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Locating Information about Judges

By Chris Dykes
Practicing attorneys need to be familiar with the different sources that contain contact and background information on judges of all levels of court.There are a number of directories that the law library has on reserve that contain listings for judges as well as their staff. These sources vary with respect to the amount of the information they provide.

Federal Almanac of the Judiciary (KF8700.A19 A42 Reserve)

This source contains background on every federal judge including district and appellate judges as well as Supreme Court justices on education, experience, publications, rulings, media coverage, and evaluations from attorneys.

Judicial Yellow Book (KF8700.A19 J835 Spr. 2010 Reserve)

This contains listings of judges of federal and state courts and includes a brief summary of each judge's education and experience as well as contact information of the court and staff.

Texas Courthouse Guide (KFT 1708.A19 T487 Reserve)

This book includes basic contact information of federal and state courts and agencies within Texas and features both counties and county seat indexes.

Texas Legal Directory 2010 (KF192.T4 T55 Reserve)

This multi-volume set is largely used to locate attorney information but includes a judiciary section containg listings of all Texas state judges from the Supreme Court of Texas, the Court of Criminal Appeals, Court of Appeals, and District and County Courts.

2011 Harris County Bench Book (KFT 1710. Z9 H37 Reserve)

This provides contact information and rules and procedures for federal district and bankruptcy court as well as Texas district and county court judges. The creed for practicing before a particular judge is based on questionnaires sent to each judge and is the most useful feature of this source. Harris, Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Jefferson, Liberty, and Montgomery counties are included.

Keep in mind that due to last Tuesday's elections, some of the listings from the print sources above will soon become out of date. The following websites will likely have more current listings:

Texas Supreme Court
http://www.supreme.courts.state.tx.us/

Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
http://www.cca.courts.state.tx.us/

Texas Court of Appeals
http://www.courts.state.tx.us/courts/coa.asp

Harris County Courts
http://www.ccl.hctx.net/
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