Judge David H. DeCelles

Location and Contact Information
Courtroom 615 Chambers: (312) 435-6054 Courtroom Deputy: (312) 435-5653	Everett McKinley Dirksen United States Courthouse 219 South Dearborn Street Chambers 662 Chicago, IL 60604

Staff Information

Courtroom Deputy	Law Clerk	Law Clerk
Alex Dragonetti	Efrem Berk	Naomi Kogan Dein

Judge Tabs

Chicago Schedule

Courtroom 615
Chapter 7 and 11 Cases
Original (new) Motions	Wednesdays at 9:30 a.m.
Continued Motions and Set Matters	Wednesdays at 10:00 a.m.
Adversary Proceedings	Wednesdays at 10:00 a.m.
Involuntary Petitions	Wednesdays at 10:00 a.m.
Chapter 13 Cases
Trustee’s Original (New) Motions	Fridays at 9:15 a.m.
Original (New) Motions	Fridays at 9:30 a.m.
Set or Continued Matters	Fridays at 10:00 a.m.
Adversary Proceedings	Fridays at 10:00 a.m.
Confirmation Hearings (and related matters and adversary proceedings)	Fridays at 10:30 a.m.

Court Calendar

Opinions

Judge DeCelles's Opinions

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Biography

Judge David H. DeCelles's Biography
Appointed Appointed for a fourteen-year term of office pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 152 on March 5, 2026.
Education Northwestern University, B.A. 1999; University of Chicago Law School, J.D. 2004.
Other Judicial Service Law Clerk to the Honorable Pamela Ann Rymer, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Prior Legal Employment Assistant United States Attorney, Northern District of Illinois, 2019–2026. Trial Attorney, Civil Division, Department of Justice, 2014–2019. City of Chicago Law Department, Appeals Division, 2013–2014. Kirkland & Ellis LLP, 2005-2013.

Standing Orders/Required Forms

Pretrial Order

Remote/Zoom Information

In addition to appearing in person, parties and their attorneys may appear for motion calls using www.zoomgov.com. The meeting ID and passcode below will be used for all motion calls:

Meeting ID: 161 711 3453
Passcode: 477854

There are two options to join a court call via Zoom for Government:
--join by website: https://www.zoomgov.com/join (please note the correct domain is zoomgov.com, not zoom.com)
--join by phone: (669) 254-5252 or (646) 828-7666

All Zoom participants are required to identify themselves.

Not Sitting

Procedures

Court Schedule	Please refer to the Chicago Schedule tab for information about the days and times that Judge DeCelles holds court.
Motions Granted Without a Hearing	A party who objects to a motion and wants it called must file a notice of objection no later than two business days before the date of presentment. See L.R. 9013-1(F). Motions to which no notice of objection has been filed may be listed as “Will Be Granted Without a Hearing” on the Court Calendar for the hearing date. The Court Calendar is available at the tab above. The following procedures apply to motions listed as “Will Be Granted Without a Hearing”: If no party requests that the motion be called, it will be granted without hearing at the conclusion of the call. If a party asks the Courtroom Deputy to call the motion, it will be called. If the motion is called and the movant is present, the Court will hear the matter. If the motion is called and the movant is not present, the Court will continue the matter to give the movant an opportunity to be heard. If a motion is designated as “Will Be Granted Without a Hearing,” it will be marked as such on the Court Calendar by no later than 4:00 p.m. the day before the motion is to be presented.
Courtesy Copies	No courtesy copies of motions, pleadings, or other filings should be delivered to chambers unless requested by the Court.
Motions for Relief from the Stay	All motions for relief from the automatic stay must be accompanied by a Required Statement to Accompany All Motions for Relief From Stay as required by L.R. 4001-1(A).
Motions to Extend or Impose the Automatic Stay	Motions to extend the automatic stay pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 362(c)(3) or to impose the automatic stay under § 362(c)(4) should: State the case number of previous cases dismissed within one year of the filing of the present case; Include copies of Schedules I and J from previous cases dismissed within one year of the filing of the present case and Schedules I and J from the current case; State in detail the bases for extending or imposing the stay; and Be accompanied by a factual affidavit from the debtor(s) explaining the reasons why each of the previous cases was dismissed and why the automatic stay should be extended or imposed in the present case.
Draft Orders to Follow	When a motion has been heard by the Court and the party seeking relief is directed to submit a draft order after the hearing (DOTF), the order must be submitted (1) through email to DeCelles_DOTF@ilnb.uscourts.gov, (2) in fillable format, and (3) within 14 calendar days of the hearing on the motion or such other time as the Court orders. After expiration of those 14 days, the party will be given an additional 7 days to submit the draft order. If the party fails to submit the draft order within that time, the Court may deny the motion. When submitting a DOTF by email: All parties who appeared with respect to the matter, including the applicable trustee in the matter whether or not the trustee appeared, must be copied on the email; The subject line of the email must identify the case name(s), case number(s) and related docket number(s) and date of hearing for which the DOTF is submitted; The email must indicate that all parties who appeared with respect to the matter have reviewed and (a) signed off on the order, or (b) not signed off on the order, in which case it must be indicated what the nature of the disagreement is and whether the parties seek a hearing on the disagreement; and The email must include any exhibits referenced in the DOTF.
Procedures for Scheduling and Conducting Hearings on Matters in Same Case	If an original motion is noticed for a day on which other matters in the same case are to be heard, the original motion should be noticed for the time already set and not the original motion time. If two or more matters in the same bankruptcy case are scheduled to be heard at different times on the same date, all matters will be heard at the latest time.
Applications for Approval of Attorneys’ Fees	Applications for approval of attorney’s fees are governed by L.R. 5082-1 and L.R. 5082-2. All applications for compensation for representing Chapter 13 debtors must be accompanied by a fully executed Court Approved Retention Agreement if one was used.
Motions to Modify Plan Filed in Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Cases	All motions to modify a Chapter 13 plan must include a paragraph or chart that sets forth the following information about the debtor’s current confirmed plan and any proposed modifications thereof: the term of the plan and its status; the amount of the monthly plan payment; the percentage to be paid to general unsecured creditors; and the status of the debtor’s payments under the plan, including (1) how much has been paid and the percentage of total amount to be paid and (2) whether the debtor is current and, if not, the number of payments and amount in arrears.
Motions to Obtain Credit and Incur Debt Filed in Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Cases	All motions to obtain credit and incur debt filed in Chapter 13 bankruptcy cases must include a paragraph that sets forth the following information about the debtor’s current confirmed plan: (1) the percentage paid to general unsecured creditors; (2) the term of the plan; and (3) the amount of the monthly plan payment. Motions lacking such information may be denied without prejudice.
Pretrial Procedures	Pretrial procedures will be discussed in open court on a case by case basis. A form pretrial order is available at the Standing Orders/Required Forms tab.
Summary Judgment Pre-Filing Conference	Properly prepared motions for summary judgment require considerable attorney time and client expense. Sometimes such motions are unnecessarily filed. A careful examination of the record prior to filing may reveal contested factual issues making the granting of the motion impossible. It is the practice of the Court to hold a pre-filing conference with the lead attorneys of the parties to discuss whether the filing of a summary judgment motion is advisable given the state of the record. No written submissions should be made prior to the conference. The party who wishes to seek summary judgment should be prepared to point out the uncontested facts that support the relief being sought, and the opposing party should be prepared to speak to whether those facts are contested. This conference should be scheduled with the Courtroom Deputy before any substantive work is done preparing the motion. No party will ever be prevented from filing a dispositive motion, but the goal of the pre-filing conference is to have a careful, informed discussion of the issues before significant time and expense have been incurred.
Transcripts	Judge DeCelles uses the Electronic Court Recording Operator (ECRO) System. Transcripts may be ordered by contacting: D&E REPORTING Dirksen Federal Building 219 South Dearborn, Room 661 Chicago, Illinois 60604 (312) 986-1920 D.and.E.Reporting@gmail.com

United States Bankruptcy Court

Northern District of Illinois

Jacqueline P. Cox, Chief Judge | Jeffrey P. Allsteadt, Clerk of the Court

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Judge David H. DeCelles

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