PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

By RANDALL O. SORRELS Abraham, Watkins, Nichols, Sorrels, Matthews & Friend

HOUSTON LAWYERS RESPOND!

We all realize Hurricane Katrina could have hit our town and our legal community. This time it did not. Instead, the worst of Mother Nature hit our neighbor states to the east. But the best of human nature has hit back – counter- punched – from Houston and other cities in Texas. In particular, the lawyers of Houston have responded to the call of duty like never before. And although the road to recovery for the victims and the legal system in these communities is long and will hit bumps, the Houston legal community has helped get the recovery train back on the right track and moving in the right direction. Thank you to everyone who has helped so far.
For those who are unaware of how lawyers have responded, I want to detail some of the ways we have participated and how you can still participate in the disaster relief effort:

1. Volunteering legal advice
a. Both local and statewide call centers have been set up to allow those displaced to obtain legal advice. An 800 number has been set up by the State Bar of Texas and calls made to 1-800-504-1030 from this area are routed directly to Lone Star Legal Aid, who sorts the legal issues and divides them between Lone Star Legal Aid and the Houston Volunteer Lawyers Program (HVLP). Additionally, the HVLP has set up its own call center (713-228-0735) staffed by lawyers in the Houston area to answer questions. Many of the calls are initially summarized by non-lawyers, and the volunteer lawyers return the calls (from their own offices) to provide basic legal advice and answer basic legal questions. At this time, the HBA, Lone Star and the HVLP are looking for volunteers who will return calls to the victims from their own offices and answer their legal questions using an online resource manual (developed by lawyers in Houston and around the state), their own legal experience, the Internet, and the help of lawyers who are licensed in Louisiana and who have volunteered to assist us. There is a short training video on the HBA website (www.hba.org) and State Bar of Texas website (www.texasbar.com) that will assist you in understanding the process, and this also can be watched from the comforts of your own office. If you are interested in volunteering to return calls from disaster victims (without creating an attorney/client relationship), email Melanie Richard at melanie.richard@ ehvlp.org. She will put you on the list of volunteers to return only a handful of calls at any one time. It should not be an overwhelming job.

b. Check out the resource manual. The lawyers of the Houston Bar Association have developed, along with other lawyers from Texas and Louisiana, a resource manual to help those responding to legal questions from the those displaced by Hurricane Katrina. It is found on the HBA homepage under “Training for Legal Advice Booths” and the State Bar website under “Legal Services for the Displaced.” This manual will assist you in answering many questions the victims of the disaster may ask you, or questions you may get from friends or family that were affected by the disaster.

2. As of the time of the writing of this page, the legal community has donated in excess of $1.5 million to the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army and the United Way. If you wish to contribute to any of these organizations, you can contribute either directly to them or through the Houston Bar Foundation. Make your tax deductible check payable to Houston Bar Foundation and identify either the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army, or the United Way as your designated beneficiary. We will insure that your donation reaches the organization you designate.
If you and/or your law firm and staff have already given to the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army or the United Way, we want to compile and report the total contributions made by the legal community. Please email the amounts donated by you, your law firm and your staff to Jennifer Watson at the HBA at jenniferw@hba.org. This list will not be made public no matter how large or how small your donation, but we want to have as complete a record as possible on the contributions made by the legal community.

3. The legal community has offered both housing and office space to our colleagues who were displaced from their homes and offices. Although the amount of office space (on a temporary basis) and housing space (on a temporary basis) donated has been tremendous, we are still looking for more of both. If you have office space you wish to donate on a temporary basis to a displaced lawyer, please contact Karen Ramsey at Karenr@ hba.org. The same is true with housing space, including second homes, rental property, vacation homes in surrounding counties, garage apartments or extra space in your house. The HBA will not “finalize” any deal and it will be your decision as to whom you donate (or rent) office space or housing to.

4. After the basics of life were addressed (food, clothing, shelter), the demand for legal services began to grow. At the time of this writing, it is contemplated a request for monetary donations to help our legal services providers will be made. Look for opportunities to participate in this area.

5. Lawyers turned out in record numbers to help the various clothing, necessities and food drives throughout the city. Thousands of the victims were clothed and fed due to your efforts. The Houston Bar office collected additional clothing to address the needs of our everyday charities and shelters, and those groups (consisting of our fellow Houstonians) have been well served by the generosity of our legal community. We cannot ignore the ongoing needs of our local community and only address the immediate needs of Hurricane Katrina survivors. Thank you to everyone who contributed food, clothing and necessities.

6. A large group of lawyers have volunteered to go out to various shelters throughout the city to provide legal advice to the residents at these shelters, including the Astrodome/Reliant Center. These mobile legal advice clinics have served as a model to the rest of the state and nation, and the lawyers and law firms who gave (and continue to give) so much of their time are to be thanked. If you wish to volunteer, email Melanie Richard at melanie.richard@ehvlp.com.
Finally, there are many adjectives that can be used to describe the lawyers and their efforts during this time of crisis – inspiring, kind, generous, enthusiastic, dependable, honorable, principled, courageous, unselfish and humble. Frankly, there are many more adjectives that describe everyone who did something to help our neighboring, disaster-stricken states. Suffice it to say, we have truly taken some positive steps to address the needs of the survivors of Hurricane Katrina.
I hope you noticed that I did not mention any individual’s name other than those of the contacts at the Houston Bar Association and the Houston Volunteer Lawyers Program. It is because mentioning one person’s name would leave out literally thousands of others who have answered the call of duty made in late August and early September, 2005. Much has already been said and written about the fact that this is a long-term situation that will take a long-term commitment by various sectors of our community. I do not know what the other sectors will do, but I do know that the legal community will continue to respond with a force greater than any force that Mother Nature could hit us with.
I am proud to be your colleague in our profession.

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