TARRANT COUNTY, TX
Justice of the Peace Court 1
Judge Ralph Swearingin Jr.
Judge Ralph Swearingin has a life dedicated to service to the community and serving the law. He has been Judge of the Tarrant County Precinct 1 Justice Court since January 2007.
Judge Swearingin brings years of law enforcement experience, legal knowledge and judicial experience to the Justice Court.
Prior to entering the judiciary, Judge Swearingin held a career in policing with more than 30 years of diverse law enforcement experience including 19-years at the command level.
He is a recipient of the Fort Worth Police Department’s Medal of Valor, is a 1988 graduate of the 155th session of the FBI National Academy, holds a Master Police Officer Certification from the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education and retired from the Fort Worth Police Department in December 2006.
Judge Swearingin is a 1994 graduate with honors from Texas Wesleyan University’s School of Law and has been an attorney licensed by the State of Texas since 1994. He is Of-Counsel to the law firm Eggleston and King, based in Weatherford, Texas.
A mediation advocate, Judge Swearingin has implemented in-court mediation, a complete packaged pilot program, which uses in-court attorney mediators as an approach to resolve civil suits between parties. This “In-Court Pre-Trial Mediation Program” received the Texas Association of Counties’ 2009 Best Practices Award for Court Innovation.
From 2011-2012, Judge Swearingin was appointed by the Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court to serve on the “Task Force for Rules in Small Claims Cases and Justice Court Proceedings”. The 16-member Task Force submitted months of their Court Rules work to the Texas Supreme Court. These new Texas Rules of Civil Procedure were then adopted by the Supreme Court in early 2013.
Judge Swearingin’s professional credentials include: Certified Mediator; and Advanced Credentialed Mediator by the Texas Mediators’ Credentialing Association; Member of the College of the State Bar of Texas and the College of Justice Court Judges of Texas; and presenter and regular speaker, training judges throughout the State for the Justice Court Judges Association of Texas.
Under Judge Swearingin, the Precinct 1 Justice Court was one of the first, and currently one of the very few, Justice Courts within the state to implement e-filing of civil cases in Justice Courts. The court’s goal is to be a paperless court by the end of 2017.
Judge Swearingin was recognized by the Texas Justice Court Judges Association as Justice Court Judge of the Year for 2015.
2019 Elected Officials Swearing-In Ceremony
