<P> The State Bar of Texas (the Texas Bar) is an agency of the judiciary under the administrative control of the Texas Supreme Court . The Texas Bar is responsible for assisting the Texas Supreme Court in overseeing all attorneys licensed to practice law in Texas . </P> <P> Judges are elected in partisan elections . Trial judges are elected for 4 years, and appeals court judges are elected for 6 years . The Governor may fill vacancies until the next election, and judges traditionally leave office before their last term is completed . Judges may be removed by voters in retention elections, by trial by jury, or by legislative address or impeachment if state judges . Some incumbent judges / justices who seek reelection are defeated in primary elections, others in general elections . The chances of election - driver turnover on district and appellate benches is affected by the nature of the concurrent elections (presidential or mid-term) and by partisan tides, at least in the more competitive counties and appellate districts, e.g. Dallas and Harris County / Houston (county - level) and San Antonio (appellate district level). </P> <P> District court judges are required to be licensed attorneys . In addition to judicial powers, district judges also have administrative duties as well . District judges may remove county officials (2), officials of a general - law municipality (3), and municipal court judges (4) under certain circumstances . Also, they appoint and supervise the county auditor, oversee the operations of the adult and juvenile probation offices, and are granted "supervisory" jurisdiction over the county commissioners court . </P> <P> County judges do not need to be lawyers, and most are not . Sections 15 through 17 of Article V, as well as Chapters 25 and 26 of the Texas Government Code, outline the duties of County Court officers . Section 15 states that the county judge shall be "well informed in the law of the State", "a conservator of the peace", and shall be elected for a four - year term . The county judge is also responsible for presiding over the Commissioners Court (the main executive and legislative body of the county). County court at law judges are required to be lawyers . </P>

County level courts created by the texas legislature are know as county-courts-at-law or