When must the Illinois court hold its initial case management conference?

Establish when these parties are at issue from the actual pleadings and record.

Obtain the complaint filing date and compare its 182-day longstop.

Check a Supreme Court-approved local rule and obtain the court’s actual conference notice.

1. Establish when these parties are at issue from the actual pleadings and record.
2. Compare the ordinary 35-day at-issue limb with the 182-day complaint longstop. Establish any approved local exception before applying them. Neither isolated count establishes the actual scheduled conference.
3. Check statutory holidays and the proper court’s actual calendar.
4. Attend the actual court-set conference with counsel familiar with the case and authorized to act. Confirm in-person or permitted remote attendance. Preserve the resulting order and actual disclosure, discovery and trial settings.

Section 1.11 excludes a final Saturday, Sunday or statutory holiday and consecutive excluded days. Section 17(a) of the Promissory Note and Bank Holiday Act includes Pulaski Day, Good Friday and the general election for members of the House of Representatives. Check proclamations, the proper court’s actual calendar and clerk access separately. The bundled Illinois calendar covers 2026 and 2027.

A complete conference determination needs the at-issue date, complaint filing date, both timing constraints, any Supreme Court-approved local exception and the actual court setting. One fixed preset cannot establish it.

Only the specified local exception displaces the requirement

Paragraph (a) identifies a local circuit rule approved by the Supreme Court on petition of the chief judge. Do not assume an unverified local practice displaces both statewide constraints.

Counsel must be prepared and authorized

Counsel familiar with the case and authorized to act must attend in person or remotely as permitted. The conference addresses issues, discovery, settlement, trial readiness and preservation.

Preserve subsequent settings and the controlling order

Paragraphs (b) and (c) require subsequent conference or trial settings and an order recording actions, agreements and trial issues. That order controls the subsequent action unless modified.

• The calculator does not decide the applicable civil procedure, disputed facts, sufficiency of a filing or whether the court grants relief.
• Check the governing edition and actual orders. A current rule does not establish every historical case’s timetable.

• Establish when these parties are at issue from the actual pleadings and record.
• Obtain the complaint filing date and compare its 182-day longstop.
• Check a Supreme Court-approved local rule and obtain the court’s actual conference notice.
• Paragraph (a) identifies a local circuit rule approved by the Supreme Court on petition of the chief judge. Do not assume an unverified local practice displaces both statewide constraints.
• Counsel familiar with the case and authorized to act must attend in person or remotely as permitted. The conference addresses issues, discovery, settlement, trial readiness and preservation.
• Paragraphs (b) and (c) require subsequent conference or trial settings and an order recording actions, agreements and trial issues. That order controls the subsequent action unless modified.
• Attend the actual court-set conference with counsel familiar with the case and authorized to act. Confirm in-person or permitted remote attendance. Preserve the resulting order and actual disclosure, discovery and trial settings.