Denise recently retired as a Judge from the Fifth Municipal District of the Circuit Court of Cook County having served the people of the State of Illinois for 20 years. Her assignments included presiding over bench and jury trials in the domestic violence, criminal misdemeanor and felony branch courts, as well as in the civil, traffic, housing, and landlord/tenant courts.

Beginning in 1979, Denise worked at Odelson, Murphey, Frazier & McGrath, Ltd. as a legal secretary/administrative assistant. She became Office Manager and then obtained her Paralegal Certificate. She returned to college at night to complete her degree at Richard J. Daley and Moraine Valley Community Colleges and graduated from Governors State University in 1984, earning a Business Liberal Arts degree while working full time with the firm.

She received her Juris Doctorate from John Marshall Law School in 1989 and then took a leave of absence from the firm to serve as a Staff Attorney for the Illinois House Speaker of Representatives in the Technical Review Unit analyzing house legislation for legal concerns such as constitutionality, clarity and conformity with related statutes.

Prior to becoming a judge, Denise served as prosecutor for a number of municipalities handling housing court, traffic and local ordinance violations, and she was also the adjudicator for the administrative hearings in the Village of Orland Park. Denise represented several municipalities, school districts and townships handling labor disputes, contract negotiations, grievance proceedings and campaign election disclosure laws.

Denise is currently a member of the Home Rule Attorneys Committee of the Illinois Municipal League. Denise is the past President of the Southwest Bar Association and has been a guest speaker at local police departments and high schools. She has been an advocate for the suburban Domestic Violence shelter and is a member of Gaelic Park and St. John of the Cross Parish.