If you’ve ever read through all 76 pages of the Civil and Family District Court’s Local Rules of Civil Procedure and Rules of Decorum, then you know they are incredibly thorough and detailed. You might also think they are too long. Good news, if so, because the Courts have issued amended Local Rules, effective November 1, 2026, and they are considerably shorter. This means you should be able to answer critical questions about local rules more quickly, but it also means you may have to look in other places for more detailed rules and instructions. For example, there are a number of Standing Orders you may need to consult. Currently, we have these Standing Orders:
• Standing Order for Motions for Summary Judgment in Civil and Family Cases
• Standing Order for Family Law Cases
• Standing Order for Remote Civil Court Proceedings
• Standing Order for Submission Procedures in Civil and Family Cases
• Standing Order in Limine for Jury Trials of Civil and Family Cases
• Standing Pretrial Scheduling Order for Civil and Family Jury Trials.
The courts have previously issued emergency orders (during the COVID pandemic, for example). And Rules for Court Administration, for all Travis County courts, are currently being drafted, and when complete will supplement the Local Rules of Civil Procedure and Rules of Decorum and Standing Orders. All of these Orders and other important documents can be found on the District Court’s website: https://www.traviscountytx.gov/courts/files/civil-district.
I’ve seen attorneys post on Facebook, “What will happen now that there is no central docket in Travis County!?” I’m here to say that the reported demise of docket sharing is grossly overstated. Safeguarding access to justice through bench exchanges is envisioned in Article V, Section 11 of the Texas Constitution, which provides that “the District Judges may exchange districts, or hold courts for each other when they may deem it expedient, and shall do so when required by law.” Most cases will continue to operate just as they always have: a motion is filed, parties confer, through the Court Administrator’s Office the parties request and receive a setting, and the week before that setting, the specific court assignments are made and announced. This process has successfully maximized the number of cases which can be heard on any given day for decades, and it will continue to do so.
The biggest change in the Local Rules relates to Rule 2.6 and Rule 10.2 cases. Previously, if a party believed their case would substantially benefit from assignment to just one judge, that party would request the Local Administrative District Judge (“LADJ”) for a 2.6 assignment. The LADJ would grant or deny the request and, if granted, assign the case to one judge. Now, if you want your case to be heard by only one judge, you must make that request directly to the judge in whose court the case is filed (the “Responsible Judge”) with a carbon copy to the LADJ. The Responsible Judge will decide if your case proceeds under Rule 2.6 or stays on the Master Calendar. Be aware, though, that the majority of hearings on 2.6 and 10.2 cases will be set only on Fridays. Rule 10.2 has changed in a similar way. Before, a party who filed a 10.2 case notified the LADJ who assigned the case to one of the judges. Now, a party who files a 10.2 case notifies the Responsible Judge and the LADJ, and the case is kept by the Responsible Judge.
Some things haven’t changed at all, even though the relevant rule has been redrafted. For example, you still may not record anything in a courtroom (in person or virtual) without advance authorization by the court; once announced, a hearing may not be passed absent agreement of all parties; jury dockets will still be called over Zoom approximately one week in advance; and we are retaining our Submission Docket. So, print out the new Local Rules and get familiar with them. We hope you will find them to be clear, concise, and useful.
Last month was a great reading month; seven of the 12 books I read were so good, I can barely stop thinking about them. Two of them I think all lawyers should read: Catch the Devil by Pamela Colloff, and A Hymn to Life by Gisele Pelicot. Neither book is “easy,” even though both read almost like a novel, because the subject matters are so serious. Both non-fiction, Catch the Devil tells the story of a former police officer turned jailhouse snitch and shines a light on the many problems in that system. A Hymn to Life is Pelicot’s memoir. If you do not know who she is, she is the French woman who gave up her anonymity in the prosecution against her husband and 50 other men who drugged and raped her over at least a 10-year period.
Like I said, these books are not easy reads, but they are important. If you need something easier on the heart, then I recommend The Left and the Lucky by Willy Vlautin. For October, I can already tell I am going to absolutely love (and be destroyed by) John of John by Douglas Stuart. This is one I recommend the audiobook version of, to get all that Gaelic sounding the way it should!
