about 10,200 civil orders of protection. And after more than three years on that call, she started a new assignment this week in the County Division, handling adoptions and legal matters related to elections, property taxes and mental health.

She calls the change “bittersweet” because, even though she's ready to try something new she helped start the notification program.

“I have loved piloting that program, but I leave it in very good hands,” she said.

The judge grew up on the city's Northwest Side, the daughter of Roman Pucinski, a former newspaper reporter, member of the U.S. House of Representatives and Chicago alderman.

Her mother, also named Aurelia, ran the family business, which was a radio station that broadcast programs in Polish, Ukrainian, Italian, German, Russian and Spanish.

With her father regularly traveling between Chicago and Washington, D.C., Pucinski attended five high schools. But she didn't mind.

“I thought it was great. I loved it. People look at me now and say ’How did you ever do that?‘ I think I just never thought about not liking it. It was just the way it was going to be whether I liked it or not. It never entered my mind that I should moan and complain about it, because that wasn't going to change it,” Pucinski said.

She graduated from Catholic University in Washington in 1968 and returned home to teach at a grammar school in Skokie. She started thinking about following her father's footsteps to law school, though the elder Pucinski never took the bar exam after graduation.

“My father was very liberating. He always told me that I could be anything I wanted,” Pucinski said.

She graduated from DePaul University College of Law in 1975. That year, she worked in a neighborhood family law practice on the Northwest Side.

“It was a very good way to start my family and still have a career,” said Pucinski, who has three adult children.

In 1984, she was elected to the board that governs the city's Sanitary District, now known as the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago.

Four years later, she became the first woman elected as Cook County circuit clerk. She spent 12 years in the office during a time when technological advances made it possible to put computers in all courtrooms.

Pucinski ran for circuit judge in 2004, and won a subcircuit race. Two years later, she ran countywide and won again.

She enjoys the intellectual challenge presented by serving on the bench — whether it's sorting out the facts of a given case or determining what the law says.

“These people have some crisis in their life. One hundred percent of the people who come to the court system have some sort of dysfunction,” Pucinski said. “I look at every case as a puzzle to see, what is the picture here?”

Pucinski didn't see too many attorneys in her civil order of protection call, but that doesn't mean that her previous courtroom at 555 W Harrison St. was argument–free.

“There are a lot of arguments, especially if they're pro se litigants,” Pucinski said. “But I try not to let it get out of hand. My philosophy in this has been that people come here, and they probably need to vent a little.

“So then the challenge is to make sure that it doesn't get out of hand. So I try to give them their time. But within some reason,” Pucinski said.

There weren't any heated disputes during the first

hour of Pucinski's call one morning last week. In a few cases, only one party — either the petitioner or respondent — showed up.

One matter involved a young man and woman who appeared to be no older than 18. The man had sought and received an order of protection against the woman,

but she couldn't resist attempts to reach him via cell phone text messages.

In this case, there were no allegations of violence by either party. But Pucinski has dealt with that.

“One of the things I ask very often when the respondent is finally here,” Pucinski said, “is ‘Do you love her? Do you love him?’ And they say ‘Yes.’ And I say ‘That means that you respect this person. How can you hit someone that you respect? How is that possible?‘

“I think that people, sometimes their relationships are spinning,” Pucinski said. “So the best I can do is get them to calm down … and ask, ‘Do you want to be together? If you don't want to be together then don't be together But don't be together and be hitting each other. That's not going to work.’ Especially if there are children involved.”

But in the big picture, the cases represent a small fraction of the estimated 5.2 million people in Cook County

“Of them, last year we saw 6,800 civil order of protection cases. There are more out there that are unreported; I understand that. But if you keep it in perspective, the vast majority of people who are in relationships are doing fine. Or they're moving on without any problems,” Pucinski said.

In another case last week, a man was having problems with a stepdaughter who stole his television and threatened him. The problem was that sheriff's deputies couldn't find her to serve the order

Since he was older than 60, the judge had already had the petition and order faxed to the Chicago Department of Senior Services, which is now common practice in such cases.

In return, the department checks on the elderly resident's well–being and offers free meals, homemaker services and transportation.

During her time on the bench, Pucinski never heard anyone complain that the city didn't call them.

“She goes above and beyond,” said Joyce Gallagher, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Senior Services.

Pucinski also wrote a bench book that contains a summary of all of the forms and procedures needed to handle civil orders of protection.

And she developed one of those forms herself.

For emergency orders, petitioners who leave the courtroom now have a certificate of affidavit of service that they can use when they get home. Before they get home, they're instructed to call police to let them know that they're heading home with an order to get the respondent out of the house.

Then the police show up and ensure that the respondent is served with the order

“The respondent has to move out until there's a hearing … and those are tricky cases because they both theoretically have a right to live here,” Pucinski said.

“But it's not safe for a petitioner to go home and throw a husband, boyfriend or wife out of the house. You want her or him to go home with the cops. Let the cops do it. That's their job,” Pucinski said.

When she's at home, Pucinski enjoys cooking and considers beef stroganoff and corn casserole as the dishes that get the most compliments.

“When I do retire, I've thought about going to chef school and becoming a volunteer at a shelter or somewhere,” Pucinski said.

She also thinks her father who died in 2002, would have been proud of a daughter who has worked in all three branches of government.

“It has been a phenomenal experience,” Pucinski said.

“Every single piece of it fits together and helps me be a better judge and serve this community in ways that are always exciting and interesting.”