Trailblazing jurist, civil rights advocate, and respected legal leader remembered for lifelong commitment to equality and justice

Judge Shelvin Louise Marie Hall, a distinguished jurist and civil rights advocate who championed equality, inclusion, and social justice throughout her career, died Oct. 8, 2025. She served on the Illinois Appellate Court, leaving a lasting impact on the legal community.

She was 77.

Born in Cuero, Texas, in 1948, Hall graduated from Hampton University and Boston University School of Law. Her family moved to the West Side of Chicago in the early 1950s. Guided by parents who instilled strong values of justice, equality and service, she carried those principles throughout her decades in law and public service.

After law school, Hall trained in civil rights law with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund before co-founding the first Black female-owned law firm in the nation specializing in civil rights cases in Houston, Texas. In 1982, she returned to Chicago to serve as general counsel for the Illinois Department of Human Rights, overseeing civil rights, labor, and legislative matters.

Appointed to the Cook County Circuit Court in 1991, Hall presided over the Domestic Relations

Division for four years, then led the Law Division from 1995 to 1999, handling some of the county’s most prominent civil cases. In 1999, she was appointed to the Illinois Appellate Court, First District, where she served until her retirement in 2020.

“I am so grateful for the life of Justice Shelvin, my beloved wife and partner, who supported me and

many artists and creative leaders here in Chicago and around the world,” said Dr. Ephraim Martin

{BHM}, her husband and founder of Martin’s International Foundation. “She advised me and guided our government and civic relations efforts in support of the arts until the very end.”

A respected leader in the legal community, Hall chaired the Judicial Council of the National Bar Association, a 100-year-old organization of Black lawyers and judges. During her tenure, she and the late legal icon Judge Leon Higginbotham opposed an invitation for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to address the 1998 NBA convention, citing disagreements with his conservative positions on race and equality.

In Illinois, Hall served as chair of the Illinois Judicial Council, became the first woman judge on the executive committee of the Illinois Judicial Conference, and held leadership roles with the Cook County Bar Association, the National Bar Association, and numerous civic organizations.

A lifelong member of Friendship Baptist Church, Hall was the daughter of the late Rev. Dr. Shelvin Jerome Hall, who served as pastor there for more than 50 years and advised Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during his Chicago civil rights efforts addressing discriminatory housing practices. Influenced by King’s leadership and her father’s courage, Hall devoted her life to civil law and public service, sharing that legacy with her sister, retired Justice Priscilla L. Hall of the New York Supreme Court.

Hall is survived by her husband, Dr. Ephraim Martin {BHM}, her daughter, Dana Martin, her sister, niece, church family, and a generation of legal professionals, judges and public servants.

Services:

Viewing — Friday, Oct. 17, 3–7 p.m., Friendship Baptist Church, 5200 W. Jackson Blvd., Chicago.

Funeral — Saturday, Oct. 18, visitation at 10 a.m., service at 11 a.m., Gatling’s Funeral Chapel, 10133

S. Halsted St., Chicago. For more information, visit facebook.com/ephraimmartin or martinsinternationalfoundation.com.