On Friday, December 2, Travis County will usher in its new Civil and Family Courthouse in downtown Austin with a ribbon-cutting ceremony along with a portrait unveiling for Judge Lora Livingston.
The new civil and family courts, located at 1700 Guadalupe St., Austin, 78701, is about 430,000 square-feet and contains 25 courtrooms, a four-level underground parking garage with 390 spaces, and a short-term child drop-off center among other features.
The new facility replaces the Heman Marion Sweatt Travis County Courthouse, which was built in 1931 and hasn’t been renovated in more than 50 years, according to the court’s website. The current courthouse accommodates only four courtrooms and 15 adapted spaces for court.
Judge Lora Livingston, of the 261st District Court in Travis County, will be honored with a portrait, set to be unveiled on the new courthouse’s 12th floor. Livingston, who was the first African American woman to preside over a Travis County district court when she was elected in 1999, will retire from the bench when her term ends on December 31.
Livingston has been an active presence on the boards of the Texas Center for the Judiciary, State Bar of Texas Judicial Section, and Texas Access to Justice Commission and established the Travis County Self-Help Center, a resource providing self-represented litigants with legal information.
