Continuing Judicial Education Guidelines

Continuing education requirements for judges are governed by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Rules of Judicial Education and Texas Government Code § 39.002.

Rule 2 of the Rules of Judicial Education applies to judges of district, county court at law and appellate courts. This rule requires each judge to complete at least 30 hours of instruction within one year after taking office, unless the judge has been absent from the bench for less than one year. After the first year, judges are required to have 16 hours per year and any hours in excess of the minimum number may be applied to the following year’s requirement (which effectively limits the number of carry over hours to 16).

Rule 4 of the Rules of Judicial Education applies to judicial officers defined as full-time associate judges appointed pursuant to Chapter 201 of the Family Code, or to a full-time or part-time master, magistrate, or referee appointed pursuant to Chapter 54 or 54A of the Government Code.

• For judges who took the bench January 1, 2022 or later, CJE requirements start on the day a judge is sworn in and ends one calendar year later.
• For judges who took the bench prior to 2022, they have a regular CJE reporting cycle, September 1 through August 31 based on the State of Texas’ fiscal calendar.

Teaching Credit: Judges are allowed to claim three times the presentation time for CJE credit for teaching at certain approved educational activities. However, the method of reporting these credits is different from MCLE, and all teaching credit requests must be submitted to the Texas Center for the Judiciary.