Paul is an experienced trial attorney who has tried over 40 criminal cases to verdict before Lee County Juries.  He has also tried hundreds of bench trials. 

Paul T. Whitcombe Biography

 Title:         State's Attorney

 Address:   300 S. Galena Avenue
                  Dixon, Illinois  61021

 Phone:      (815) 284-5245

 Fax:          (815) 284-1604

 Email:        pwhitcombe@countyoflee.org

Paul Whitcombe is a fourth-generation Lee County resident. Paul was born in Dixon in 1966 to Thomas and Jo Anne Whitcombe, attended Jefferson Grade School and Dixon High School, Illinois Wesleyan College and Northern Illinois University, and graduated second in his class and summa cum laude from NIU College of Law in 1992.  Paul’s legal writing has been published in two law review journals.   

Paul continues to update his education and training and attends legal and law enforcement classes many times a year.  He recently spent time in Boston training with Roy Hazelwood,  the world's leading expert on sexual crime and one of the original members of the FBI's Behavioral Sciences Unit, made famous in the film, "The Silence of the Lambs." The intensive training covered sexual crimimals and internet predators.  He and three of his staff recently completed the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board's forty-hour mandatory firearms training for law enforcement officers.

From 1992 to 1994, he worked as law clerk to United States District Court Judge Paul E. Plunkett in Chicago, where he assisted the Judge in some of the most significant organized crime trials of the 90's, including the trial of Chicago Mob Boss Sam "Wings" Carlisi.  From 1994 to 1996, Paul was an attorney with Jenner & Block, Chicago, concentrating on civil and criminal litigation. Paul received extensive training from the finest lawyers at Jenner, which is widely recognized as among the top tier law firms in the country.   His clients ranged from industrial giants such as Volkswagen to financial institutions such as Cole Taylor Bank and indigent individuals unable to afford legal representation.   While at Jenner & Block, Paul worked with former U.S. Attorneys Thomas P. Sullivan and Anton J. Valukas, and had extensive experience in both federal and state criminal work, including complex RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, a broad federal statute aimed at organized crime) litigation, a murder trial and capital litigation.

In 1996 Paul returned to Dixon and worked as an attorney for Ehrmann, Gelbach, Badger & Lee until being appointed Lee County Public Defender by Presiding Judge Tomas M. Magdich.   While Public Defender, Paul handled thousands of criminal cases and tried 36 felony jury trials and hundreds of bench trials.  Paul is a diplomat of the prestigious National Institute for Trial Advocacy’s Intensive Trial Skills national program at the University of Colorado.  From 1996 to 2004, Paul was a partner in Thompson & Whitcombe, P.C., a local law firm focusing on trial work including family law, criminal law, civil and corporate law, and capital litigation.

Paul is very active in the community.   In 1996, Paul and Robert J. Thompson produced a production of Neil Simon’s “The Odd Couple” with a cast entirely made up of local attorneys, and has served on the boards of numerous charitable organizations, including the Historic Dixon Theater, First United Methodist Church, and Sauk Valley Ministries.  Paul was elected in 1999 to the District 170 School Board (Dixon Public Schools).  He coached youth sports, including basketball, baseball and football, and taught business law at Sauk Valley Community College.   For several years Paul served as counsel to the Dixon Petunia Festival committee.  Paul is currently serving as the President of the Board of the Shining Star Child Advocacy Center.

As State’s Attorney, Paul is innovative and proactive in his approach to law enforcement.  He has implemented many new approaches, including the felony review program, where prosecutors accompany police on undercover operations and search warrants to provide immediate, on-scene legal advice, a new financial compliance program, drug court, the Second Chance Program, the Child Support Enforcment program, and is working with other agencies towards a paperless, electronic courthouse.  His office works very closely with other law enforcement agencies as equal partners and participates in many law-enforcement led community programs such as the Citizen’s Police Academy, the Peer Jury Program, and Shop with a Cop and the Enforcement of Underage Drinking Laws program.  Paul personally handles the most serious felony cases and has assembled a very talented and experienced staff.