In Honor of HerStory: Interviews with Insightful Women

PSLS: In honor of Women’s History Month and International Women's Day we sat down with PSLS contributors Judge Sonni Choi Williams and Lisa Rae Corwin to share stories of leadership, mentorship, and purpose. Thank you both for taking a break from your work to share. What was your journey to choose the law as your purpose and when did you discover PSLS during your career?

Sonni: I was born in Korea and growing up we didn’t have attorneys in my family or interactions with them. I would never imagine I could be an attorney growing up. The struggle was to get out of poverty. We did that by coming to the United States. Both of my parents had multiple jobs and we benefited from the safety net of several social agencies to supplement the meager wages my parents earned to feed a family of six. I know they were under the poverty line of making less than $25,000 a year because I did their taxes. This gave me the sense of wanting to give back.

Lisa: I was raised in a small Northern Michigan town of 10,000 people. Law was always on my mind because my father was an attorney and later became a judge. Initially, I studied teaching in college because my mom was a teacher. I really liked working with high school kids, which I found through sports. I played basketball in college and coached freshman girls basketball in college when I was injured for a season. I entered student teaching my senior year and was surprised that these kids wouldn't pay attention to me. My mom still laughs at that.

I decided to go to the University of Illinois law school and I had a great experience there. At law school I wrote an essay ‘Why I Chose Law.’ I revisited it often to help me remember why I am here. I want to help other people. I’ve always been social services minded and feel satisfied when helping others.

In undergrad, I worked on an ethnography project interviewing people with mental disabilities and worked in a group home with kids experiencing substance abuse. I worked with a legal services organization in Battle Creek, Michigan and loved it. I actually got to represent people in the courtroom. I was doing what I went to law school for…to actively help people. I listened and learned about the working poor during this time. I listened as other people talked of the working poor as if poverty was somehow their fault. I heard biased statements like people in poverty weren’t working hard enough or doing enough. My clients worked multiple jobs, slept in cars, and were just killing themselves climbing out of poverty. This changed the way I viewed income inequality forever. I continue today to share my experience with anyone who remotely insinuates fault with those experiencing poverty.

Sonni: I ended up in the legal profession because my parents bought a convenience store in Lexington, Kentucky. They searched for an attorney and couldn’t find one who looked like them, made them feel comfortable, or made them feel they belonged in the room. I saw that unmet need and wanted to give people like my parents the choice of having an attorney that reflected their community.

As I journeyed through law school, I always felt that sense of giving back to the community. In Peoria, I did my first pro bono divorce case less than five years out of law school. PSLS staff helped me throughout the case. It was supposed to be an easy divorce but circumstances changed when the husband who was serving time for domestic abuse was released early from prison and showed up unexpectedly. It felt so good to help her get a fresh start in life. To help her in a pivotal moment was wonderful for my journey.

Lisa: I received a PILI internship with Legal Aid Chicago and was stationed at Humboldt Park. I combined my love for Spanish and the Law. I worked on divorces and went to the Daley Center to help families with domestic abuse. I continue that work with the Stepping Stones program in Bloomington. I also worked in Harlingen, Texas with people seeking political asylum through an immigration project in 1996. I remember a huge milestone when I was able to get political asylum in the U.S. for a priest from Honduras who I represented in immigration court. That was a life-changing experience for me. Upon graduation I accepted a job offer in Bloomington and even though it wasn’t legal aid I was still helping people again. My internships were all led by women.

Sonni: I was active in PSLS’ fundraising campaign committee in Peoria where we raised funds to help people in legal crises. I know PSLS is greatly needed in the community and I see this in the courtroom now that I am a judge. I give PSLS’ Joliet Office as a resource to people often. PSLS staff attorneys do God’s work. They step into place and help people who deserve an attorney. I say with certainty that staff attorneys of PSLS are competent, passionate, and give 120% to the clients they serve. This is why I continue to support and be involved. My humble background of living in poverty fuels my desire to give back. PSLS provides that service and purpose.

PSLS: Last year the ABA noted women are becoming the majority in the legal profession. In 2016, women became a majority of law school students. In 2020, women became a majority of general lawyers in the federal government. In 2023, women became a majority of law firm associates. How has the legal landscape changed with more women in the profession?

Lisa: I didn’t work with male attorneys until 1997 when I joined a Bloomington firm out of law school. I was routinely mistaken for the court reporter in those days. There weren’t that many women practicing, in litigation especially. When I was in law school there was a funneling of women towards family law and I really felt that. When I began we were doing asbestos cases, which I still do now, but the partners encouraged me to do wrongful termination and workers’ comp cases, just a wide variety to gain experience. In 2007, three of the four partners from that firm began our own. The landscape has changed but back then half of my law school class was women but we didn't have women in positions of power.

Sonni: When I was a baby lawyer in Peoria in 1999/2000 I noticed most of our Peoria County Bar Association (PCBA) board members were men. I didn’t see a lot of women and considered forming a women’s bar association to promote womens’ interests and women in the legal profession. I discussed this idea with a woman associate judge who offered that I could make more impactful change from the inside than outside. That was a profound statement. Women tend to isolate ourselves when we don’t feel like we belong. Going into the group and working from the inside to make change was an eye opening idea to me.

I didn’t form a separate women’s bar. Instead, I became active in committee chair work. I co-chaired the PCBA’s Diversity Committee for two years and remained active until I left in 2017. Change from the inside provides more of a ripple effect and I did that in the Illinois State Bar. I became active in the Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA) assembly and served on the Board of Governors. Believe it or not, I have never been a member of the Women in Law Committee, though they have adopted me as their own! It is historic for me to be the ISBA President because it demonstrates how we can be in leadership.

Lisa: If you don’t have a majority of women partners or a female managing partner, then you’re having policies made by men. So we won’t have equality in the law until women have ownership and power in these firms. That comes from women becoming partners. Women associates are still under the control of others. Why are there fewer women partners than men? Many women are creating families and don’t have support systems in place to do what is required to make partnership. I’m optimistic and I think it’s great that there are more women in law but we want women bosses. With power comes money which leads to so many more opportunities for change. That circles back to how I became involved with PSLS. I am empowered to contribute to PSLS because I have achieved a partnership position where I direct my money to give to causes that I care about.

I don’t get mistaken for the court reporter anymore, but we aren’t there yet. Two summers ago, I sent a letter to someone for my parents on my firm letterhead and he responded to me by saying ‘have your attorney call me.’ I called him back and said, ‘I am that attorney.’

I had a law school professor who always used women as examples as she taught. That struck students. I’ve thought of her many times over the years. Her pronouns were always she, she, she. She wanted to get us used to the idea of representation.

Things are better. We are making progress. We are not there yet.

Sonni: When I was appointed to the circuit judicial position that I’m serving now, I got the call from Justice Mary Kay O'Brien and I thought it was a dream that I would wake up from. The little girl who journeyed through obstacles to arrive here in 1977 had a limited world. I never dreamt that I would make history as the first Korean American and Woman of Color to accept the role of President of the ISBA or even to be appointed to a circuit position in Will County. That was not in my realm of possibility.

Judge Christina S. Kye is my counterpart in DuPage County. She is the first Korean American Asian American to be appointed to the circuit position. I am very optimistic in 2026 for us to continue to blaze trails for more women. I’ve been honored to introduce women trailblazers and coming into my position now is just amazing. At my swearing in ceremony, I saw an NIU law student in the crowd who had a heart wrenching and courageous story. I focused on her and challenged the crowd to dream big. I am someone who can break down every barrier and pave the way for other women to dream with me. I don’t view my position as a career advancement. For me I am doing for others. When my friends asked me to run for the ISBA Vice-President three years ago I didn’t want to run. It wasn’t going to help in my client building. My friends wanted me to run because they knew the greater impact that could be achieved. Leadership is never about helping myself but helping and inspiring others who come into power. Purpose-filled passion shaped me.

Lisa: When I moved to Bloomington they had a mentorship program and I was matched with Judge Beth Robb. She held that position forever and we still stay in contact. When I was younger, her presence and leadership was a reassuring resource for me and women in my community. Having her as my mentor helped me develop as an attorney. No matter what, I could always call her. There have been disenchanted moments in my career. Growing up having a parent as a judge, I really held them in high esteem. I was frustrated with the appellate court and she talked me down from a ledge many times. She is an icon and the first Woman Chief Judge of McLean County.

Judge Becky Foley does fantastic work in taking over and reshaping the asbestos docket. She is equally liked by both plaintiff and defense sides. It’s rare to keep both sides happy. Women have that balance. I’ve tried numerous cases in front of her and witnessed her interact with the community with a level of respect that is inspiring.

Sonni: If you look at the Illinois State Bar’s Board of Governors we have more women in the room and it’s amazing. Here in Will County in the 12th Judicial Circuit we have majority women circuit judges. We have 16 circuit judges, and 10 of them are women! It is phenomenal we are the first county in the state to reach this level of representation. We hold a women majority in the Illinois Supreme Court within the last three years.

Are we there yet? No.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg said ‘There will be enough women on the Supreme Court when we see it filled by nine female justices.’ Sometimes men ask why we want to be at the table. For hundreds of years we didn’t have a seat so we are making up for those missed opportunities. Now we can go to school, become attorneys, and serve.

PSLS: Thank you both for honoring stories of women. Are there any inspirational or courageous authors you’d like to mention in honor of Women’s History Month?

Lisa: Author Suleika Jaouad’s book “Between Two Kingdoms.” She writes about being diagnosed with cancer out of college and outlines the difference between the world of the healthy and the world of the sick. She is an amazing writer and the sheer determination and will to live that she expresses spoke to me and my family. We all have huge roadblocks placed in front of us. We also have the will to do whatever we will to survive.

Sonni: Justice Elizabeth Rochford, a Lake County trailblazer, sent me an amazing book “Great Quotes from Great Women” by Peggy Anderson. I have so many saved for inspiration, here’s my current favorite:

‘Trust yourself, create the kind of self that you would be happy to live with all of your life. Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement.’ Golda Meir

This is what I want to do for other women. As attorneys we often think we have to be perfect. We are going to make mistakes, we put so much on our shoulders trying to be the best. Let’s make mistakes, trust ourselves, and forgive ourselves. That is what great leaders do.

In Honor of HerStory PSLS celebrates and thanks all the women mentioned and remembered in this interview. Together we are courageous in pivotal moments and we lead with thoughtfulness and purpose.