Emergency Management: The Legal Context

As an emergency situation unfolds, a lawyer must make many legal decisions in rapid-fire sequence. If properly prepared, and with access to relevant legal materials, it is now possible to render legal advice and guidance to clients in the real-time environment of a cascade of events that arise from a single, albeit many-faced, cumulative disaster.

In performing as legal counsel, a lawyer should provide timely advice from a position of advantage in several respects. First, the lawyer has the use of up-to-date computer hardware and software so that he or she can provide quick responses. Second, in responding to events during the recent spate of Florida hurricanes and other such disasters, the lawyer should have access to a state’s emergency operations center and its support functions. Third, the lawyer needs to develop a close working relationship with the government’s emergency staff to be effective. Each of these three advantages allows the lawyer to play a significant role in an evolving process.

From A Legal Guide to Homeland Security and the Emergency Management for State and Local Governments

Edited by Ernest B. Abbott and Otto J. Hetzel; written by chapter author Alfred O. Bragg III
ABA Section of State and Local Government Law and
ABA Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section

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