For all court related matters, please contact Courtroom Deputy, Lisa Provine at (312)408-5135, or via email at lisa_provine@ilnd.uscourts.gov
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, IN ALL CIVIL CASES all status reports and motions will be handled by written submissions. No courtesy copies allowed. Parties should not file a notice of motion with any submission. Most motions will be ruled on by mail after the Court sets a briefing schedule. If the Court believes that a hearing is necessary in any case, it will contact the parties with a date and time to call in for the hearing. The Court expects that these hearings will be quite rare, at least in the short-term. Monitor the public docket for information regarding hearings. All settlement conferences will be held by telephone or video. Once a settlement conference has been requested, a member of the Court’s staff will contact the parties to schedule the conference. Please review the Court’s standing order on settlement conferences.
IN ALL CRIMINAL CASES all motions will be presented before the Court as is normally required. However, due to the limitation of in-court hearings, prior to filing a notice of motion, the movant shall contact Lisa Provine for a presentment date and time.
To achieve the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure’s command of a “just, speedy, and inexpensive determination of every action,” Magistrate Judge Valdez has endorsed The Sedona Conference® Cooperation Proclamation dated July 2008.
In cases where discovery supervision is within the district court’s referral order and in consent cases where discovery is ongoing, please read The Sedona Conference® Cooperation Proclamation carefully prior to the initial status conference. Counsel should be fully prepared to discuss methods and techniques to accomplish cooperative fact-finding in their case at the initial status conference.
View The Sedona Conference® Cooperation Proclamation
