Latest and Greatest - Credit Repair

By Robin Leonard

Published by Nolo (12th Edition 2015)

HG 3756 .U54 L46 2015

Is bad credit making it impossible for you to get a loan, an apartment, or even a job offer? If so, take a look at Nolo’s Credit Repair for tips on building a positive credit profile. This book will take you step by step through the process of repairing your credit. From the nuts and bolts of credit reports to cleaning up those reports, this resource will help you assess your financial situation and show you how to reduce your current expenses and debt and find ways to satisfy and negotiate the payment of those debts. In addition, the author offers suggestions on how to rebuild, create, and maintain a positive credit history. A chapter is even devoted to avoiding identity theft and the steps you should take if your identity and personal information are stolen.

Credit Repair also includes references to organizations, agencies, and publications that can offer additional information to assist you in the credit repair process. There is a list of federal agencies to which you can submit consumer-related complaints and a list of consumer protection agencies available in each state. Moreover, there are over 30 legal forms that you can use in your efforts to rebuild your credit. Remember, it’s up to you to take the first step for a better financial future. So what are you waiting for? Come to the Harris County Law Library and look for this, and many other titles, in our Self-Help Collection.

Women's History Month: A Tribute to Camille E.S. Openshaw

In honor of Women’s History Month, the Harris County Law Library is paying tribute the life and accomplishments of a remarkable woman, Camille Elizabeth Stanford Openshaw.  At a time when women’s educational and career options were very limited, Ms. Openshaw excelled not only as an attorney, but as a leader in the local legal community.

Just five years after graduating from South Texas College of Law in 1930, she was elected to the board of directors of the Lawyers Library Association, the first woman to hold the position. She later distinguished herself as founding partner of the Houston law firm, McIntosh & Openshaw. But perhaps her most sensational claim to fame was her representation of former bank robber, kidnapper, murderer, and fugitive, Raymond Hamilton, whose exploits with the infamous Clyde Barrow Gang resulted in his ultimate execution. Despite Ms. Openshaw’s best efforts to spare his life with a last-minute plea to the State Court of Criminal Appeals in Austin, Hamilton was put to death on May 10, 1935.

At a time when 43% of young women lawyers experience bias, according to a recent survey of women in the legal profession, the achievements of Ms. Openshaw are especially worthy of recognition. Her contributions to the legal profession and her efforts in pioneering opportunities for women in law make her a true Woman of Distinction.

To learn more about Ms. Openshaw, please visit the Harris County Law Library’s downtown location, where an exhibit honoring her accomplishments will be on display throughout the month of March. An accompanying digital exhibit can be viewed on the library’s website.

Looking Back - Texas Declaration of Independence

March 2, 1836

“We…do hereby resolve and declare, that our political connection with the Mexican nation has forever ended, and that the people of Texas do now constitute a free, Sovereign, and independent republic…”

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The Texas Declaration of Independence as seen in Gammel's The Laws of Texas.

Thus concludes the Texas Declaration of Independence signed on March 2, 1836 at Washington-on-the-Brazos.  Present at the Convention of 1836 were 59 delegates, each representing a settlement in Texas and each voting in favor of independence. The document, quite similar in spirit to the United States Declaration of Independence, laid bare the grievances that the people of Texas had against Mexico. Among other things, the Declaration accused the Mexican government of failing to protect the lives, liberty, and property of its people, of changing the nature of the governmental system without the people’s consent, of imprisoning anyone who protested against the government, of failing to secure the right of trial by jury and other civil liberties, of failing to establish a system of public education, and of invading the Texas territory. As a result of these failings and issues, the signatory delegates resolved to sever all political ties with Mexico. Five copies of the document were then sent to the towns of Bexar, Goliad, Nacogdoches, Brazoria, and San Felipe.  The original document was sent to the United States Department of State and was returned to the state in 1896.

You can find both the text of the Declaration of Independence and the journals of the Convention at Washington in Gammel's The Laws of Texas, a copy of which can be found here at the Law Library. If you want to learn more about the Texas fight for independence and all things Texas, come on down to the law library and have a look at the Texas Almanac. You'll find a wealth of information.

Digitized Historical Texas Statutes from the Texas State Law Library

Earlier this month, the Texas State Law Library announced a new collection of digitized historical Texas statutes available on its website. The collection now includes all Texas statutes from 1879 to 1960. The newest content includes works with copyrighted material published between 1928 and 1960, which is now available under an agreement with the copyright holder Thomson Reuters and in collaboration with the Austin Bar Foundation, which provided a grant to fund digitization. Visit the Historical Texas Statutes page on the Texas State Law Library website to learn more and to download copies of these newly-digitized, searchable documents.

Minding the Gap

Despite the Texas State Law Library’s giant leap forward in making historical Texas statutes available online, there is still a gap practitioners must keep in mind. Thomson Reuter’s Westlaw provides access to historical statutes back to 1987, which is likely to cover most researcher’s needs. However, a criminal defense attorney might need to know the language of a 1985 DWI statute to determine its effect on a client's sentence, or a real estate attorney may need to read a probate statute from the 1970s to see how it will impact a title in a pending sale. When research falls into the gap, the Harris County Law Library is here to help. We have historical statutes and legislative history materials to help you reconstruct historical Texas statutes and we provide free access to Westlaw on our legal research computers for your 1987-to-present research needs. Visit the Law Library any time we can assist with your historical Texas statutory research.