Many Houston-area attorneys are mad at how new Harris County District Clerk Marilyn Burgess is running her office.

Some say the office an “insane mess,” and “complete nightmare,” and its ineptitude is making lawyers' jobs harder as they spend hours of their time—which amounts to their clients' money—fixing the office's errors. Burgess has faced the firestorm from lawyers on the office's Facebook group, “Harris County District Clerk's Legal Community Connection.”

But Burgess said while the Facebook page has become a landing ground for attorneys to complain, its members represent a small subset of the attorneys her office serves.

Harris County District Clerk Marilyn Burgess. Courtesy photo.

“I think it's very partisan,” said Burgess, who ousted former Republican District Clerk Chris Daniel in the November 2018 Democratic sweep, and took office in January. “I think they are a very small percentage of the people we serve on a daily basis. When I am out in the community talking to people, I get nothing but praise for our clerks.”

But lawyers say the clerk's office is rejecting e-filings at high rates for silly reasons, and the issuance of citations is sometimes delayed for weeks, which impacts court proceedings. Lawyers also criticized Burgess for sending invoices to attorneys and firms for long-past-due court costs and fees.

For example, Andrew Bayley, lead attorney for the Bayley Law Firm in Houston, said he received five or six invoices from the clerk's office that totaled about $1,000.

“I can't very well go and expect my client to pay that,” Bayley noted, adding that four of the cases are five or six years old, and another spans back to 2011.

Burgess said she decided to put a pause on billing attorneys directly for past cases, as she consults with other county offices about whether she's allowed to collect from lawyers.

“We heard the attorneys' complaints. We understand their position, that if the case is completed and closed, and they no longer have a relationship with that client, it's hard to go back to them and ask them to pay,” Burgess explained. “We will make the case the attorneys aren't supposed to be the responsible party. It's the client.”

Serious Errors

There are also some complaints about oddball clerk errors—some very serious.

For example, Houston solo practitioner Rob Clark said that a clerk dismissed his case for want of prosecution without notifying either party. His opposing counsel's legal assistant was on the phone for two hours trying to figure it out.

Photo: Stokkete/Shuttersstock.com

“The clerk was absolutely a pain in the ass and said it's not her problem; she doesn't know what to tell me; you are going to have to deal with it,” Clark said. “It's just ludicrous.”

Andrea Chan, an attorney at Olson & Olson in Houston, said she represents a government agency in a case against a pro se litigant. A clerk entered Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Nathan Hecht's bar card number into the case, making it appear that Hecht represented the pro se litigant and had scheduled a hearing on Chan's client's motion for summary judgment. Chan's paralegal spent time calling various courts to figure out what happened.

“Nobody had any explanation for it,” said Chan, who felt frustrated.

Burgess admitted the two examples were clerk errors.

“There are going to be mistakes. We acknowledge that when we make a mistake, we own it. We work on our training and talk to the people who made the mistake. People get written up for these things,” Burgess said.

Attorneys say when Burgess came into office, she eliminated long-time clerks, and that new staff members make errors because they lack training to do their jobs well.

Burgess said in total, 37 people did not continue in their jobs once she assumed office. Among those cuts, Burgess eliminated between 12 and 15 middle-management positions because the office was “top heavy” with “too many bosses.” For the rest, she then met with managers and supervisors to identify low-performing staff, who were replaced by promoting other clerks to higher positions, and then hiring new staff for resulting vacancies. She said she's working to boost on-the-job training for new clerks.

E-Filings and Citations

Lawyers are frustrated at having to waste time to fix e-filings that the office has rejected.