United States Magistrate Judge Gabriel A. Fuentes was appointed by the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on May 31, 2019, after a 20-year career as a litigation partner and associate at Jenner & Block LLP in Chicago.
He is a 1986 graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University and a 1993 graduate of the Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, where he currently teaches trial practice as an adjunct faculty member. He also served as a law clerk to the Honorable John F. Grady of the Northern District of Illinois.
Before attending law school, Judge Fuentes worked as a reporter for the City News Bureau of Chicago, the Chicago Tribune, and the Los Angeles Times from 1984 through 1990, covering matters including breaking news, crime, courts, and urban land-use planning. While at Jenner & Block, Judge Fuentes conducted internal investigations and defended corporate and individual clients in federal grand jury investigations and related civil litigation. He also represented media clients, including Chicago Public Radio and ProPublica, in litigation over public access to high-profile criminal proceedings and prior restraints on media coverage.
In 2001, he became an Assistant United States Attorney in Chicago, where he investigated and prosecuted federal criminal cases, and engineered the safe return of three United States citizen children being held unlawfully in the Kingdom of Jordan before returning to Jenner & Block in 2006. He chaired Jenner & Block’s top-ranked pro bono program from 2009 to 2013, received numerous awards for his own pro bono service, and served as president of the Chicago Council of Lawyers from 2010 to 2011.
