Decades before he wrote the opinion that invalidated Illinois' 2013 pension reform law and faced tough election battles, newly installed Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice Lloyd A. Karmeier grew up on a dairy farm and attended a one-room grammar school in rural downstate Washington County.

The valedictorian of Okawville High School, where he lettered in basketball and baseball, Karmeier, 76, stood out among his classmates for a variety of reasons, says lifelong friend and Illinois State Senator Dave Luechtefeld, R-Okawville.

"One thing I knew for sure: I would never be the valedictorian of the class," Luechtefeld says. "He always has been [smart], was popular, was a nice athlete and was the kind of person who, if I had to say how he stands out, he seemed to never, ever let peer pressure bother him. He simply tried to do what was right."

When Illinois Supreme Court Justice Byron O. House offered Karmeier a clerkship out of law school, he took it. Then his law firm boss subsequently surprised him with a job offer, but Karmeier already had committed to House. He told his third-year boss, "If you had just offered me a job earlier, I would have taken it!"

Learn more about the new chief's background and his plans for the court in the December Illinois Bar Journal.