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Virtual data rooms in Illinois

Virtual data rooms for Illinois firms

Illinois has 4,933 real estate offices, 5,146 accounting and tax firms, 6,918 law offices and 5,099 securities and investment firms with paid employees. Our read of its breach notice rule covers what counts, the timing rule, and the 500-resident Attorney General trigger. ShareAndGo is a virtual data room for the documents these firms share during deals, audits and legal matters.

The firms that share confidential documents in Illinois

County Business Patterns counted 322,415 employer establishments in Illinois in 2023. Per person, among the 50 states and DC, Illinois comes 13th for securities and investment firms, at 40.3 per 100,000, 19th for accounting, tax, bookkeeping and payroll firms, at 40.7, and 28th for offices of real estate agents and brokers, at 39.0. Law offices number 6,918, or 54.7 per 100,000, which is 12th.

These are mostly small businesses. 4,973 of the state's law offices and 3,758 of its securities and investment firms have fewer than five employees.

  • Offices of lawyers: 6,918
  • Accounting, tax preparation, bookkeeping and payroll services: 5,146
  • Securities and investment firms: 5,099
  • Corporate and regional managing offices: 1,732
  • Offices of real estate agents and brokers: 4,933

Where those firms are

By county, Cook County leads with 3,945 law offices, ahead of DuPage County (641), Lake County (347) and Kane County (225). Those four hold 75 percent of the state's total.

Our Chicago page goes through its figures in detail.

What sets Chicago apart

Trucking is the sector that most marks out Chicago, at 12,968 establishments and 2.6 times the national share; transportation support services (2,218, 1.5 times) and plastics and rubber products (503, 1.5 times) come next.

How Illinois compares

The Census Bureau estimated Illinois's population at 12,710,158 in July 2024, down 0.9 percent from the April 2020 base of 12,821,814.

On law offices per 100,000 residents, Illinois sits next to Oklahoma at 55.0 and Georgia at 53.7, against 54.7 here. Across the 50 states and DC the combined rate is 49.1.

Small offices make up 72 percent of the state's law offices, the same as across the 50 states and DC.

Illinois's breach notice rule

Illinois sets its breach rules in the Personal Information Protection Act, 815 ILCS 530, with the notice duty in section 530/10.

Illinois gives no fixed number of days. The resident notice is due in the most expedient time possible and without unreasonable delay, consistent with any measures necessary to determine the scope of the breach and restore the reasonable integrity, security, and confidentiality of the data system.

  • Notice to residents: In the most expedient time possible and without unreasonable delay
  • Attorney General notice: Required when a single breach calls for notice to more than 500 Illinois residents
  • Attorney General timing: In no event later than when consumers are notified
  • Risk-of-harm exception: None appears in the notice duty
  • Encrypted data: Outside the definition unless the keys were acquired

Two Illinois details worth knowing

Illinois does not let a business skip the resident notice because it judges the risk of harm to be low; no such exception appears in the notice duty. The resident notice also must not state how many Illinois residents were affected.

The 500-resident count matters for the Attorney General notice, and that notice can fall due no later than the consumer notice itself. So a business working toward its letters to residents is also, in effect, working toward its Attorney General deadline.

Our Illinois breach notification page sets out the data elements and the rule in full, and says which text we checked. This is general information, not legal advice.

What a ShareAndGo room gives an Illinois team

When something goes wrong in a data room, the first question is usually who opened which file, and when.

For documents you share through ShareAndGo, the activity log records every view and download, and watermarked view-only pages carry the reader's email address and the date.

The watermark is a per-room setting, on by default, so every page a reader sees names that reader. The log is chained, each entry linked to the one before it, and it exports as CSV for your own review or your advisers. Recipients confirm their email with a six-digit code and need no account, so each entry ties back to a confirmed address rather than a shared link.

The courts and regulators behind Illinois paperwork

Federal cases from Chicago are heard in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, whose Chicago courthouse is the Everett McKinley Dirksen United States Courthouse. CPAs practicing in Illinois are licensed by the Illinois Department of Financial And Professional Regulation Public Accountancy Section.

Illinois FAQ

How many law offices are there in Illinois?
County Business Patterns 2023 counted 6,918 offices of lawyers with paid employees in Illinois, 4,973 of them with fewer than five employees. Cook County has the most, 3,945.
Does Illinois set a number of days for notice?
No. The Act asks for notice in the most expedient time possible and without unreasonable delay, and gives no day count.
When does the Illinois Attorney General need to hear about a breach?
When a single breach requires notice to more than 500 Illinois residents, and in no event later than when consumers are notified.
Do people I share documents with need an account?
No. Readers confirm their email with a six-digit code, with no account to create.

Illinois metros

Chicago, IL

Data rooms for Chicago's 5,865 law offices and 4,171 accounting, tax, bookkeeping and payroll firms, with audit trails and view-only access.

Related

Illinois data breach notification law

About the figures on our location pages