Illinois General Assembly - Illinois Compiled Statutes

Updating the database of the Illinois Compiled Statutes (ILCS) is an ongoing process. Recent laws may not yet be included in the ILCS database, but they are found on this site as Public Acts soon after they become law. For information concerning the relationship between statutes and Public Acts, refer to the Guide.

Because the statute database is maintained primarily for legislative drafting purposes, statutory changes are sometimes included in the statute database before they take effect. If the source note at the end of a Section of the statutes includes a Public Act that has not yet taken effect, the version of the law that is currently in effect may have already been removed from the database and you should refer to that Public Act to see the changes made to the current law.

735 ILCS 5/8-2005

(735 ILCS 5/8-2005)

Sec. 8-2005. Attorney's records.

This Section applies only if a client and his or her authorized
attorney have complied with all applicable legal requirements regarding
examination and copying of client files, including but not limited to
satisfaction of expenses and attorney retaining liens.

Upon the request of a client, an
attorney shall permit the client's authorized attorney to examine and copy the
records kept by the attorney in connection with the representation of the
client, with the exception of attorney work product. The request for
examination and copying of the records shall be in
writing and shall be delivered to the attorney.  Within a reasonable time after
the attorney receives the written request, the attorney shall comply with the
written request at his or her office or any other place designated by him or
her.  At the time of copying, the person requesting the records shall
reimburse the attorney for all reasonable expenses, including the costs of
independent copy service companies, incurred by the attorney in connection
with the copying not to exceed a
$20 handling charge for processing the request,
and
the actual postage or shipping charges, if any, plus (1) for paper copies 75 cents per page for the first through 25th pages, 50 cents per page for the
26th through 50th pages, and 25 cents per page for all pages in excess of 50
(except that the charge shall not exceed $1.25 per page for any copies
made from microfiche or microfilm; records retrieved from scanning, digital imaging, electronic information or other digital format do not qualify as microfiche or microfilm retrieval for purposes of calculating charges); and (2) for electronic records, retrieved from a scanning, digital imaging, electronic information or other digital format in an electronic document, a charge of 50% of the per page charge for paper copies under subdivision (d)(1). This per page charge includes the cost of each CD Rom, DVD, or other storage media. Records already maintained in an electronic or digital format shall be provided in an electronic format when so requested. If the records system does not allow for the creation or transmission of an electronic or digital record, then the attorney shall inform the requester in writing of the reason the records cannot be provided electronically. The written explanation may be included with the production of paper copies, if the requester chooses to order paper copies.
These rates shall be automatically
adjusted as set forth in Section 8-2006.
The attorney may, however, charge for the reasonable cost of all duplication of
record material or information that cannot routinely be copied or
duplicated on a standard commercial photocopy machine such as pictures.

An attorney shall satisfy the requirements of this Section within 60
days after he or she receives a request from a client or his or her authorized
attorney.  An attorney who fails to comply with the time limit requirement of
this Section shall be required to pay expenses and reasonable attorney's fees
incurred in connection with any court-ordered enforcement of the
requirements of this Section.

(Source: P.A. 98-756, eff. 7-16-14.)