General Procedures:

Pursuant to Administrative Order 2021-38 all proceedings will be held in person unless advance

permission is obtained from the Court upon written Notice of Motion and Motion for good

cause shown.

Before court begins for the day or during periods of court recess, counsel shall check-in with

the Court Clerk for the case(s) counsel has scheduled before the Court.  The Clerk shall not be

distracted while court is in session.  When addressing a case before the Court, counsel shall

first state the case line number from that day’s Court docket sheet, followed by the case name

and number.

Once a contested hearing or trial commences it will proceed day to day, except on Fridays,

unless for good cause shown otherwise ordered by the Court. 

 Communication with the Court:

All communication with the Court must be via writing with all parties copied in on the

communication.  The Court does not accept nor will the Court respond to any unsolicited email

correspondence. The Court does not accept ANY documents via email.

Courtesy Copies:

The Court shall not accept courtesy copies of Motions/Petitions in advance of Court unless

otherwise directed by the Court.

Orders:

Statuses, case management conferences, and agreed prove-ups are scheduled in Court via

minute entry only unless otherwise directed by the Court.

A written Order shall be submitted to the Court electronically via Odyssey for all matters

scheduled for hearing, pre-trial or trial.  All Orders, except for Orders pertaining to Orders of

Protection, shall be submitted via Odyssey within 24 hours of the case being addressed. The

Orders shall be properly dated, list the parties who were present before the Court and names

of any attorneys of record. If setting hearing or trial, the Orders shall list each Motion/Petition

and the date of filing.  If an Order is required and not submitted timely it will be rejected and

counsel must immediately appear before the Court to re-present the proposed Order. Failure to

submit and obtain from the Court a signed Order may result in cancellation of the intended

future court date.

 A computer and scanner are available in the courtroom for use in submitting proposed Orders

through Odyssey, but all Counsel are encouraged to bring their own lap tops to Court to assist

in the timely submission of Orders.

The Court will accept for presentment agreed Orders presented off-call only on cases where

each party is represented by counsel of record and there is a corresponding underlying Motion

pending.

All Orders of Protection shall be submitted directly to the Judge in court before counsel/self-

represented litigant(s) leave the courtroom.

It typically takes approximately one (1) business day from the day the Judge signs a

proposed Order on Odyssey for that Order to be available for obtaining copies through the

Clerk’s Office.

Prove-ups:

Prove-up dates will be scheduled only after settlement documents have been signed by all

parties.  All prove-up documents including, but not limited to, the proposed Judgment for

Dissolution of Marriage, Marital Settlement Agreement, Name Change Order, Support Order,

Certificate of Dissolution of Marriage, etc. shall be submitted electronically under one

envelope via Odyssey no more than two (2) business days prior to the scheduled court date.

Each document must be scanned in as its own separate pdf image.

Pre-Trials:

See the Court’s standing Order dated September 1, 2022.

Trials:

Trial memoranda and trial exhibits shall be exchanged between the parties and print

copies tendered to the Court seven (7) days prior to commencement of trial.  Trial exhibits

shall include any agreed stipulations of the parties and all exhibit notebooks shall be properly

marked and bound with a corresponding exhibit list located in the first page of the binder. The

first day of trial shall be scheduled to start at 10:30 a.m. and each subsequent day of trial shall

begin at 1:30 p.m. unless otherwise ordered by the Court. 

No scheduled Pre-trials will commence without the Court receiving from each party the following:

1.     Pre-Trial Memo (Maximum 10 pages in length, double-spaced, size 12 font, and stapled), no other exhibits will be accepted;

2.     Financial Affidavit (dated not later than 6 months prior to pre-trial, stapled without attachments), if property/financial matters are at issue; and

3.     Support calculations (e.g. Family Law/Fin Plan), if support is at issue.

Print copies of the above documents must be received by 4:30p.m. one (1) week prior to the Pre-Trial date unless otherwise ordered by the Court. Delivery may be via first class or overnight mail addressed to Judge Kennison at the courthouse or hand-delivered to the Chief Judge’s Office at the courthouse.  NO EMAIL COPIES WILL BE ACCEPTED by the court.

The first page of the Pre-trial Memo shall contain the date and time of the pre-trial, the date of filing for all pending Petition/Motion(s), and the names and contact information of the attorneys of record.

No documents other than those listed above will be considered by the Court at Pre-Trial.

After the above documents have been exchanged, but before meeting with the Judge for Pre-Trial, the attorneys shall conduct a brief conference (via telephone or in-person) to review the same. They must ensure that all necessary discovery has been completed and disputed issues properly described in the memorandum, and that the parties are prepared to argue the same to the Court at Pre-trial.  

Failure to comply with the above may result in cancellation of the Pre-Trial and imposition of an attorney’s fees award pursuant to 750 ILCS 5/508(b).