Kilbride practiced law for 20 years in
Rock Island, Illinois, engaging in the general practice of law, including environmental law, labor law, employment matters, appeals, and other general civil and criminal matters. He was admitted to practice in the United States District Court of Central Illinois and the United States Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. The Third District comprises
Bureau,
Fulton,
Grundy,
Hancock,
Henderson,
Henry,
Iroquois,
Kankakee,
Knox,
LaSalle,
Marshall,
McDonough,
Mercer,
Peoria,
Putnam,
Rock Island,
Stark,
Tazewell,
Warren,
Whiteside, and
Will counties in
northern and
central Illinois. He was sworn in on December 1, 2000. Justice Kilbride is a past board member, past president and past vice-president of the Illinois Township Attorneys Association, a past volunteer lawyer and charter member of the Illinois Pro Bono Center, and a member of the Illinois State Bar and Rock Island County Bar Associations. He has served as volunteer legal advisor for the Community Caring Conference, the charter chairman of the Quad Cities Interfaith Sponsoring committee, volunteer legal advisor to Quad City Harvest, Inc., and a past member of the Rock Island Human Relations Commission. In the 2020 general election, Kilbride received approximately 56% of the vote in favor of his retention, which is less than the supermajority of 60% required by state law to be retained. Kilbride's failure in his retention election was the first time that an Illinois Supreme Court justice lost a retention election. After Kilbride lost retention, the Illinois Supreme Court appointed Appellate Judge
Robert L. Carter as a placeholder until the 2022 general election. Kilbride's term ended on December 7, 2020. ==References==