New JP Resources

Make sure you have filled out TJCTC's New Judge form. After we enter you into our system, you will be able to create your username and password to access your student profile.

All newly elected and appointed justices of the peace are required to receive 80 hours of new judge training. To read about the rules of judicial education, visit our education requirements webpage. 

Visit our New Judge page to see the upcoming New Judge Stage dates. 

Click here to download a chart that lists all of a justice of the peace duties.

Please note: Not every JP in each county has every duty. For example, JP's in larger counties with medical examiners do not do inquests. 

Many of our materials are going to use legal language that you may not be familiar with if you did not come from the legal field. 

Click here to download a document of common legal terms and definitions. 

Would you like a more formal definition or need to define a word not listed on our attachment? Visit the free, online version of Black's Law Dictionary.  

The most important legal resource you will use are TJCTC's deskbooks. They go through the procedure for each area of JP jurisdiction and provide easy to understand explanations and steps. 

However, you will also need to know how to access the law and Rules of Civil Procedure. Click here to download a document that shows you where to access the law and rules online. 

Judges are required to follow special ethical rules. Review the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct to familiarize yourself with the rules. 

One of the trickiest ethical considerations for Justices of the Peace is to understand the difference in providing legal information which is ethical and important versus providing legal advice which is not allowed. 

Click here to read the Office of Court Administration's explanation of legal advice versus legal information. 

There are some administrative things that all new justices of the peace must do when they enter office. Please review the new judge checklist to see if you have completed all the tasks listed. 

Make sure your forms are legally correct and up to date. TJCTC provides hundreds of forms that you can download and customize for your court. Check out our legal forms page for examples. 

TJCTC's premier resource are our deskbooks which go into detail on each JP topic. They are also interactive; you can click the table of contents and links to access different resources. 

Click here to check them out.

TJCTC has also created charts, flowcharts, and checklists that visually lay out how a process happens and what steps you need to take depending on the information provided. Click here to access TJCTC's charts and checklists page.