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The Walker County fee guidelines for court-appointed counsel in criminal and juvenile cases (effective March 7, 2025; CCP art. 26.05, Family Code § 51.10). They set fixed rates by case type (felony first/second degree, third degree/state jail, misdemeanor and juvenile pleas/dismissals), a bilingual stipend, trial/hearing preparation and appearance hourly rates and caps, and appeal rates, with hourly billing available only on prior court approval per the indigent-defense plan.
Texas > Walker County > District Courts and County Court at Law. Shared 12th & 278th Judicial District instrument; Walker County edition.
WALKER COUNTY FEE GUIDELINES FOR APPOINTED COUNSEL IN CRIMINAL AND JUVENILE CASES EFFECTIVE MARCH 7, 2025 FOR SERVICES RENDERED ON OR AFTER THAT DATE Pursuant to C.C.P. Art. 26.05 and Texas Family Code 51.10, the following guidelines shall be used to claim attorney's fees for appointed counsel in criminal and juvenile cases. The goal of these payment guidelines is to assure quality representation for indigent persons charged with crimes in Walker County. Those cases appropriate for trial should be tried and those appropriate for plea should be pled. Each judge reserves the right to deviate from these guidelines in particular cases where the amount or quality of work performed is substantially above or below the norm. Court appointed attorneys remain attorneys of record until final disposition of their cases, to include the filing of an Order of Expunction within thirty (30) days of the date of a verdict of "not guilty", unless a motion to withdraw or substitute counsel is granted. FIXED RATES FOR FELONY CASES Plea/dismissal - First/Second Degree: $1,750* Plea/dismissal - Third Degree/State Jail: $1,000* *$100 for each additional case or count Declined/Rejected: $100 each case or count Bilingual Attorney Stipend (in addition to fees as listed): $100 per defendant Trial and Hearing Preparation: $90 per hour Jury Trial/Bench Trial/Contested Hearing Appearance: $90 per hour Appeal: $90 per hour FIXED RATES FOR MISDEMEANOR AND JUVENILE CASES Plea/dismissal: $500* *$100 for each additional case or count Declined/Rejected: $100 each Hearing Preparation: $90 per hour; $250 maximum Contested Hearing Appearance: $90 per hour; $500 maximum Trial Preparation: $90 per hour; $850 maximum Bench or Jury Trial: $500 per half day Appeal: $90 per hour; $2,500 maximum HOURLY RATES When a fixed rate is provided in the charge above, an hourly rate claim will not be approved without prior court approval. In the event the attorney anticipates significant expenditures of time, the attorney shall notify the Court as soon as possible that billing at the hourly rate is requested. On approval by the Court, claims for payment should reflect time expended to the nearest 1/10th of an hour. If an hourly rate is approved, an itemized statement reflecting the date, service performed, and time expended, must be submitted with the fee voucher. (Do not submit vouchers that include time for unanswered calls, setting appointments, preparing billing statements or travel from office to court or jail.) Approval by the Court shall be in accordance with the Indigent Defense Plan. Hourly rates, when approved by the Court, for non-capital cases shall be a minimum of $70 per hour and a maximum of $90 per hour. Hourly rates, when approved by the Court, for capital felonies shall be a minimum of $70 per hour and a maximum of $150 per hour. EXTRAORDINARY CASES It is recognized that there are those cases which require an extra measure of work, such as those involving scientific investigations, complex forensics, significant documentation and other measures. Attorneys should submit those cases for approval on an hourly basis as described above only after prior court approval. EXPENSES Court appointed counsel will be compensated for all necessary expenses with prior approval as provided in the Indigence Defense Plan. REQUESTS FOR PAYMENTS Attorneys submitting fee vouchers shall use the current Attorney Fee Voucher and submit all vouchers within 30 days of disposition of the final case(s) or count(s). All cases and counts shall be submitted on the same voucher. Vouchers shall be submitted to the coordinator for approval from the judge who presided over the final disposition of the case(s) or count(s). The judge presiding over the case for which the appointed attorney seeks compensation shall either approve the amount requested or enter written findings stating the amount of payment that the judge approves and each reason for approving an amount different from the requested amount. An attorney whose request for payment is disapproved may appeal the disapproval by filing a motion with the presiding judge of the administrative judicial region as provided under Article 26.05(c) of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure. A copy of these Guidelines should accompany the appeal. [signature] David W. Moorman, Judge, 12th Judicial District [signature] Tracy Sorensen, Judge, 278th Judicial District [signature] John Gaines, Judge, Walker County Court at Law Rev. 11/14/25
Reviewer note: AJR-2 cluster (12th/278th/506th). Source instrument read via text lane; classified RULE under the records-vs-rules doctrine. Composed benchpath-ajr2-cluster. Applicability 2026-09-09 (fix program 2026-09-09, Phase 5, audit M7): specific -> universal — the row binds every court in its state/circuit/county scope and names no court, judge or division. [RECOMPOSED 2026-09-21 (corpus-0920 P7, digital-layer lane): the full text of the registered file (sha256 e5b7b903b563..., 2 pages) replaces the earlier 475-character abstract. Method: pypdfium2 text layer reflowed page-aware, cross-checked word-by-word against PyMuPDF (1 substantive difference(s), 1 page-furniture), owner-corpus candidate sentences 100% (10/10) matched, 0 running header/footer line(s) removed, no U+FFFD/U+FFFE/form-feed debris. NOT yet checked page by page against the render, so confidence is medium with an open re-verification task; flip to high when a reviewer has read every page against the PDF. benchpath-tx-corpus0920-p7-2026-09-21] [BY-EYE CHECK 2026-09-21 (corpus-0920 P11): every page of the registered file (sha256 e5b7b903b563..., 2 page(s)) read against the rendered PDF; file-stamp, caption and signature-block defects of the text layer corrected from the render; confidence lifted to high. benchpath-tx-corpus0920-p11-2026-09-21]
Standing order of the 109th Judicial District Court for every pending or later-filed case in Andrews, Winkler and Crane Counties: any attorney or self-represented litigant who uses any form of artificial intelligence for legal research or drafting in a case must, before using AI-generated information in a court submission or proceeding, sign and submit the court's certification form stating that all language, quotations, sources, citations, arguments and legal analysis created or contributed to by generative AI were verified as accurate by a human through traditional (non-AI) legal sources, and acknowledging responsibility and potential sanctions for their or their co-counsel's failure to comply. Effective immediately; in effect until rescinded or replaced.
Standing order of the 109th Judicial District Court for every pending or later-filed case in Andrews, Winkler and Crane Counties: any attorney or self-represented litigant who uses any form of artificial intelligence for legal research or drafting in a case must, before using AI-generated information in a court submission or proceeding, sign and submit the court's certification form stating that all language, quotations, sources, citations, arguments and legal analysis created or contributed to by generative AI were verified as accurate by a human through traditional (non-AI) legal sources, and acknowledging responsibility and potential sanctions for their or their co-counsel's failure to comply. Effective immediately; in effect until rescinded or replaced.