KATRINA'S REFUGEES . . . After work yesterday, I was at a bar in Clayton, Missouri, and discovered there was a group of Katrina refugees who had arrived in St. Louis the night before. One of them was a lawyer who told me he'd had a solo practice in New Orleans since he graduated from law school five years ago. Not surprisingly, he was very morose. He said that his office had been demolished but even if it had survived, it wouldn't have mattered very much: his practice wouldn't survive in any case. He said he doubted that some portions of New Orleans would even be rebuilt. He talked about the refugee camps that would have to be established in other parts of the state. He criticized the local government for not planning well enough for the disaster and not ordering an evacuation soon enough. Very angry about what had happened, he mulled over possible causes of action as we talked, more out of frustration than anything else.
He told me he'd left New Orleans on Sunday. The last person he talked to on the phone was his secretary. He'd urged her to leave, but she wouldn't listen. With the phones down, he couldn't get in touch with her. "She's the person I'm worried about the most," he said.
Later in the evening, I received an email about the hurricane from Ken Suggs, the President of ATLA, who was attempting to get word out about hurricane relief to all ATLA members. I'll post the entire email in the continuation. Here's how the email concluded:
[A]s we pull together to offer help to our colleagues whose
practices have been devastated, I'd also encourage you to contribute to
the general relief efforts at redcross.org.
Good advice for all lawyers.
UPDATE: Ernest Svenson a/k/a Ernie the Attorney, a New Orleans resident, shares his thoughts about the city's devastation in "Coming to grips with the catostrophe."
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