The backgrounds of the two candidates on the November ballot for the Harris County Precinct 8 Place 1 justice of the peace race could not be more different.

Republican incumbent Holly Williamson has held the bench for 15 years. A career attorney, Williamson’s formal legal experience stands in stark contrast to Democratic challenger Carissa Grady, a paralegal with the Harris County Attorney’s office.

Grady doesn’t view her lack of a law degree as a weakness for her campaign, citing her previous experience as a clerk for five years in the court she now is seeking.

“I often refer to it as ‘nurses and doctors,’” Grady said. “I mean, a nurse has to know everything that there is to do and take care of patients, and then the doctors come in and approve everything. You have to know everything. You just don’t have that formal educational degree.”

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Texas law does not require a justice of the peace to be a lawyer.

Justice of the peace courts handle misdemeanor criminal and minor civil cases, including lawsuits over debts, evictions and property issues. They also may issue search and arrest warrants.

Precinct 8 encompasses the southeastern part of Harris County, including Deer Park and parts of Pasadena, Seabrook and La Porte.

Grady, who received her bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from the University of Houston-Downtown, said she fell in love with the field after working as a clerk in the justice of the peace court, especially as she could see the impact the work had on people’s lives. She eventually moved to her current job as a paralegal for the county attorney’s office to get a better understanding of how cases worked from a plaintiff’s perspective.

She is married with two children.

There is plenty of opportunity for improvement in the Precinct 8 Place 1 court, according to Grady. Justice of the peace courts informally are referred to as “the people’s court,” but Grady said she always found there was something missing in terms of being connected to the community.

“The judge treated it like a district court or treated it like a county civil court,” Grady said, adding that made the system difficult to access for those without legal experience. 

According to Grady, Williamson has run the court in a way that disadvantages individuals who lack experience or knowledge of the criminal justice system. Grady said she wants to enable residents to go through the process without requiring the legal expertise needed in higher courts. 

“It is the ‘People’s Court’, they should be able to go without legal representation and be able to navigate it and have somebody help them through that process,” she said.

Grady said her experience as a clerk for the Precinct 8 Place 1 bench also led her to study judicial misconduct in Harris County for her graduate thesis. She accused Williamson of giving preferential treatment to attorneys who have contributed to her campaign.

“I feel like individuals kind of get into this position for so long, they feel like nobody’s really paying attention to what they’re doing,” Grady said. “It snowballs and they just start to take advantage of it.”

Williamson did not respond to numerous requests for an interview, but denied Grady’s allegations in a statement to the Landing, calling them “false” and “absurd.”

Williamson’s reviews from the Houston Bar Association’s 2023 Judicial Evaluation Questionnaire are positive, with a majority of respondents rating her “excellent” in almost every category. The survey only garnered 27 responses, however.

She received a bachelor’s degree in economics from Southwest Texas State University and her law degree from the University of Houston. She is married and has one child.

Williamson serves as the representative for justices of the peace statewide on the Texas Association of Counties board of directors, and is president-elect of the Justice of the Peace and Constables Association, the largest organization of elected officials in Texas.

Williamson was one of several justices of the peace sued by eviction defense lawyers in 2022 who complained they incorrectly interpreted emergency eviction protections.

The post Harris County Precinct 8 JP race centers on experience as Grady challenges Williamson appeared first on Houston Landing.