Mary Anne Long

Hon. Mary Anne Mason (Ret.) has had a career spanning more than 40 years, including nearly 19 years on the bench in Cook County (Illinois). From July 2013 to her retirement, the Illinois Supreme Court assigned Justice Mason to serve on the Illinois Appellate Court, First District, where she twice served as presiding Justice. She also served on the First District Settlement Committee and mediated cases on appeal by agreement of the litigants. Justice Masons 13-year tenure on the circuit court included nine years in the Chancery Division, where she handled hundreds of matters in the substantive areas of class actions, commercial and business dissolution disputes, complex insurance declaratory matters, restrictive covenants and other employment-related matters, shareholder derivative and shareholder rights litigation, trust agreements, zoning matters, environmental disputes and many others. Prior to taking the bench, Justice Mason spent 21 years in public and private practice handling, among other types of cases, complex commercial matters, class actions, shareholder derivative and securities litigation, insurance declaratory actions, Federal Tort Claims Act cases and contract claims against the federal government. In private practice and as an Assistant U. S. Attorney, she argued numerous appeals in the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, the Illinois Appellate Court and the Illinois Supreme Court, and she is a Fellow of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers. Justice Mason has long recognized the toll protracted litigation exacts in terms of lost time and productivity, expense and uncertainty, as well as the emotional investment litigation often entails. Both as a lawyer and as a Justice, she has been committed to all forms of alternative dispute resolution. ADR Experience and Qualifications Served on the Illinois Appellate Court, First District Settlement Committee and mediated cases on appeal by agreement of the parties Chaired the Circuit Court of Cook County, Chancery Division Mediation Committee, which drafted and obtained implementation of new circuit court rules for mediating chancery matters Chaired the Illinois Supreme Court Discovery Rules Committee