§ 155.002.Settlement Week Committee

The organizing body, and its composition is prescribed in one word: both.

The committee is made up of attorneys and lay persons. Not lawyers alone.

The administrative judge of each judicial district appoints it, for each settlement week.

Two members are suggested rather than required. The director of any established mediation or alternative dispute resolution center in the county, and the chairperson of the local bar association’s alternative dispute resolution committee.

Both suggestions point to existing capacity. A county with a dispute resolution center under Chapter 152 already has staff who do this work every week.

The committee’s job is to make the week happen — recruiting mediators, matching cases, arranging space and notifying parties.

Section 155.006 tells the administrative judge to cooperate with the same organizations, so the committee is part of a broader coordination duty.

Lay members bring the perspective of the people the week serves. Most parties in a settlement week case are not lawyers, and the committee that designs the week includes people who are not either.

The appointment is made for each settlement week, which lets a district refresh the committee rather than carry a standing body.

The named candidates come with infrastructure. A dispute resolution center director already has trained mediators and rooms; the bar committee chair already has the roster of lawyers who mediate.