McHenry Court on Zoom: Joining Hearings, Conduct, and Evidence

Most hearings in the 22nd Judicial Circuit in McHenry County run over Zoom, and you join yours through a case-based check-in page at mchenrycourt.date/zoom. Search your case, click your name, and the system routes you into the right virtual courtroom. The court retired its old static Zoom meeting IDs in April 2024, so any McHenry court Zoom link you found on an older page or in an old email will not work.¹

How to Find and Join Your Hearing

Start on the Circuit Clerk’s Remote Appearance Options page, or go straight to mchenrycourt.date/zoom. Both land you at the Zoom Check-In Search. Search by case number, or by your full name in “Lastname, Firstname” format. Pick your case from the results, select your name from the party list, and the page hands you off to the correct Zoom courtroom.²

If the search doesn’t surface your case, the page lets you enter your information manually and join anyway. You can attend from a computer, a smartphone, or a tablet with the Zoom app. No camera or reliable internet? You can dial in by phone instead, though you’ll lose the ability to be seen or to share documents.²

Attorneys use a different door. Each event on your Attorney Access Portal for the current date includes a button that jumps directly into the assigned Zoom courtroom.¹

The Two Courtrooms That Still Use Fixed Links

Two proceeding types skip the check-in search and keep dedicated Zoom rooms:

Orders of Protection: zoom.us/my/orderofprotection, Meeting ID 474-340-0259, no password. Call Turning Point at (815) 334-4624 first for help with the paperwork, then the Circuit Clerk at (815) 334-4190 to schedule your appearance.
Initial Appearance Court: zoom.us/my/rights, Meeting ID 209 835 3244, no password. Remote access here is available for attorneys by request.

Every other courtroom, numbered 101 through 365 and the Chief Judge Administrative Call, routes through the check-in search at caseinfo.mchenrycountyil.gov/zoom.²

Which Hearings You Can Attend Remotely

Zoom is not the default for every court date. Illinois Supreme Court Rule 45 sorts proceedings by case type, and the key question is whether jail or prison time is on the table.³

In civil matters, and in criminal cases where incarceration is not a possible outcome, you can appear remotely without asking the judge first for most hearing types. Evidentiary hearings, settlement conferences, bench trials, and jury trials are the exceptions, and each of those needs advance approval.³

When jail or prison is a possible sentence, the list of things you can do by Zoom without permission shrinks to initial appearances, status hearings, non-evidentiary hearings, arraignments where you’re pleading not guilty, and a few other procedural dates. Anything more serious, including negotiated pleas, sentencing, evidentiary hearings, probation revocation, and any hearing where you’ll enter a guilty plea, requires the judge’s approval and a formal waiver of your right to appear in person.³

Traffic court is remote for everything except trials. The remote courtroom opens at 8:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. daily. Trials happen in person at 10:00 a.m. or 3:00 p.m.²

Even for hearings that normally allow Zoom, the presiding judge can order you to appear in person on a case-by-case basis. Poor courtroom decorum in a prior Zoom appearance is a common trigger. If that happens, the judge will say so on the record.⁴

What Happens After You Click In

Zoom drops you into a virtual waiting room. You wait there until the court admits you, which can take a while when dozens of cases share the same time block. Once you’re in, your microphone is muted automatically and stays muted until the judge calls your case.²

The court matches your check-in details to the docket. When your case number is called, unmute and respond. The clerk may confirm your name or address before things get going. If you’re listening to other cases while you wait, keep your camera on and stay in front of the screen. Judges notice when someone has clearly walked away.

Conduct During a Zoom Hearing

A Zoom hearing carries the same legal weight as one held in the courthouse. Illinois Supreme Court Rule 44 prohibits recording, photographing, or digitally capturing any remote proceeding unless the court authorizes it or an approved extended media coverage order covers it.⁵ Screen recorders, screenshots, and pointing your phone at your laptop all count. A violation can be treated as contempt of court.

Dress as you would to walk into the courthouse and sit somewhere quiet with a clean background.² A suit isn’t required, but clothing should be clean, well-fitting, and free of offensive writing or slogans. Each judge sets their own standards, so lean conservative.⁶

Keep your microphone muted unless the judge is speaking to you. Talking out of turn disrupts the court reporter’s transcript and can get you removed from the call. Televisions in the background, family members talking nearby, traffic through an open window — any of that will annoy a judge working through a long docket.

If Your Technology Fails

Download the Zoom app before your hearing rather than using the browser version, which drops features and occasionally connections. Test your camera, microphone, and speakers ahead of time. If your internet cuts out or your device crashes mid-hearing, go back through the same check-in search and rejoin as fast as you can. Call the Circuit Clerk’s office at (815) 334-4190 if you cannot get back in.²

Documentation helps. A screenshot of an error message or an outage notice from your provider gives the judge something to work with. Judges generally have discretion to pause or reschedule a hearing derailed by technical problems, but only if you communicate quickly rather than vanishing from the call.

Treat a missed Zoom hearing the same way you’d treat a missed in-person date, because the court will. A judge can proceed without you, enter a default judgment in a civil case, or issue a warrant in a criminal case. If a genuine technical failure kept you out, talk to an attorney about a motion to vacate the resulting order. Courts can set aside judgments for excusable neglect, but you have to show the failure was outside your control.

Submitting Evidence and Requesting Accommodations

If you’ll be presenting documents or photos, don’t wait until the hearing starts to figure out how. The 22nd Circuit’s Local Rule 22.00 points participants to each judge’s standing orders, and evidence procedures vary by judge.⁴ Common approaches are emailing exhibits to the clerk in advance or sharing your screen during testimony. Convert your files to PDF, label them clearly (for example, “Respondent Exhibit 1”), and have them open before the hearing starts. If the judge asks you to share, use Zoom’s screen-share on a single file rather than your whole desktop.

For a sign language interpreter, real-time captioning, or another disability accommodation, contact the Court Disability Coordinator as early as you can:

Mail: Court Disability Coordinator, 2200 N. Seminary Ave., Room 355, Woodstock, IL 60098
Email: courtadmin@22ndcircuitil.gov
Fax: (815) 334-2054

A downloadable ADA request form is on the 22nd Circuit’s website.⁷ Even a last-minute request is better than none; the court must make reasonable efforts regardless of timing, though earlier notice gives them more options. If English is not your primary language, contact the Circuit Clerk’s office about interpreter services. Common languages are typically available; less common ones may need advance scheduling.

1
McHenry County Circuit Court Clerk. New Zoom Link Procedures for Remote Courtrooms
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McHenry County Circuit Court Clerk. Remote Appearance Options
3
Illinois Courts. Illinois Supreme Court Rule 45 – Remote Appearances in Circuit Court Proceedings
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22nd Judicial Circuit. 22nd Circuit Local Rule Part 22.00 – Remote Appearances in Circuit Court Proceedings
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Illinois Courts. Illinois Supreme Court Rule 44
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McHenry County Circuit Court Clerk. Visiting the Courthouse – Section: Courtroom Etiquette
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22nd Judicial Circuit. ADA Access to the Court