Meet
Carissa
Bryant
Carissa Bryant has been serving with integrity since the beginning of her career.
After graduating from Western Illinois University in 2009, Carissa earned her law degree from Southern Illinois University School of Law where she worked with the Domestic Violence Clinic, Moot Court, and Trial Advocacy programs.
Carissa’s work earned her the Award for Excellence in Public Service.
Carissa Bryant brings
unmatched
legal experience to the bench
Once admitted to the Illinois State Bar in 2013, Carissa returned home to McDonough County to join the Hartzell, Tucker, and Hartzell firm in Carthage, where she became a partner in 2017.
Her legal practice spans all counties in the Ninth Circuit and includes:
- Contested family matters
- Contested civil litigation
- Municipal work
- Appellate cases in the Third and Fourth District Appellate Courts
She is an active member of the Illinois State Bar Association and just completed her second term on the Standing Committee for Illinois Civil Practice and Procedure.
Carissa Bryant’s connection to western Illinois runs deep.
Carissa is proud to be a lifelong McDonough County resident. She calls her family farm in rural McDonough County home with her husband, Justin, and their two sons, Jackson and Lincoln.
Carissa was raised in a small town where a person’s word and a firm handshake still mean something, where neighbors look out for one another, and where faith and family shape how we treat one another.
These values did not leave her when she began her law practice, and they will not leave her when she is ruling from the bench. As your Judge, Carissa will bring the same common sense and respect she learned growing up right here in our community, now to protect our families and defend our way of life.
Carissa’s rural values of hard work, personal responsibility, and faith in something bigger continue to guide her today and are the same principles her and her husband work so hard to instill in their boys.