Earle Cabell Federal Building — Dallas Federal Court Guide

People search for this building because they have a date on a piece of paper and no idea what happens when they get there.

This page is the practical guide — what is in the building, how to find your courtroom, what security is like, and what to do before you arrive.

The building, and who it is named for

The Earle Cabell Federal Building and United States Courthouse occupies 1100 Commerce Street in downtown Dallas. It is named for Earle Cabell, who served as Mayor of Dallas and subsequently represented the city in the United States House of Representatives.

It is a working federal building rather than a landmark, and it houses considerably more than the district court — which is why simply arriving at the right address does not necessarily put you in the right place.

What the building houses

• The United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division — district judges and magistrate judges
• The United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District
• The United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Texas
• The United States Marshals Service
• United States Probation and Pretrial Services
• The Clerk of Court, and other federal offices

Note that Pretrial Services is in this building. If you have been directed to report for an interview before a first appearance, that interview is not privileged and is not the place to discuss the facts of the offense. Speak to a lawyer before it, not after.

Finding your courtroom

Your notice, summons, or attorney should identify the judge and the courtroom. Both matter — the building has many courtrooms across multiple floors, and district judges and magistrate judges sit in different ones.

If you have only a case number, the Clerk of Court can tell you the assigned judge and courtroom. Call in advance rather than working it out in the lobby, and if you are represented, your lawyer should be telling you exactly where to meet and when.

Security screening

Expect airport-style screening — a metal detector, bags through an X-ray machine, and Federal Protective Service or Court Security Officers at the entrance. Bring government-issued photo identification; you will not get in without it.

Electronic device policies are set locally and change. Restrictions on phones for members of the public are common in federal courthouses and the rules differ between districts, between buildings, and sometimes between judges. Do not assume you can bring a phone in, and do not assume you cannot. Confirm the current policy with the Clerk of Court before the day, and have a plan for leaving devices in a vehicle if required.

Leave anything obviously prohibited behind — knives of any size, tools, weapons, aerosols. There is generally no public storage available, which means anything you cannot bring through screening has to go back to your car.

Getting there and parking

The building sits in the downtown Dallas core, near the government district and within walking distance of DART light rail. Street parking is metered and limited; paid lots and garages are available nearby and fill early on weekday mornings.

Allow considerably more time than the drive requires. Between parking, walking, screening, and finding the courtroom, arriving thirty minutes before your setting is the practical minimum, and an hour is better for a first appearance. Federal judges do not treat late arrival as a minor matter, and in a criminal case failing to appear has consequences of its own.

What happens at a first appearance here

You will appear before a magistrate judge. The charges will be explained, the question of counsel addressed, and release or detention taken up. If the government seeks detention, a hearing will be set within days — and for most drug charges carrying a ten-year maximum and any § 924(c) firearm count, the statute presumes detention and the burden of production is on you.

The single most useful thing you can do before that hearing is read our bond and detention guide and arrive with a concrete release package — a vetted third-party custodian, a verified address, verified employment, and conditions you volunteer rather than wait to have imposed.

If you are attending for someone else

Federal courtrooms are open to the public, and family attendance at a detention hearing genuinely matters — a judge deciding whether to release someone is assessing whether there is a stable structure to release them into. A proposed third-party custodian should be present and prepared to be questioned directly by the court.

If the person you are attending for is in custody, the Marshals Service controls their movement and the courtroom is not the place to attempt contact. Ask their lawyer how and when you will be able to speak with them.

Before you go to the courthouse

Courthouse practicalities change, and they are set locally rather than nationally — electronic device policies in particular vary by district and by judge, and they are revised more often than published guides keep up with. Before a first appearance, confirm the current rules with the Clerk of Court for your division, and arrive substantially earlier than you think you need to.

Bring government-issued photo identification. Expect airport-style screening. If you are represented, your lawyer should tell you exactly where to meet, what to bring, and what to leave in the car — and if nobody has told you that, ask before the morning of.

Who from our office appears here

Our federal practice is led by Of Counsel James Lee Bright, who has more than 25 years of federal trial experience and is admitted in the Northern, Eastern, Southern, and Western Districts of Texas, the District of Columbia, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court.

If you are facing federal charges in this district, call (214) 225-7117 for a free, confidential consultation.