Magistrate Judge Jeffrey T. Gilbert was appointed to the Federal Bench on May 7, 2010.
Judge Gilbert was born and raised in Chicago. He grew up in Rogers Park and graduated from Roger C. Sullivan High School in 1973. Judge Jeffrey Gilbert received his undergraduate degree from Washington University in St. Louis in 1977 and his law degree from Northwestern University School of Law in 1980, where he was Articles Editor of the Law Review. After graduating from Northwestern, Judge Gilbert clerked for Judge Marvin E. Aspen of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois from 1980 to 1982.
In 1982, Judge Gilbert joined the law firm then known as Sachnoff Schrager Jones Weaver & Rubenstein, Ltd., at the time a firm of less than 30 lawyers. He practiced with that firm as Sachnoff & Weaver, Ltd., through and including its 2007 merger with Reed Smith LLP, an international law firm of over 1,600 lawyers, and then until he was sworn in as a Magistrate Judge in May 2010.
During his 28 years in private practice, he specialized in securities litigation, but he also represented clients in a variety of other kinds of business and other litigation. He represented both plaintiffs and defendants, individuals, and corporations, in class actions and non-class cases. Throughout his career, Judge Gilbert also maintained an active pro bono practice. Among other cases, he was one of the lawyers for plaintiffs in
Jones v. Chicago Transit Authority,
a landmark case under the Illinois Human Rights Act that resulted in the installation of wheelchair lifts on CTA buses years before the passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act.
Judge Gilbert has been an adjunct professor at Northwestern University School of Law for more than 25 years, where he teaches a course on trial advocacy and evidence and previously co-taught a class on disability law. He also taught a course on the first amendment and the media at Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism and taught for many years in the National Institute for Trial Advocacy trial advocacy program. Judge Gilbert has served on the boards of directors of various organizations, including the Chicago Council of Lawyers and Access Living, and the Federal Magistrate Judges Association.