Inadmissible

A survey conducted by a Texas Supreme Court task force found that state courts have a treasure trove of historical documents, including some that predate the establishment of the Republic of Texas in 1836. Baker Botts Houston partner Bill Kroger , co-chairman of the Texas Court Records Preservation Task Force, says, “This is the first time there has been such a comprehensive survey done of this topic.” The Supreme Court created the task force in November 2009 and asked it, among other things, to collect data on the status of Texas’ historical court records and, ultimately, to develop a plan addressing the need to preserve and protect those records. Kroger says the task force distributed more than 400 survey forms to district and county clerks and received 278 responses from 197 counties. “There is all kinds of information in these records about what life was like in the 19th Century,” Kroger says. The survey results show the following: Harris County has one probate book of the Alamo defenders and one probate book of the Goliad defenders; Mason County has an arrest warrant for the outlaw Johnny Ringo; Lavaca County has land grants signed by Sam Houston; and Jack County has a judgment on the first Native American leaders tried in a state court. Kroger says the survey identified what records the courts have and the problems clerks have in preserving them. According to the survey, 33 percent of the records from the Republic of Texas period, 1836-1845, are in poor condition, and 42 percent of the records from the Civil War period, 1860-1865, are in poor condition. For some counties, the problem is a lack of adequate storage facilities. As noted in the survey results, Bandera County reported storing records in a “railroad box car located in a flood plain area.” Bandera County clerk Candy Wheeler says the box car is better than where the records had been stored — a lean-to off the old county jail. The facility was rat-infested and had a leaky roof, Wheeler says. The records are dry in the box car, she says. But Wheeler says her office is conducting an inventory of the records and plans to seek grants to provide a better storage facility for them. Kroger says the task force needs help identifying and preserving the records. “If there are lawyers in Texas who have an interest in their local or county history, we would be very interested in their assistance,” he says.

Information, Please

Barbara Bintliff will assume her duties as director of the Tarlton Law Library at the University of Texas School of Law on Sept. 1. Bintliff’s arrival follows a significant renovation of Jones Hall, which houses the library. Kirston Fortune, the law school’s assistant dean of communications, says the school has transformed the top two floors of Jones Hall into the Stephen D. Susman Academic Center. The center is named for Susman, founding partner of Susman Godfrey in Houston, who made a $5 million gift to the law school this year. Fortune says the center provides space for faculty offices and classrooms. Bintliff says the renovations will result in a better layout for the library. Faculty offices formerly occupied the third floor of Jones Hall, which divided the library’s space, Bintliff says. With the renovations, she says, the library now will occupy the first four floors. A 32-year veteran of law libraries, Bintliff comes to UT law school from the University of Colorado at Boulder School of Law , where she served as director of the William A. Wise Law Library. Bintliff spent the first six years of her career as a law librarian at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law . Over the years, Bintliff has seen a shift toward more electronic research. But she says she sees the need for electronic and print media resources in law libraries. “A lot depends on who’s using the information,” Bintliff says. The more a person knows about the field of law he is researching, the easier it is to find information electronically, she says. But if the people doing the research do not have a full grasp of the topic, Bintliff says, print resources help structure their thoughts a little better. A person who does not know what he is looking for will have more difficulty finding the research materials he needs in an electronic form, she says. Bintliff says a law library is there for students and provides support for faculty research, so the librarian must be able to anticipate research needs. Notes Bintliff: “The librarians don’t sit there and point. They find information and send it to you. Even before you know you need that information, it shows up on your desk.”

Numbers Rise