Welcome to the Judicial Section website. We are a section of the State Bar of Texas comprised of Judges throughout the State of Texas

Any member of the State Bar of Texas who is serving or who has served as a Justice or Judge of a Federal court including Federal magistrates, the Supreme Court, the Court of Criminal Appeals, a Court of Appeals, a District Court, a statutory Probate Court, or a statutory Court exercising any of the jurisdiction of a district or constitutional county court, sitting in the State of Texas, and whose right to so serve has not been formally suspended or terminated by state action, shall, upon payment of the annual dues to the Secretary-Treasurer of this section, be enrolled as a member of this section.

Our membership application can be downloaded here.

Mission Statement

The Judicial Section of the State Bar of Texas works to improve the quality of justice in Texas, examines issues affecting the Judicial system, fosters public education about the Judicial system and matters of concern to the Judiciary, promotes dialogue and collaboration among Judges, and provides a forum to discuss matters of concern to Judges.

Section Report 2016-2017

The 2017 legislative session kept the Judicial Section busy this year. The Legislative Committee and its chair, Hon. Alfonso Charles, monitored over 8,000 bills and appeared and testified on a number of them. The four legislative subcommittees: Civil Justice, chaired by Justice Brett Busby; Criminal Justice, chaired by Judge Jean Hughes; Juvenile Law, chaired by Judge Gene Calvert; and Family Law, chaired by Judge Tim Womack; assisted with the monitoring. The section worked hard to implement the Judicial Compensation Commission’s recommendation for a pay increase to the judiciary, which
would be the first since 2013. The section supports the Judicial Compensation Commission’s recommendation of 10.2 percent. Judicial Section Chair-elect Judge Jennifer Rymell chaired the Communications Task Force, working on a multi-year effort to upgrade the section’s website. Ethics Committee Chair Justice Lee Gabriel assisted with the updating of the Ethics Opinions portion of the new website by making it searchable and more user-friendly.

-Hon. Kerry Russell, Chair