Magistrate Judge Morton Denlow served as a Magistrate Judge in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago from March 1, 1996, until his retirement on October 1, 2012. He served as the Presiding Magistrate Judge from 2004 to 2008.
Judge Denlow is the son of Holocaust survivors. He was born on September 29, 1947, in a displaced persons camp in Munich, Germany. His family immigrated to the United States in 1949 and settled in St. Louis. He became a United States citizen in 1955 when his parents were naturalized. He attended the H.F. Epstein Hebrew Academy through 9th grade and University City High School. He went to college at Washington University in St. Louis and received his A.B. Degree in economics in 1969. He attended Northwestern University School of Law and received his J.D. in 1972, where he was selected to the Order of the Coif. He served in the United States Army Reserves from 1970 to 1976.
Following law school, he practiced law for 24 years in Chicago as a trial and appellate lawyer with several firms. He was a partner at the Dardick and Denlow and the Sachnoff and Weaver firms. His law practice consisted primarily of litigating complex commercial disputes. Judge Denlow was active in a number of bar associations, and civic, religious, and sports organizations.
As a Magistrate Judge, he presided over thousands of criminal and civil matters. His most satisfying judicial activities were performing Naturalization Ceremonies and conducting settlement conferences. As the Presiding Magistrate Judge, he established the Settlement Assistance Program to provide pro se litigants with counsel when they appeared for settlement conferences. The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights awarded him the Edwin A. Rothschild Award for Lifetime Achievement in Civil Rights for his work in establishing this program. He also pitched for the Judge’s team for many years in the annual Judges vs. Law Clerk’s softball game.
Among other activities while on the bench, Judge Denlow was a member of the Committee on the Administration of the Magistrate Judges System of the Judicial Conference from 2005 to 2012, an Adjunct Professor in Trial Advocacy at Northwestern University School of Law, a Senior Lecturer in Law at Loyola University School of Law, a frequent Lecturer at the Federal Judicial Center on settlement techniques, President of Resolution Systems Institute, Vice President of the Jewish Judges Association, and a Director of the Chicago Bar Foundation. In addition, he published a number of articles on the topics of settlement techniques and federal procedure.
Following his retirement in 2012, Judge Denlow joined JAMS, where he works as a private mediator, settling a variety of complex commercial, class action, and employment disputes.
Judge Denlow and his wife Reva were married in 1968. They have four wonderful children and eight grandchildren.
