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Mary Ducey Mulhern ’74 was born in the Edison Park neighborhood of Chicago, the fifth of nine children. Her family moved from there to Milwaukee where they lived until 1965, and then moved to Oak Park, Illinois. Mary graduated from Oak Park River Forest High School in 1970 and began her undergraduate studies at the Circle Campus of the University of Illinois – now called UIC. Mary transferred to Rosary College for the last three years of college and graduated with a degree in Economics in May 1974.

Mary went on to law school in 1974 at DePaul University College of Law, graduating in 1977 and becoming a member of the bar that year. Mary joined a law firm which represented people sued in personal injury cases and tried more than 30 cases to jury verdict while there. She then went on to the Office of the Illinois Attorney General, representing state employees and officials sued in their official capacities, with several of her cases going to jury verdict. Mary remained with the Attorney General’s office until 1987, when she established her own private practice in suburban Chicago. In November 1996, Mary was a successful candidate for Cook County Circuit Court and began her judicial career in the Child Protection Division of the Cook County Juvenile Court. Several years later, Mary was reassigned to the Law Division of the Circuit Court, where she presided over hundreds of personal injury lawsuits. In November 2013, Mary retired from the bench. From 2016 through 2021, Mary served as a member, and later Chair, of the Archdiocese of Chicago Independent Review Board, the Archdiocese’s forum for the receipt and consideration of all complaints of abuse by clergy and non-clerical archdiocesan employees. 

Mary and her husband, Joe Mulhern, spend a great deal of their time traveling, with Europe being a frequent destination. They have three grown daughters who live and work in the Chicago area and who spend many remote work sessions and summer weekends at Mary and Joe’s home near the beaches of Lake Michigan.