§ 155.001.Settlement Weeks Required

A short chapter that sets aside time on the calendar for settling cases.

The requirement applies in every county with a population of 150,000 or greater. Smaller counties are outside the chapter.

The default weeks are law week and judicial conference week, both weeks when courts are already handling less trial business.

The administrative judge of each judicial district may designate two other weeks instead.

Three sets of courts participate: district courts, constitutional and statutory county courts, and family law courts.

During these weeks the courts facilitate voluntary settlement of civil and family law cases.

The word "shall" makes it a requirement, not a program to consider. A qualifying county holds settlement weeks each year.

The rest of the chapter supplies the machinery — a committee, mediators, borrowed procedures, court authority, and funding.

The population threshold ties the duty to volume. A large county has enough pending cases to fill a week and enough attorneys to staff it.

The two default weeks are chosen for availability. Law week and judicial conference week are already light on trial settings, which frees courtrooms, judges and lawyers.

What the courts owe is facilitation, not adjudication. The section describes courts facilitating the voluntary settlement of civil and family law cases.