Circuit Court of Cook County

The vast majority of cases filed, litigated, and tried in Cook County's law division take place in the Daley Center, which sits in Chicago.

In 2016, it usually took an average law division case three years to run its course from the original complaint being filed to jury verdict.

As of 2018, ten judges preside over the Law Division's motion section, which are all located on the Daley Center's 22nd floor.

Another equally important duty the judges in the motion section have is to hear dispositive motions, oversee discovery disputes, and adjudicate critical questions of law that only arise before a case is transferred to a different judge in the law division's trial section.

To put this in perspective, an ordinary case will usually spend two years and 11 months being presided over by a motion section judge, before being transferred to a separate judge in the Law Division's trial section where a two-week trial before a jury will ensue.

[8] The Commercial Calendars have specialized jurisdiction over commercial disputes, and function as a business court,[9] though other kinds of business cases, for example dissolutions of partnerships and corporations, are subject to Chancery Division jurisdiction in Cook County.

[16] Outside of the Daley Center, cases filed in Cook County's Law Division which takes place at any of the other five municipal court houses in Cook County are usually presided over by a single judge who presides over the case's motions and the corresponding trial.

The General Chancery Section hears the following types of actions: injunctions, class actions, declaratory judgments, contract matters, creditors' rights, construction of wills and trusts, trusteeships, receiverships, dissolution of partnerships and corporations, statutory and administrative reviews, and vehicle impoundments, among others.

[19] The Domestic Relations Division hears matters concerning the family, including: dissolution of marriage, legal separation, invalidity of marriage, civil orders of protection, child support, child custody and visitation, parentage, and enforcement and modification of previously entered judgments in these matters.

This division also hears actions regarding habeas corpus and extradition in criminal matters, and petitions to expunge records of arrest.

[21] A rather elaborate neoclassical and art deco inspired high-rise built in the late 1920's, the criminal courts building was long known by just its cross-street location "26th and Cal" (26th Street and California Avenue) and has held many high profile cases.

The establishment of the Juvenile Justice and Child Protection Department marked the first restructuring of the Circuit Court of Cook County in its thirty-year history.

The Juvenile Justice Division hears cases involving delinquent minors under 17 years of age.

The Juvenile Justice Division also orders programs and services to rehabilitate these minors and monitors their progress through probation officers.

The Juvenile Justice and Child Protection Resource Section serves as liaison to the academic, business and religious communities to identify and develop services and resources that will augment programs vital to juvenile justice.

During its first quarter century, its most important person was Mary Bartelme, whose official titles were Cook County Public Guardian and then (after 1913) assistant to the judge.

Bartelme devoted much of her life to child welfare and the reform of juvenile laws, and became an associate justice in 1923 and presiding judge in 1927.