Former Prepare dinner County State’s Legal professional Kim Foxx up to date her LinkedIn profile this week, laying out themes for her subsequent chapter as a “collaborative trailblazer.” Amongst her acknowledged objectives is a need to “construct programs of accountability that aren’t punitive, however transformational.”
Curiously, Foxx posted about that imaginative and prescient for a non-punitive system on Monday, simply hours earlier than a person was set to go to trial on felony costs for allegedly tossing a root beer Huge Gulp on her.
The bench trial for William Swetz was in the end continued to October 21, in response to court docket information.
In her LinkedIn submit, Foxx mentioned she left workplace “for deeply private and strategic causes,” citing burnout and a have to prioritize her household, well-being, and a need “to innovate, not simply litigate.”
“The form of justice I’m drawn to now’s proactive,” Foxx wrote. “It’s not about punishment after hurt, however in regards to the programs, buildings, and techniques that forestall hurt from occurring within the first place.”
“What if we turned keen — strategically and morally — to soak up some hurt in service of a higher good?” she requested.
“I’m designing a broader blueprint — one rooted in proactive care, radical accountability, and shared human potential,” Foxx continued. “That is what it means to guide past the courtroom. That is what it means to maneuver from justice to affect.”
We’ll see how her imaginative and prescient performs out for William Swetz on October 21.
Swetz “had no concept” who Kim Foxx was when he crossed paths along with her close to her Flossmoor house in June 2024, his protection lawyer mentioned at his first court docket listening to.
Foxx, who was nonetheless in workplace on the time, was on a morning stroll round 10:30 a.m. when Swetz, 35, drove previous in his GMC pickup, in response to officers. Prosecutors mentioned he shouted, “Get the f**** off the highway b****!” Courtroom paperwork obtained by CWBChicago mentioned Foxx proceeded to flip Swetz off.
Prosecutors mentioned Swetz then stopped, threw his truck in reverse, and “zig-zagged” towards Foxx, inflicting her to worry he may hit her. He pulled to a cease subsequent to her after she stepped onto the parkway.
He stayed within the driver’s seat as the 2 engaged in an additional confrontation, in response to the preliminary allegations. Finally, prosecutors declare, Swetz threw a drink on Foxx. She believed the drink was root beer as a result of a few of it landed in her mouth, in response to prosecutors.
Swetz’s lawyer has dismissed the episode as a “mutual exclamation of frustration,” arguing that Foxx’s worry of being struck by the truck was not affordable.
He’s charged with two felonies: aggravated battery in a public place and aggravated assault with a motorized vehicle.
CWBChicago reported final 12 months that Flossmoor cops initially pursued misdemeanor costs within the case, however these had been upgraded to felonies after a supervisor from Foxx’s workplace bought concerned.
Final 12 months, a high-ranking worker of the Prepare dinner County State’s Legal professional’s Workplace instructed CWBChicago that Foxx insisted that she by no means requested anybody from her workplace to get entangled within the case, including that Foxx sincerely believed Swetz meant to run her over with a pickup truck.
Right here is Foxx’s full LinkedIn submit:
I selected to not run once more for deeply private and strategic causes. Like many leaders navigating high-impact roles, I confronted burnout. I needed to prioritize my household and my very own well-being. However greater than that, I felt a pull towards one thing bigger: the will to construct, not simply reply. To innovate, not simply litigate.
Within the courtroom, justice usually arrives as a response – an effort to restore what has already been damaged. However the form of justice I’m drawn to now’s proactive. It’s not about punishment after hurt, however in regards to the programs, buildings, and techniques that forestall hurt from occurring within the first place.
What if justice weren’t solely about righting wrongs, however about creating circumstances the place fewer wrongs occur in any respect? That’s the long run I wish to construct.
This requires a basic shift in how we analyze danger and make choices — particularly in establishments. In my authorized profession, I watched as choices had been pushed by cost-benefit analyses, usually centered on minimizing legal responsibility. However what if our calculations centered on affect as a substitute? What if we assessed our publicity not solely to danger, however to doing good? What if we turned keen — strategically and morally — to soak up some hurt in service of a higher good?
I’ve come to grasp that my best power is not only in coverage or prosecution — it’s in folks. I take delight in recognizing and growing expertise in locations others overlook. A few of the most transformative outcomes I’ve seen got here from discovering good minds outdoors of conventional pipelines, trusting their lived expertise as a lot as their credentials, and giving them the area to guide.
I’ve led large-scale restructuring efforts, guided organizations via moments of disaster, and constructed coalitions throughout private and non-private sectors. These are management muscle mass that apply far past the justice system. Whether or not it’s rethinking how we develop expertise, how we assess social affect, or how we construction organizations for resilience and fairness, I carry a systems-oriented mindset honed beneath immense public strain.
As I step into this subsequent chapter, I’m searching for alternatives that enable me to co-create options that forestall hurt earlier than it occurs. I wish to be at tables the place we reimagine establishments, the place we construct programs of accountability that aren’t punitive, however transformational. My aim is to work with organizations — company, nonprofit, or governmental — that perceive affect as greater than a buzzword. I’m searching for those that wish to shift how we outline success, danger, and duty.
In some ways, I’m nonetheless within the justice enterprise. However now, I’m designing a broader blueprint — one rooted in proactive care, radical accountability, and shared human potential. That is what it means to guide past the courtroom. That is what it means to maneuver from justice to affect.
