Ilana Rovner

Ilana Kara Diamond Rovner (born August 21, 1938) is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Rovner was the first woman appointed to the Seventh Circuit. She was previously a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Early life, education and career Rovner was born in Riga, Latvia to middle-class Jewish parents. While an infant, she and her mother immigrated to the United States during World War II from Latvia to escape its occupation by Nazi Germany. She earned her Artium Baccalaureus degree from Bryn Mawr College in 1960. She studied at King's College London for one year and attended Georgetown University Law Center for two years before moving to Chicago. She received a Juris Doctor from Chicago-Kent College of Law in 1966. She was a legal researcher for Richard J. Phelan of Chicago, Illinois in 1971. She was a law clerk for Judge James Benton Parsons of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois from 1972 to 1973. She was an assistant United States attorney of the Northern District of Illinois from 1973 to 1977, serving as Deputy Chief of the Public Protection Unit from 1975 to 1976 and chief of the Public Protection Unit from 1976 to 1977. She was a deputy governor and legal counsel for Governor James R. Thompson of Illinois from 1977 to 1984. Her husband, Richard Rovner, died in 2009. Federal judicial service On June 19, 1984, President Ronald Reagan nominated Rovner to a seat on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois vacated by Judge Joel Flaum. She was confirmed by the United States Senate on September 12, 1984, and received commission the same day. Her service was terminated on August 17, 1992, due to elevation to the court of appeals.