J. Michael Luttig, the retired general counsel of The Boeing Company and a former federal appeals court judge who has become a prominent critic of President Donald Trump, and his wife, Elizabeth, sold their six-bedroom, 7,256-square-foot mansion in Lake Forest at the end of August for more than $3.3 million.
Luttig, 71, was Boeing’s top lawyer from 2006 until retiring in 2019 — a time when the company, now headquartered in Virginia, had its executive offices in Chicago. Prior to that, Luttig had served as a federal appeals court judge for 15 years, and during those years was considered a short-lister to be appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
In Lake Forest, Luttig and his wife paid $3.7 million in 2006 for the house in Lake Forest. They first listed it in May 2024 for more than $4.3 million and cut their asking price six months later to nearly $4 million. They lowered their asking price to $3.79 million in March, and then to nearly $3.5 million in June.
Built in 1961 and set on a 1.31-acre property, the house has 6½ bathrooms and a renovated library with a coffered ceiling, built-ins and a fireplace with marble surround. Other features include a living room with a fireplace and large picture windows, a family room with pine paneling and a wet bar behind wood-paneled doors, a de Giulio-designed kitchen, a breakfast room, a butler’s pantry with built-in display shelves, a media room with a home theater and a fireplace, a four-seasons room with floor-to-ceiling windows and a remodeled primary bedroom suite with a tray ceiling, cove lighting and a sitting room.
Outside on the property are a garden and a pergola.
Listing agent Andra O’Neill declined to comment on the sale.
The Luttigs’ former house had a $52,295 property tax bill in the 2024 tax year. The couple now are based in south Florida.
The house is on the same street as the seven-bedroom, 11,233-square-foot mansion of the late movie director John Hughes, who died in 2009. In 2014, Hughes’ widow, Nancy, donated that mansion to Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital as part of a fundraising campaign. The hospital sold it the following year to an individual buyer for $4 million.
Bob Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.
