Judge Victoria Kennison Standing Orders

Policies And Procedures
Effective 8-1-21

Court Schedule

9:00a.m.: Case Management Conferences/Status Dates/ Presentment of Motions Monday-Friday.

10:00a.m.: Prove-ups Monday-Friday.

10:00a.m.: 11:30am: Hearings/short Pre-Trials Monday-Thursday.

10:30a.m: First day of Trial Monday-Thursday.

1:30 p.m.: Continuation of on-going Trials Monday-Thursday.

1:30-4:30p.m. Pre-Trials Friday.

General Procedures:

Pursuant to Administrative Order 2021-38 all proceedings will be held in person unless for good cause shown otherwise ordered by the Court.

Before court begins for the day or during periods of court recess, counsel shall check-in with the Court Clerk for the case(s) counsel has scheduled before the Court. The Clerk shall not be distracted while court is in session. When addressing a case before the Court, counsel shall first state the case line number on the Court docket sheet, followed by the case name and number.

Once a contested hearing or trial commences it will proceed day to day, except on Fridays, unless for good cause shown otherwise ordered by the Court.

Communication with the Court:

All communication with the Court must be via writing with all parties copied in on the communication.

The Court does not accept ANY documents via email.

Courtesy Copies:

The Court will not accept courtesy copies unless of an Emergency Motion that is substantive in nature or otherwise directed by the Court.

Orders:

Simple scheduling for statuses, case management conferences, and agreed prove-ups will be by minute entry unless otherwise ordered by the Court.

After a case has been addressed by the Court, if an Order is required, it must be received by the Court electronically via Odyssey before leaving the Courthouse for the day. For so long as print forms of the Court approved Orders are available, Counsel are encouraged to use the same to prepare their Order for submission to the Court for review. Once approved by the Judge, the Order will be returned to Counsel who shall then scan and submit the same electronically via Odyssey from the Courtroom. A computer and scanner are available in the courtroom for said purpose. If print forms are not available, then Counsel may use their laptop to prepare and submit their Orders in Court.

The Court will accept walk-in agreed Orders off-call for cases where each party is represented by counsel of record and there is a corresponding underlying Motion pending.

Prove-ups:

Prove-up dates will be scheduled after settlement documents have been signed by all parties. All prove-up documents including, but not limited to, the proposed Judgment for Dissolution of Marriage, Name Change Order, Support Order, Certificate of Dissolution of Marriage, etc. shall be submitted electronically under one envelope via Odyssey no more than two (2) business days prior to the scheduled court date.

Pre-Trials:

See the Court’s standing Order dated March 15, 2021.

Trials:

Trial memoranda and trial exhibits shall be exchanged between the parties and print copies tendered to the Court seven (7) days prior to commencement of trial. The exhibits shall include any stipulations of the parties and shall be properly marked and bound with a corresponding exhibit list located in the first page of the binder. The first day of trial shall be scheduled to start at 10:30 a.m.

Judge Kennison’s Pre-Trial
Order Effective March 15, 2021

No scheduled Pre-trials will commence without the Court receiving from each party the following:

1. Pre-Trial Memo (Maximum 10 pages in length, double-spaced, size 12 font, and stapled), and
2. Financial Affidavit (stapled without attachments), if property/financial matters are at issue, and
3. Support calculations (e.g. Family Law/Fin Plan), if support is at issue.

Print copies of the above documents must be received by 4:30p.m. one (1) week prior to the Pre-Trial date. Delivery may be via mail addressed to Judge Kennison at the courthouse or hand-delivered to the Chief Judge’s Office at the courthouse. NO EMAIL COPIES WILL BE ACCEPTED by the court.

The Pre-trial documents shall be accompanied by a cover letter advising of the date and time of the pre-trial.

No documents other than those listed above will be considered by the Court at pre-Trial.

After the above documents have been exchanged, but before meeting with the Judge for Pre-Trial, the attorneys shall conduct a settlement conference. They must ensure that all necessary discovery is completed and disputed issues properly described in the memorandum, and that the parties are prepared to argue the same to the Court at Pre-trial.

Failure to comply with the above may result in cancellation of the Pre-Trial and imposition of an attorney’s fees award pursuant to 750 ILCS 5/508(b).