Mariyana Spyropoulos
Expungements coming to colleges
Although she has only been in office for a year, Cook County Clerk of the Circuit Court Mariyana T. Spyropoulos is already implementing new services that she has never offered. These include becoming the depository of wills and offering expungement services to colleges.
A few years ago, Cook County Chief Judge Timothy C. Evans spoke about Cook County becoming the depository of wills. Spyropoulos is making that a reality.
“When people write a will, they sometimes give it to an attorney and often it gets lost in their homes, and when it’s time to look at what their loved one’s last wishes were, the wills cannot be located.”
That’s why Spyropoulos will have her office as the official depository of wills, where those documents will be safe and accessible to the descendants.
She is organizing an expungement expo to help people clear their criminal records. She will work with some colleges and faith-based leaders to set up mini courtrooms where people can talk to attorneys instead of going to one of the County courtrooms.
Although Spyropoulos is new to her current position, overseeing 1,400 employees and a $140 million budget, she has impressive credentials and a trail of political receipts. She is driven by her passion to serve and provide more services for Cook County residents.
Sworn into office on her website on December 2, 2024, Spyropoulos makes it crystal clear about her style of governance. In big, bold black letters, it says: “Cook County’s Front Door to the Justice System.”
In an exclusive interview, Spyropoulos told the Chicago Crusader that her office will serve the public by upholding a three-pillar pledge of justice: transparency, accountability, and accessibility.
Born to Erica and Ted Spyropoulos in Greece, Spyropoulos was raised in Chicago’s Beverly community and attended public schools.
She attended Trinity College in Washington, D.C., where she majored in political science. She received her master’s degree in business administration from Loyola University Chicago and a juris doctor from the John Marshall Law School, now known as the University of Illinois Chicago School of Law.
She first practiced law as a prosecutor and is a former Cook County Assistant State’s attorney. Years later, in 2005, she opened her own law firm, Mariyana Spyropoulos & Associates.
In 2008, Spyropoulos unsuccessfully ran for a seat on the Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD), which was endorsed by then-Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn. When Quinn became governor on October 5, 2009, he appointed Spyropoulos to a vacant seat on the MWRD board.
Based on her record, she was elected to a full term in 2010 and re-elected, remaining on the MWRD board until 2019, including becoming its finance chair from 2013-2015 and president of the board from 2015 to 2019. She was sworn into the Clerk of the Circuit Court’s office on December 2, 2024.
When asked why she ran for her latest position, Spyropoulos said that as an attorney for 30 years, she felt this office “needed some help to bring it to its next level, and I thought I could make a difference.”
She is establishing processes and procedures where none existed, establishing ethics policies and dress codes for employees, including some who wear uniforms, establishing teller duties, and ensuring that cameras work where cashiers are included in the evidence room.
Spyropoulos also invests in the training of employees, and she encourages them to continue their education.
When asked if she fears an impact from the Trump administration due to a flurry of cuts and government downsizing, Spyropoulos said, “It’s not affecting us right now.”
However, because she gets her budget from the Cook County government, which deals with hospitals and healthcare, she said those federal cutbacks could “trickle down to us and affect our operations,” resulting in some cuts.
As the daughter of immigrant parents, Spyropoulos is appreciative of this country, which has given her so much. That is why she wants to give back to others.
And that includes protecting the confidentiality of her employees and records for millions of others in Cook County.
Asked about Trump’s vow to deport illegal immigrants by having ICE agents get information from her files, Spyropoulos said because she works with several departments that deal with the federal government, there were some concerns about possible inquiries.
Vowing to safeguard her constituents’ confidential data, Spyropoulos has a message for ICE agents: “We’re certainly not going to not comply with a federal law, but we certainly don’t need to assist in accommodating them unless there is a warrant.”
Spyropoulos said she is conducting an audit to ensure that the millions of dollars coming through her office are properly accounted for and that there are controls in place where needed. She also posts information like her budget and contracts on her website for transparency. Her website also includes a data dashboard for the media and the public to see how many cases come through her office or the number of protection orders.
Spyropoulos is developing a portal with a survey so the public can register their comments or complaints about her office. “Whether good or bad, we want to hear about it,” she said.
To ensure confidentiality and as a venue for even more improvements to her office, Spyropoulos has developed an anonymous portal where employees can put their concerns into her system. Additionally, she is working with different police agencies needed to develop an electronic venue for people to pay their citations. She is also trying to include the city of Chicago ticket citations so people can pay or plead their tickets online.
Spyropoulos is expanding her website to include several languages. She has begun customer service training, which is needed to help de-escalate situations if her employees deal with people who may be emotional about their situations.
When asked about any changes in handling domestic violence cases, Spyropoulos said she is working on how they process Orders of Protection with the Sheriff’s office to ensure a ” tight process.”
Spyropoulos has expanded her after-hours Domestic Violence Orders of Protection availability at the Domestic Violence Center, located at 555 West Harrison St., from Monday – Friday, 9 p.m. to 3 a.m., and on Saturdays and Sundays, 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. Her Domestic Violence hotline is 877.863.6338.
Working with 400 judges, Spyropoulos said her office is one of the largest systems in the United States behind Los Angeles. “Cook County is larger than 28 states in the U.S.”
With so many people questioning governments and constitutions, she said, “Our systems are only as strong as people’s beliefs in them. It is very important for us as a democracy and government for people to believe that what we are doing is right and doing it in a proper way.
“Transparency, accountability and accessibility are pillars of that. I want to make sure this office operates that way externally and internally, communicating with the community. I want to run it as efficiently as possible.”
She is holding training sessions for her clerks and managers to help them be more effective and professional in their jobs.
To boost her employees’ morale, Spyropoulos is bringing back picnics and holding internal events, such as honoring African American History Month and a singing group that performs for them.