The text below is from an email circulating the Internet, dated August 31, and purportedly from Professor M of Southern University Law Center (Baton Rouge). While Independent Sources is loathe to blindly believe emails circulating like this are in fact real, the data seems quite accurate and it is showing up on blogs that I trust. The email concerns the impact of the devastation on just one profession: the legal profession. While lawyers were not necessarily hit harder than others, when you look at all of the ways that they are impacted, it is eye-opening. After you read this, think about the other professions equally devastated including medical, food services, music, hospitality/convention, etc.

Katrina’s Impact on the Legal Profession (excerpted by Independent Sources)

5,000 - 6,000 lawyers (1/3 of the lawyers in Louisiana) have lost their
offices, their libraries, their computers with all information thereon,
their client files - possibly their clients, as one attorney who
e-mailed me noted.  As I mentioned before, they are scattered from
Florida to Arizona and have nothing to return to.  Their children’s
schools are gone and, optimistically, the school systems in 8
parishes/counties won’t be re-opened until after December.  They must
re-locate their lives.

Our state supreme court is under some water - with all appellate files
and evidence folders/boxes along with it.  The 5th Circuit Court of
Appeals building is under some water - with the same effect.  Right now
there may only be 3-4 feet of standing water but, if you think about it,
most files are kept in the basements or lower floors of courthouses.
What effect will that have on the lives of citizens and lawyers
throughout this state and this area of the country?  And on the law?

The city and district courts in as many as 8 parishes/counties are under
water, as well as 3 of our circuit courts - with evidence/files at each
of them ruined.  The law enforcement offices in those areas are under
water - again, with evidence ruined.  6,000 prisoners in 2 prisons and
one juvenile facility are having to be securely relocated.  We already
have over-crowding at most Louisiana prisons and juvenile facilities.
What effect will this have?  And what happens when the evidence in their
cases has been destroyed?  Will the guilty be released upon the
communities?

Our state bar offices are under water.  Our state disciplinary offices
are under water - again with evidence ruined.  Our state disciplinary
offices are located on Veteran’s Blvd. in Metairie.  Those of you who
have been watching the news, they continue to show Veteran’s Blvd.  It’s
the shot with the destroyed Target store and shopping center under water
and that looks like a long canal.  Our Committee on Bar Admissions is
located there and would have been housing the bar exams which have been turned in from the recent July bar exam (this is one time I’ll pray the
examiners were late in turning them in - we were set to meet in 2 weeks
to go over the results).  Will all of those new graduates have to retake
the bar exam?

Two of the 4 law schools in Louisiana are located in New Orleans (Loyola
and Tulane - the 2 private ones that students have already paid about
$8,000+ for this semester to attend).  Another 1,000+ lawyers-to-be
whose lives have been detoured.  I’ve contacted professors at both
schools but they can’t reach anyone at those schools and don’t know the
amount of damage they’ve taken.  Certainly, at least, this semester is
over.  I’m trying to reach the Chancellor’s at Southern and LSU here in
Baton Rouge to see if there’s anything we can do to take in the students
and/or the professors.  I think I mentioned before, students from out of
state have beens stranded at at least 2 of the other universities in New
Orleans - they’re moving up floor after floor as the water rises.  Our
local news station received a call from some medical students at Tulane
Medical Center who were now on the 5th floor of the dormitories as the
water had risen.

And, then, there are the clients whose files are lost, whose cases are
stymied.  Their lives, too, are derailed.  Of course, the vast majority
live in the area and that’s the least of their worries.  But, the New
Orleans firms also have a large national and international client base.
For example, I received an e-mail from one attorney friend who I work
with on some crucial domestic violence (spousal and child) cases around
the nation - those clients could be seriously impacted by the loss, even
temporarily, of their attorney - and he can’t get to them and is having
difficulty contacting the many courts around the nation where his cases
are pending.  Large corporate clients may have their files blowing in
the wind where the high rise buildings had windows blown out.

Sobering.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, September 3rd, 2005 at 8:06 am by Insider and is filed under Big Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.