Raymond W. Mitchell started law school at age 20 and studied at Loyola University Chicago School of Law and the University of Chicago Law School. Upon graduation, he served as a judicial clerk first to Judge James L. Ryan on the United States Court of Appeals and later to Justice James D. Heiple on the Illinois Supreme Court. He practiced at Winston & Strawn in Chicago and Shearman & Sterling in New York City. Judge Mitchell served 14 years as a trial judge in the circuit court of Cook County, assigned to the Law and Chancery Divisions, before joining the Appellate Court in 2022.