33rd & 424th District Courts

This article is no longer correct. The procedure has been superceded. See article effective 1/1/07 .

I am frequently asked about how the 424th Judicial District gets its initial judge.  The District Courts Act of 1969 provides in pertinent part the following:

§ 24.311. Appointment of Initial Judge
When a judicial district is created by amendment to this subchapter, the governor shall appoint a qualified person to the office of district judge. The appointee serves until the next succeeding general election.

What is the statutory basis of the authority for the District Attorney elected in the 33rd Judicial District to also serve the 424th Judicial District?

At the outset of the bill drafting to create the new district (which bill ultimately became SB 1189) I had drafted language to piggy-back the D.A. onto the 424th but discovered that the Government Code already provided for that. New districts are now created under the "Judicial Districts Act of 1969" and the applicable provisions are as follows:

The purpose of this page will be to accumulate references on the topic of court security.

You knew I was going to write about it -- too much courthouse violence in the news to ignore it. At the bottom of this posting I'm going to post a bunch of links to current news on both the Atlanta courtroom shootings and the earlier Tyler shootings outside the courthouse. Log in and "talk to me" in the forum.

(updated 4/6/05 -- partial)

This topic will list links to the various bills of interest to the 33rd Judicial District in particular, and to attorneys in general, plus some generally handy legislative links.

There is an interesting article on a site regarding emails and confidentiality, entitled Email, Privilege, Condifential Information and Inadvertent Disclosures by Rebecca J. Foote of the firm of Ford Marrin Esposito Witmeyer & Gleser, L.L.P., New York.

The visiting judge crisis (lack thereof) has again loomed large for us. The master schedule is being revised and you should see the major revisions be the end of the day on 12/17/04. The purpose of this note in the online forum is to (a) advise you of the changes that we believe need to be made to try to cope, and (b) to get your reactions and alternative suggestions. As always, I am open to ideas from the practicing bar.

I had always thought (well, almost always) that it would be useful to have case information accessible via the internet. In Burnet County within the 33rd real property records are available from the County Clerk on a limited basis and some clerk's offices in Texas have online case indexes that will retrieve selective data.

There is an excellent link on the State Bar site  about e-filing. (updated 12/21/05)

Burnet County (and only Burnet County in the 33rd) has been approved for E-Filing -- i.e. filing documents by electronic means, via internet submission. This will cover all filings with the District Clerk including family law cases in the county court-at-law. The purpose of this email is to get an idea of how many documents you feel you might file in this manner. Some more info about it: Basic routine:

This forum will be a place to discuss the drug court. What it is and is not, who is eligible, why a defendant might want to enter this process, what happens, what's the benefit to the public and the offenders. Your comments and suggestions are invited. (remember: to comment in this forum requires that you be a registered user on this site)

Documentation

Full documentation of the drug court program will appear in a "book" section when and as fully developed.

Someone recently said:

I watched part of a hearing this morning in Llano which even further convinced me that using setting notices, instead of setting orders, is a really bad idea.

I'd like some feedback on this notion. What experience have others had? Suggestion? Alternate ideas from your practice in other jurisdictions?

I want to review the fee schedule for CPS appointments. If you are interested in this topic, please weigh in here and if you are willing to participate in making a comprehensive review of the subject, please indicate.

I want to review the fee schedule for juvenile appointments. If you are interested in this topic, please weigh in here and if you are willing to participate in making a comprehensive review of the subject, please indicate.

I want to review the fee schedule for criminal appointments. If you are interested in this topic, please weigh in here and if you are willing to participate in making a comprehensive review of the subject, please indicate.

Discuss use of systems to be able to enter your own settings on a master calendar.

This is the place to learn about the usability of this site and ask questions about the usage.

Discuss in this forum the effectiveness of CPS, ways that the Court can differently handle the CPS cases, modifications that might be made to orders, etc.

Feel free to "vent" as may be necessary or helpful to your own mental health, but I'd like to also solicit your ideas about positive improvements that I can make in our processes.