Alumni Spotlight: Jack Blakey, B.A. ’88, J.D. ’92
Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office
When Jack Blakey, B.A. ’88, J.D. ’92 and his six siblings were growing up in New York and Washington, their father used to pull each child out of school occasionally to accompany him to legal proceedings. “He would take me to hearings with him on Capitol Hill, and then take me to lunch to explain what was happening,” remembers Jack. “And then I had my dad as a professor at Notre Dame, and learning the law from him was just continuing the education I started in childhood.”
Jack’s dad is G. Robert Blakey, Notre Dame’s William J. and Dorothy K. O’Neill Professor of Law. He is also the nation’s foremost authority on the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act (RICO) and the federal wiretap statute, both of which he helped write in the late 1960s. He has been personally involved in drafting and implementing RICO-type legislation in 22 of the more than 30 states that have enacted racketeering laws and in 39 of the 43 states that have wiretap statutes.
Now Jack Blakey, in his new role as Chief of the Special Prosecutions Bureau of the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, will take up the charge in Illinois to strengthen the state’s RICO and wiretap laws in an effort to better fight the pervasive corruption there. “Compared to the federal government and most states, Illinois is in the dark ages with respect to our ability to prosecute political corruption and organized crime,” says Jack. “These issues are currently pending in legislature, and will hopefully catch Illinois up.”
Jack spent four years as an Assistant State’s Attorney in Cook County before serving as an Assistant United State’s Attorney in both the Southern District of Florida and the Northern District of Illinois.
“The interesting part for me,” says the elder Blakey, “is that what I worked on for the federal government, my son is now working on for the state of Illinois. If he’s successful, it will be like history repeating itself. That’s the part that warms my heart.”
