Illinois has the second-largest unified court system in the United States. Understanding which court your case belongs in can shape strategy, timeline, and outcome.
Illinois Circuit Courts (State Trial Courts)
Illinois trial courts are organized into 23 judicial circuits covering the state’s 102 counties. The largest is the Circuit Court of Cook County, which is one of the largest unified court systems in the United States by case volume. Other major Circuit Courts include the 18th Judicial Circuit (DuPage County), the 19th (Lake County), the 16th (Kane County), the 12th (Will County), the 17th (Winnebago and Boone Counties, including Rockford), the 7th (Sangamon County, including Springfield), the 10th (Peoria, Tazewell, Marshall, Putnam, and Stark Counties), and the 6th (Champaign, DeWitt, Douglas, Macon, Moultrie, and Piatt Counties).
Most personal injury cases are filed in the Circuit Court of the county where the wreck happened, where the at-fault defendant lives, or where a defendant corporation has its registered office or transacts business, under Illinois’ general venue statute (735 ILCS 5/2-101).
Illinois Appellate Court
The intermediate appellate court is divided into five districts: First District (Cook County, headquartered in Chicago), Second District (the Chicago collar counties and northern Illinois, headquartered in Elgin), Third District (north-central Illinois, headquartered in Ottawa, with cases also heard in Peoria and the Quad Cities), Fourth District (central Illinois, headquartered in Springfield), and Fifth District (southern Illinois, headquartered in Mount Vernon).
Illinois Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of Illinois sits in the Supreme Court Building in Springfield, with secondary chambers in Chicago. The Court hears cases on discretionary review and has issued many of the foundational Illinois personal injury decisions, including Alvis v. Ribar (1981) (which adopted comparative fault for Illinois), Coney v. J.L.G. Industries (1983), and Lebron v. Gottlieb Memorial Hospital (2010) (striking down the previous medical malpractice non-economic damages cap).
Illinois Court of Claims
Cases against the State of Illinois itself are not heard in Circuit Court. They are filed in the Illinois Court of Claims under 705 ILCS 505/, with offices in Springfield. The Court of Claims has its own filing deadlines, procedural rules, and damages limits, and is a separate procedural track from claims against local public entities (which go to Circuit Court but are governed by the one-year deadline under the Tort Immunity Act).
Federal District Courts (Three Districts)
Illinois is divided into three federal judicial districts:
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, with the principal courthouse in Chicago at the Everett McKinley Dirksen United States Courthouse, 219 South Dearborn Street, plus a Western Division courthouse in Rockford. The Northern District covers the entire Chicago metropolitan area and the Rockford region. By caseload, it is one of the largest federal trial courts in the United States.
- U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois, with courthouses in Peoria (the Peoria Federal Building), Springfield (the Paul Findley Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse), and Urbana (the U.S. Courthouse on Vine Street), plus seasonal court in Rock Island. The Central District covers the central Illinois corridor from the Quad Cities through Peoria, Bloomington-Normal, Champaign-Urbana, and Springfield, and south to Effingham and Mattoon.
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois, with courthouses in East St. Louis (the Melvin Price Federal Building) and Benton (the U.S. Courthouse). The Southern District covers the Metro East St. Louis area, the Carbondale region, and the southern Illinois counties down to the Ohio River.