Mandatory E-Filing in Illinois

For the past several years the Supreme Court has been attempting to encourage the counties of Illinois to make the transition to e-filing on a volunteer basis.  Unfortunately, such a plan was greatly futile, believed to be partially due to the lack of any centralized and consistent electronic filing manager.  In response to the ineffectiveness of the voluntary e-filing program the Supreme Court has ordered that e-filing for civil cases to become mandatory.

E-filing in civil cases shall become mandatory in the Illinois Supreme Court and Appellate Courts on July 1, 2017 and in the Circuit Courts on January 1, 2018.  For the Supreme Court, Appellate Courts, and those Circuit Courts that have not yet adopted an e-filing system, e-filing shall be done in accordance with applicable policies, guidelines and/or standards authorized by the Supreme Court and through the utilization of a centralized electronic filing manager.  Those Circuit Courts that have already adopted an e-filing system may continue to operate with their current systems but may be required to switch to the centralized, Supreme Court approved, electronic filing manager pending its evaluation after January 1, 2018.  Once a court is subject to mandatory e-filing, all attorneys and pro-se litigants must use it except for those documents exempted by the Supreme Court Rules or in the case of emergencies.  The courts have been instructed to deny any filing that is not in compliance with the above order.

For more information please contact:
James VanRheeden
JVanRheeden@quinnjohnston.com
309.674.1133