United States District Court
Northern District Of Illinois
Local Rules
LR72.1. Designated Magistrate Judges: Referrals
At the time any case is filed and assigned to a district judge in the Eastern
Division, the name of a magistrate judge shall also be assigned in accordance
with the procedures adopted pursuant to LR40.2(a) when applicable. The
magistrate judge so assigned shall be the designated magistrate judge for that case.
Whenever a new case is assigned to a district judge directly and not by lot
pursuant to LR40.3(b), the designated magistrate judge for the case originally
assigned by lot will be the designated magistrate judge for the later filed case.
Any judge wishing to refer a matter in a civil case pending on that judge’s calendar to a magistrate judge will transfer the matter to the Executive
Committee in accordance with the procedures adopted pursuant to LR40.2(a). If the
Committee approves the referral, the case will be referred to the designated
magistrate judge.
Where two or more cases are related, the designated magistrate judge in the
lowest-numbered case of the set of related cases will be the designated
magistrate judge for all cases in the set. The designated magistrate judge in the
lowest-numbered case will remain the designated magistrate judge for the set as long
as any cases in the set are pending.
Except as ordered by the Executive Committee, the reassignment of a case from
one district judge to another shall not change the designated magistrate judge
for that case.