The Texas Municipal Courts Education Center is a clearinghouse for information relating to the prosecution of fine-only misdemeanors in Texas. Since 1992, TMCEC has offered specialized continuing legal education to prosecuting attorneys from across the state. Currently, more than 700 attorneys licensed in Texas prosecute in municipal court. Fine-only misdemeanors are also prosecuted in justice and county courts.
New! Announcing the TMCEC Prosecutor Professionalism Program
With this program, TMCEC aims to encourage and reward prosecutors who obtain annual specialized municipal court-focused training through TMCEC.
Basic Requirements:
Active Prosecutor: Applicants must hold a current post as a prosecutor for a Texas municipality (part time or full time).
Hours: Applicants must complete 20 hours of education (this will be calculated by attendance hours, not CLE hours, and must be timely reported on a Record of Attendance) through TMCEC within one academic year in the following manner:
- 16 hours in attendance at the annual three -day Prosecutors Conference
- 4 hours from any combination of the following:
- TMCEC Webinars
- TMCEC In-Person or Virtual Training
Application: Once the hours are earned, interested prosecutors will apply to the Center, attesting to both the number of hours earned and the way they were earned.
Recognition:
Those who complete the educational requirements and application process will be recognized in the following ways:
- Recognition by name and city in The Recorder, on the TMCEC website, and via TMCEC social media.
- Downloadable certificates, awarded on a year-to-year basis, designating the holder as a member of the TMCEC Prosecutors Professionalism Program class for a given academic year.
- Name badge ribbons at live events.
Prosecutors Seminar
Since 1992, TMCEC has offered specialized continuing legal education to prosecuting attorneys who serve in municipal courts across the state.
Currently, more than 700 attorneys are licensed in Texas to prosecute in municipal courts. The TMCEC Prosecutors Seminar is uniquely designed to help prosecutors and other attorneys stay abreast of information necessary to maintain professional competence. Presentations focus on emerging topics, ethics, legislation, and case law.
Up to 14 hours of CLE by the State Bar of Texas, including ethics, will be available for attending this seminar.
Prosecutors Listserv
Attorneys who prosecute in municipal court are eligible to sign up for the prosecutors listserv. The listserv allows prosecuting attorneys from across the state to ask questions and share documents, insights, and experiences with other attorneys across the state. To register, email info@tmcec.com and include the following in the subject line: Prosecutors’ Listserv Request.
Who can prosecute in Municipal Court?
Though many lawyers across the state exclusively prosecute, for the most part, Texas law does not acknowledge “prosecutor” as a category of governmental attorney. Rather, prosecution is generally a duty of certain attorneys who represent the State of Texas in criminal proceedings. In criminal law, the State of Texas includes government at the state and local level. Pursuant to the Texas Constitution such attorneys include district and county attorneys. The authority of other governmental attorneys to represent the State is created by statute. Such attorneys include the State Prosecuting Attorney, and attorneys who prosecute in municipal court. Attorneys who are authorized to represent the State of Texas in municipal court are generally limited to the following:
- City Attorneys (Article 45.201, Code of Criminal Procedure and Section 30.00011, Government Code)
- Deputy City Attorneys (Article 45.201, Code of Criminal Procedure)
- County Attorneys (without compensation) (Article 45.201, Code of Criminal Procedure)
- Criminal District Attorneys (without compensation) (Art. V. Sec. 21, Texas Constitution)
- Attorneys Pro Tem (Article 45.031(a)(2), Code of Criminal Procedure)
The Unique Role of City Attorneys
In comparison to state and county government, municipal government has a much more flexible and fluid organizational structure. The nature of city government has in the past caused confusion about the role of municipal courts in state judicial system. Similar dilemmas have surrounded the position of city attorney, specifically the city attorney’s duties in municipal court.
While state law imposes no duties on city attorneys as it relates to civil matters, that is not true when it comes to criminal cases in municipal court. As the Court of Criminal Appeals stated in Aguirre v. State, 22 S.W.3d 463, 469 (Tex.Crim.App. 1999) “[t]he responsibility and authority in municipal prosecutions is clear: In the municipal court the city attorney has the right and duty to prosecute, and the county attorney has the right, but not a duty to prosecute.” Unlike in county and state government, a municipality depending on its population and rules of local governance (by charter and/or ordinance), may have one, two or more, or no city attorney(s). Cities may, but are not required to, have an elected or appointed city attorney, but cities that opt to have a municipal court are required by state law to have an attorney who is legally authorized to prosecute. Such attorneys, depending on the municipality, may be “in-house,” solo practitioners, or employed by a law firm. Depending on the volume of complaints filed in a municipal court, prosecution may entail some or all of an attorney’s time. Bearing the moniker “city attorney” (in its various forms) entails the duty to prosecute in municipal court. This duty is a noted exception to the general rule that state law does not impose such “civil duties” on city attorneys. Because municipal law involves a very broad cross-section of the law, and because a municipal attorney’s practice may focus on other specific areas of law that do not entail criminal law, not all municipal attorneys are familiar with the specific procedural and substantive law issues that are essential to prosecuting in municipal court. To this end, TMCEC seeks to assist all attorneys who prosecute in municipal court the opportunity to increase their proficiency and maintain professionalism through specialized continuing legal education.
Links
Texas City Attorneys Association
Texas District and County Attorneys Association
Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professonal Conduct – Rule 3.09 Special Reponsibilities of a Prosecutor
Texas Center for Legal Ethics and Professionalism
Precedential Case Law (Cases Cited in the TMCEC Bench Book and The Municipal Judges Book)
Texas Attorney General Opinions (Cited in the TMCEC Bench Book and The Municipal Judges Book)