For attorneys who don’t practice in Illinois and need to e-file an out-of-state subpoena, Cook County’s Law Division requires filers to submit three Subpoena forms. They are to be combined into one PDF file before uploading to the e-filing system:

1. Civil Action Cover Sheet (form CCL 0520)
2. Subpoena for a Foreign Action Cover Sheet (form CCL 0015)
3. Illinois Subpoena in A Civil Matter (form CCG N106).

Note: The court periodically changes these forms, so filers will want to visit the court’s website to ensure all forms are up to date.

Initiate a New Case in Cook County, Illinois

Click the Initiate a New Case link from the left menu of the Dashboard to begin:

1. Select Court & Case Type – Choose the court location and case type to file your new case.

1. Choose Cook County – Law – District 1 – Chicago – Cook County as your court location, and the case type Petitions to Issue Subpoena – Other Actions.
2. Enter your Cook County Attorney Code. Attorneys without a Cook County attorney code and Self-Represented litigants will enter 99500.
3. If the filer needs to request a hearing for any reason, they will do so once the filing is pending. However, they must first select a calendar listed in the Type drop down and then enter the word Motion for the Code / Value in this draft of the filing. Learn more…
    
   Note: The choices in the Type drop down auto-populate directly from the court. If the correct calendar for the court does not appear, the filer will still need to select one of the choices here or they will NOT be able to schedule a hearing date while the filing is pending. In this situation, it is recommended the filer picks something, and then leave the clekr a note at the bottom stating the true calendar needed.
4. The Ad Damnum amount is a required field for the damages or claim amount that you are suing for in your out-of-state action. Cook County’s Law Division specifically hears cases with a claim amount of $30,000 or more.

2. Add Documents – Define, select, and upload the documents that make up your filing.

1. Document Type – Select the Document Type of Complaint / Petition – Petitions To Issue Subpoena – Fee.
2. Enter the Document Description: After making your selection, type the true document title in the document description field.
3. Click the Click to Upload link to add your combined PDF document.
4. Click the Edit button to edit a description, delete a document, or replace a document.

3. Security & Optional Services – Choose a security level, and any needed optional services, for each document.

1. Security – Most times your choices are public or confidential, but those choices will vary from court to court, and from document type to document type. You will need to pick something from the choices presented to you. While many people choose the public option, others choose confidential if there is sensitive information they do not think should be public.
    
   If a filer sets a document’s security to confidential AND they do not want anyone served those documents, filers will NOT want to electronically serve any party. Electronic service sends ALL of the documents in a filing to ALL selected parties regardless of the document security type chosen.
2. Optional Services – When you initiate a new case or file on an existing case, you have the choice of adding optional services for the document(s) you are filing. This can be for extra fees or services like the court reporter fee or first paper fee, or for extra things like ordering certified copies (if the court offers it). There are many different choices that can appear here, so always be sure to check it before submitting a filing. You can also add a Qty to these optional services if you need multiples of something.

4. New Case Parties – Enter the required parties.

1. Most states will alert filers to the roles they need defined via this Tip box.
2. Some states will auto-populate the required roles in the parties section itself.

When filling out this section, you may select Representing Attorneys from the menu, or click the Add Another Attorney link to add them.

If you do not know your party’s address, you may click the Address Unknown checkbox.

You may add more parties by clicking the Add Party link at the bottom of this section, but you must still have the court’s required roles in order to file.

5. Filing Party – Choose the party or parties you are filing on behalf of.

6. Service Contacts – Add or select service contacts to perform electronic service. Service contacts provided by the court are annotated with and may not be edited.

1. eServe – Select (or deselect) any one listed to receive e-service. If no contacts are listed (or if a filer wishes to add additional service contacts), click the Add Service Contact link (Letter D). A filer may only edit or delete service contacts they originally added. Any service contacts annotated with is a contact directly from the court and may not be edited or deleted.

   IF YOU DO NOT WANT THE OPPOSING PARTY (OR ANY PARTY) TO HAVE ACCESS TO A CONFIDENTIAL DOCUMENT NEVER E-SERVE THEM. E-SERVING A PARTY MEANS THAT YOU, THE FILER, CONSENTS TO THEM HAVING ACCESS TO THE DOCUMENT.

2. Mail Service – Certified and First Class Mail – Starting in the fall of 2021, filers may choose to send the accepted documents to contacts via Certified and First Class Mail.
3. Name – In this column, a filer may add or edit an address for Mail Service. However, only the contact’s name will show unless the filer selects a Mail Service type in the previous column.
4. Add Service Contact – As always, filers may click the Add Service Contact link to add new contacts to a filing.
5. Return Address – Filers will want to make sure the Return Address listed is correct for any returned Mail Service.

Learn More about Service Contacts and our new Mail Service via Certified and First Class Mail

7. Filing Fees – Select a payment method to pay estimated fees.

Confirm Fee Calculation

Click Confirm Fee Calculation to see the estimated fees. The filing fees auto-populate from the court based on the case type, document type(s), and optional services filers select. If the fees seem incorrect to you, you may need to change one of these types.

Waivers on a Case

If you have a waiver of fees for your case, you will need to make sure to select a Waiver Payment type to avoid the charges listed in this section.

Learn How to Create a Waiver Payment Account

8. Return Date – Select a return date for your filing. This is the date by which the opposing party must respond to your filing..

1. If a Return date is not needed, check the Return Date Not Applicable box.
2. Verify Button – If a Return date is needed, filers must enter and Verify the date.
    
   If the system does not generate a return date, the filer may try leaving the filing clerk a message in the Note to Clerk field along the lines of “This filing needs a return date, and the Odyssey system is not providing one no matter how I request and validate, please assign a return date of mm/dd/yy”.

9. Review & Submit – Finalize your filing, review, and submit.

1. If you are Filing for an Attorney select them from the menu or click the Add Attorney link.
2. If your firm uses any sort of Client Matter No, enter it here. If you want an unofficial copy of the filing to go to anyone associated with the case, like a client, enter their email(s) here. Note: this is different from a service contact, and it, along with the client matter number, are for your internal purposes only.
3. If your court has the option to leave the clerk a memo, enter any sort of note here in the Note to Clerk box.
4. Review your entire filing for accuracy, Then check the box to acknowledge you have verified your filing information.

Submit Your Filing

Click the Submit Filing button. Clicking this button, sends your filing directly to filing clerk’s queue at the Court for review. Once all documents are successfully sent to them, the Court will return an envelope number with the date and time they received the full submission. This will be the date and time for the file stamp in your accepted filing. Any filing the Court receives weekdays after 11:59PM, on the weekend, or Court Holiday receives an accepted file stamp of the next Court business day.

On the Filing Status Screen, you will now see your filing is listed as pending. You may return to this screen at any time to see the current status for it and any other filing. Depending on the Court, it can take as little as a minute to review the submission to a few hours to a full business day. If it takes longer than that, the Court may have a backlog they are working through. If you are ever concerned about the status of a submission, the best thing to do is contact the Court directly and provide them with the Envelope Number on your filing.

10. Request a Hearing Date

If you need to request a hearing while the filing is pending, and you correctly entered the Case Cross Reference Code(s) / Hearing Requests information in Section 1, you may now do so as long as the filing is pending.

Learn more…

11. Pre-authorization of Fees

It is important to note that when you submit your filing, the court does a pre-authorization on your card for the filing fees. If the court rejects the filing, then they will not settle that pre-authorization, and it will eventually fall off your card within 3 to 10 business days from the date of the clerk’s rejection depending on your banking institution.

Learn more about the pre-authorization of fees

Serve the File-Stamped Illinois Subpoena

Once the court accepts the filing and returns the file-stamped copy, users may then serve it via a process server or certified mail. See Ill.Sup.Ct.Rule 204(a)(2) for more information.

Note: Since the court may change processes and procedures at any time and without notice, should give themselves plenty of time to eFile. Additionally, they may contact Law Division management at (312) 603-5426 with any questions.