Call Recording Laws in Illinois

Plain-English summary

Illinois is an all-party-consent state. The current statute, 720 ILCS 5/14-2, took its present form after the Illinois Supreme Court struck down the prior version in People v. Clark, 2014 IL 115776, on overbreadth grounds. The replacement statute applies all-party consent to “private conversations,” defined to mean conversations carried on in circumstances reasonably justifying an expectation that no party other than those present will hear them.

A participant in an Illinois phone call must obtain consent from every other party before recording. The standard call-center preamble (“this call may be recorded”) functions as notice; continued participation is treated as consent. Criminal exposure is serious: surreptitious recording of a private conversation is a Class 4 felony.

Case law of note

No appellate decision in Illinois has materially reshaped the participant-recording rule in recent decades. Lower-court decisions exist but do not change the analytical framework set by the statute and by general federal precedent under § 2511.

Edge cases and special rules

In-person vs. phone. Same — all-party for private conversations
Voicemail. Leaving a message creates the recording at the recipient’s direction; reviewing one’s own voicemail is not interception.
Vicarious consent. Several federal courts have recognized a parental-consent doctrine permitting a parent to consent on behalf of a minor child (Pollock v. Pollock, 154 F.3d 601 (6th Cir. 1998)). State law varies; no controlling Illinois appellate decision on the question.
Law enforcement. Court-authorized intercepts are governed by a separate framework and are outside the scope of this page.
Cross-border calls. Where any participant is in an all-party state, treat the stricter rule as the safer default. See cross-border calls.

Penalties and remedies

Criminal: Class 4 felony under § 14-4; up to 3 years.

Civil: Yes — 720 ILCS 5/14-6 provides a civil action.

Evidence: a recording made in violation of the Illinois statute is generally inadmissible in Illinois proceedings. Federal § 2515 separately bars use of unlawfully intercepted communications in federal proceedings.

Practical guidance

If you are recording an ordinary phone call: obtain audible consent from every party at the start of the call.
Suggested opening: See our consent script templates for jurisdiction-specific language.
If the other party objects: stop recording. Continued recording over an objection is a separate factual question that no consent statute helps you with.
What to keep: the date and time of the call, the parties’ phone numbers, a description of the consent given (express verbal, continued participation after notice, etc.), and the audio file itself.