Daniel B. Shanes is a Circuit Judge on the 19th Judicial Circuit in Lake County, Illinois, currently serving as the Presiding Judge of the felony division. Prior to his appointment to the bench, Judge Shanes served as an Assistant State’s Attorney in Lake County for nearly 12 years. During that time, he served in every criminal division in the State’s Attorney’s Office, rising to chief of the felony narcotics division and chief of the felony review division, and was among the first in Illinois licensed to serve as lead counsel in the capital litigation trial bar. Before joining the State’s Attorney’s office, he served as a judicial law clerk to Justice Robert J. Steigmann of the Illinois Appellate Court. By appointment of the Illinois Supreme Court, Judge Shanes is a member of the Illinois Judicial College Board of Trustees and regularly serves as faculty for judicial education for judges and lawyers in Illinois. He is also a member of the faculty of the National Judicial College, providing judicial education to judges across the United States. In addition, he serves by appointment of the Illinois Supreme Court on its Committee on Pattern Jury Instructions for Criminal Cases.

Judge Shanes is a recognized legal scholar and author of dozens of articles, several of which have been cited by the Illinois Supreme Court, Illinois Appellate Court, and legal treatises. He has received numerous awards and recognitions for his community on behalf of the criminal justice system and victims of crime. He serves on the Board of Directors of a local homeless shelter and transitional living facility for women and children. Judge Shanes has served on the Board of Directors of both the Illinois Judges Association and Lake County Bar Association. After completing his undergraduate education at the University of Iowa, he received his Juris Doctorate from DePaul University College of Law, where he served on the DePaul Law Review.