The Texas Judicial Academy's mission is to ensure judicial excellence through providing education and resources for the constitutional county courts of Texas. The Academy is a partnership between the Texas Association of Counties (TAC) and the Texas Tech University School of Law.
The goals of the Texas Judicial Academy include:
- Providing continuing education for judges and court personnel through a wide variety of educational opportunities like seminars, conferences, roundtable discussions and courses
- Providing resources for judges and court personnel through annual updating and revision of the County Court Bench Manual
- Recognizing judges who exceed the minimum continuing judicial education requirements
- Identifying new and emerging social, criminal, administrative and technology trends that affect courts
- Fostering and encouraging a dialogue between the bench, bar and the public concerning issues of judicial excellence.
Since 1984, the County Judges Education Advisory Committee has supported judicial education programs for constitutional county judges and is composed of county judges representing various geographic regions of the state and a professor from the Texas Tech University School of Law. After the committee joined TAC, and then partnered with the Texas Tech University School of Law in the mid 1990s, the Texas Judicial Academy was developed as the encompassing center for judicial education for constitutional county judges.
The Committee currently acts as the repository and reporting agent of information on the judicial education hours of individual county judges and administers the judicial education grants that fund their training opportunities. They are also responsible for approving all TAC-sponsored judicial education sessions and serving in an advisory capacity to other organizations conducting education for county judges.
Judicial Education Events
New judges must obtain 30 credit hours in their first 12 months and 1.33 hours (16 hrs/12) for each month afterward until the end of the current reporting period (round total to nearest whole number). The judicial reporting period for continuing education is the Texas state fiscal year, Sept. 1, 2022 through Aug. 31, 2023.
For example, a judge taking office Jan. 1, must have 30 credit hours by Jan. 1 the following year, plus another 11 hours (1.33 hours x 8 months = 10.64 hours rounded to 11 hours) by Aug. 31, for a total of 41 hours.
You may view your transcript online by logging into the Member Portal and following these instructions. You may also contact Ashley Royer or Regan Williams at (800) 456-5974.
If you have any questions regarding the Judicial Education Calendar or about your judicial hours, please contact Ashley Royer at (800) 456-5974.