Young B. Kim
How Judge Kim rules, drawn from 13 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Kim
Young B. Kim has served as a United States Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of Illinois since 2010. He earned degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Loyola University Chicago School of Law. Before joining the bench, he worked as a public defender, federal prosecutor, and administrative judge for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Judge Kim's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Kim, as published on the court's website (checked October 8, 2026). Judges revise these often, so confirm the current version on the court's site before you file.
Key rules
Motions
Meet and confer about motions in limine after filing the proposed final pretrial order.
“After the filing of the joint proposed final pretrial order, the parties must meet and confer about motions in limine.”
Motions
If using the form confidentiality order, attach clean and redlined copies to the motion.
“If the parties wish to use this form order, they must attach a clean version and the redlined version to their motion.”
Standing orders for every case in this court
Orders the court applies to all of its cases, whichever judge has them, as published on the court's website (checked October 8, 2026).
How Judge Kim decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
In George v. Colvin, Kim granted the claimant’s summary judgment motion, denied the Commissioner’s cross-motion, and remanded the Supplemental Security Income appeal for further proceedings.
“For the foregoing reasons, George's motion for summary judgment is granted, the Commissioner's motion is denied, and the matter is remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.”
In Farrah H., the court accepted an administrative law judge’s treating-source analysis because the decision confronted both the abnormal findings and the normal examination details that undercut the doctor’s proposed limits.
“But the ALJ expressly considered and discussed the cited treatment record, including findings of tender points and swelling, and explained why the normal examination did not support Dr. Weckerle’s opinion.”
In Megan H., the court remanded after the administrative decision did not adequately address contrary mental-health evidence or explain how the assessed work capacity followed from the record.
“court cannot trace the ALJ’s path of reasoning in finding that Megan suffered at most moderate paragraph B limitations and can sustain full-time work under the RFC assessed.”
Procedural preferences
In Lucas v. Gold Standard Baking, Kim partly granted a motion to compel a third-party witness’s retainer agreement, limiting production to the date, authorization section, and signature.
“The motion is granted to the extent that Corral is ordered to produce to MVP a copy of the retainer agreement in its original form, showing only the date of the agreement, the section entitled ‘Retainer and Authorization,’ and her signature.”
Cautions
In Barron's criminal case, he denied the government's motion to admit evidence of another alleged attack before trial and deferred the Rule 404(b) and Rule 403 decision until the trial context and foundation were clear. The ruling also barred mention of that evidence in the opening statement.
“defers its ruling until trial so that it may make a more informed decision based on the context and foundation in which the other-act evidence is offered.”
In Kafeel, Kim dismissed a trademark complaint because the plaintiff’s commercial injury and standing argument did not supply facts connecting a protectable mark to the defendant’s alleged use.
“In short, Kafeel fails to plead a cognizable claim connecting any protectable mark owned by him to Defendant’s use thereof as part of an effort to confuse or deceive others regarding the origin of goods so marked.”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“For the foregoing reasons, George's motion for summary judgment is granted, the Commissioner's motion is denied, and the matter is remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.”
“For the foregoing reasons, Mario's motion for summary judgment is denied and the government's granted.”
“For the foregoing reasons, Anna’s motion to amend her complaint is denied.”
“For the foregoing reasons, HOD's motion to compel is granted.”
“For the foregoing reasons, Plaintiff's motion to compel is granted.”
“For the following reasons, the motion is granted in part, denied in part without prejudice, and denied in part with prejudice:”
“For the foregoing reasons, MVP's motion to compel is granted in part and denied in part.”
“For the foregoing reasons, the government's motion in limine is denied.”
“For the foregoing reasons, Farrah’s remand request is denied, and the Commissioner’s final decision is affirmed.”
“For the foregoing reasons, Megan’s remand request is granted, and this matter is remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.”
“For the foregoing reasons, this case is dismissed without prejudice because subject matter jurisdiction is lacking, and Defendant’s motion to dismiss is denied as moot.”
“For the foregoing reasons, Defendant’s motion to dismiss is granted and this case is dismissed with prejudice.”
“The motion for sanctions is therefore denied without prejudice as moot.”
Caseload & timing
From public federal docket records for this judge.
Judge Kim's docket includes duty-magistrate matters such as sealed warrant and grand-jury applications and criminal assignments. His reviewed civil work consists of consent Social Security decisions and referred discovery disputes, including motions to compel and amend, alongside referred criminal pretrial motions.
Pending matters in the official report
Reported by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts under the Civil Justice Reform Act, as of March 31, 2026.
| Motions pending more than six months | 3 |
| Bench trials submitted more than six months | 0 |
| Bankruptcy appeals pending more than six months | 0 |
| Social Security appeals pending more than six months | 25 |
| Civil cases pending more than three years | 2 |
| Report | Motions over six months | Cases over three years |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 2026 | 3 | 2 |
| Sep 2025 | 0 | 2 |
| Mar 2025 | 3 | 2 |
| Sep 2024 | 2 | 2 |
| Mar 2024 | 0 | 3 |
| Sep 2023 | 1 | 2 |
| Mar 2023 | 2 | 4 |
| Sep 2022 | 3 | 3 |
| Mar 2022 | 0 | 3 |
| Sep 2021 | 0 | 2 |
| Mar 2021 | 0 | 2 |
| Sep 2020 | 0 | 2 |
A snapshot on that date: matters listed may since have been decided or reassigned. A motion referred to a magistrate judge is counted for both judges. Motions in multidistrict litigation, section 2255 cases and Social Security appeals are not counted, and a very large three-year count is generally a multidistrict docket. Source: Appendix A of the report (PDF); about the report.
How long civil cases take in this court
For the whole of U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, not for Judge Kim: median time from filing to disposition of the civil cases the court closed in the 12 months ending September 30, 2025, as reported by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.
| Cases | Median time | |
|---|---|---|
| All civil cases closed | 12,205 | 5.9 months |
| Closed with no court action | 4,300 | 7 months |
| Closed before pretrial | 7,558 | 5.4 months |
| Closed during or after pretrial | 305 | 12.6 months |
| Closed during trial | 42 | 49.5 months |
| 12 months ending | Cases closed | Median time |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2025 | 12,205 | 5.9 months |
| Sep 2024 | 9,700 | 6.8 months |
| Sep 2023 | 7,093 | 6 months |
| Sep 2022 | 6,841 | 7.3 months |
| Sep 2021 | 9,703 | 15.1 months |
| Sep 2020 | 8,046 | 10.6 months |
| Sep 2019 | 8,134 | 7.4 months |
The table leaves out prisoner petitions, land condemnations, deportation reviews, recovery of overpayments and enforcement of judgments, and reports no median for fewer than 10 cases. A district that closed a large multidistrict litigation in the period shows very large counts and long medians for that year. Source: Table C-5, U.S. District Courts (spreadsheet).
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