Hurricane Katrina Disaster Resources

• Hurricane Katrina Helping Handbook: a resource for individuals, families and small businesses 192-page document prepared by Morrison & Foerster, LLP.
• Managing Practice Interruptions, a pdf booklet to help lawyers deal with disaster management, courtesy of the Lawyers' Professional Indemnity Company.
• Disaster Recovery for Law Firms, excerpted from LPM's book, the Essential Formbook: Comprehensive Management Tools for Lawyers Volume IV, by Gary A. Munneke and Anthony E. Davis
• ARE YOU READY?: What Lawyers Need to Know about Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Recovery
• A Checklist for Opening or Moving Your Law Firm for those lawyers who need to relocate. (excerpted from Attorney & Law Firm Guide to the Business of Law, Second Edition, by Edward Poll)
• Law Practice Management Section's Law Practice Today Articles on Disaster Recovery Issues:
  • Ten Tips for Dealing with Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Issues
  • Disaster Recovery Planning
  • Would You and Your Practice Survive These Common Disasters?
  • Protect Your Clients and Yourself:
    Prepare for Disaster Before it Happens
  • Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
  • Disaster Planning After the Apocalypse
  • Lawyer Leaders: The Opportunity of Katrina
  • Avert Disaster: Protect Your Practice with Online Backups
  • Protecting Your Computer
• Planning For Reconstituting A Law Office After A Disaster

• Resource Materials for Responding to Legal Questions from Those Displaced by Hurricane Katrina - From the State Bar of Texas
• Legal Ethics Challenges for the Mass Disaster Plaintiff’s Lawyer

• Emergency Preparedness and Response: Legal Issues in a Changing World (The Health Lawyer)
• FEMA Disaster Relief Assistance
• After the Disaster - What Should I Do Now? Information to Help Small Business Owners Make Post-Disaster Business Decisions
• Dealing with Disaster 
• What Lawyers Need to Know About Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Recovery
• Public Entity Risk Institute - Resources, and information to address risk management challenges
• Health Plan Information

The ABA LTRC clearinghouse for technology related resources for disaster recovery contains links to articles, websites, communication tools, discounts and companies to help lawyers who are victims of the hurricane.

Bankrupcy

The Bankruptcy Primer is intended to provide guidance to non-bankruptcy attorneys in connection with basic bankruptcy issues that are likely to arise in counseling clients whose businesses have been adversely affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The primer summarizes the main features of bankruptcy and the different types of bankruptcy proceedings. The primer discusses Chapter 7, Chapter 11, Chapter 12 and Chapter 13 from the debtor’s perspective, and includes a section that discusses creditors’ rights in bankruptcy cases.
Download this Bankrupcy Primer
Download this Bankrupcy Primer

Small Businesses

The Guide to SBA Disaster Relief Loans is a concise gathering of key pieces of information from the Small Business Administration related to the types of loans available to impacted businesses and the timing parameters of the application process.
Download The Guide to SBA Disaster Relief Loans

Children's Issues

UIFSA

The Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (UIFSA) is designed to regulate a one order system for establishment and maintenance of support orders. View a PowerPoint presentation explaining the history and application of UIFSA.

UCCJA and UCCJEA

The Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act (1968) and subsequent Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act were created to establish national uniformity with regard to interstate custody matters. The growing frequency of interstate jurisdiction issues makes UCCJEA an important and necessary framework to resolve a variety of issues across state lines. As of November 2005, UCCJEA has been adopted in 44 states (see map).

Learn more about UCCJA and UCCJEA.

Additional Resources on Children's Issues

• National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL)
• Foster Care or Adoptive Families for Katrina-Affected Children
• National Center for State Courts Katrina Information
• National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges

Post-Katrina Contracting: Risks and Opportunities
Teleconference and Live Audio Webcast
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
1:00 PM-2:30 PM Eastern

Legal Rights and Responsibilities of Employers, Employees and Labor Unions in the Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina
On Demand Audio CLE
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the Section of Labor and Employment Law will be offering this free teleconference to address the labor and employment implications stemming from this disaster. Participants in the teleconference, who include experienced labor and employment practitioners and governmental representatives, will discuss legal rights and responsibilities of employees, employers and labor unions.

ARE YOU READY?: What Lawyers Need to Know About Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Recovery
Complimentary CLE Audio Program
Produced to help local communities, and the lawyers who advise them, become better able to plan for, manage, respond to, and recover from potential disasters, this documentary-style video program addresses key legal issues in emergency preparedness, response and recovery. More

• South Carolina Relaxation of Rules for Admission Pro Hac Vice and for Admission to Practice of Law for Lawyers Displaced by Hurricane Katrina
• Ohio Supreme Court Grants Limited Authority For Non-Licensed Attorney To Provide Pro Bono Disaster Legal Assistance
• Mississippi Supreme Court Grants Limited Authority For Non-Licensed Attorney To Provide Pro Bono Disaster Legal Assistance
• Press Release: Texas Supreme Court Clears Hurdles to Assist Clients of Displaced Lawyers in Hurricane Katrina's Aftermath

• National Center for State Courts Katrina Information
• National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges

• A Guide to Insurance Coverage for Losses from Hurricane Katrina from Dickstein Shapiro Morin & Oshinsky LLP
• Property Insurance Checklist
• Business Interruption Insurance Checklist
• Sample Claims Calculation (Excel)
• ISO Business Income Coverage Form *
• ISO Building and Personal Property Coverage Form *
• Fraud Principles Are Never Gone With The Wind
• IRMI Online: Find information on claims in the National Flood Insurance Program Manual
• Alabama Department of Insurance
• Louisiana Department of Insurance
• Mississippi Department of Insurance

• Checklist for tenants
• Checklist For State And Local Government Attorneys To Prepare For Possible Disaster
• "Are You Ready?  What Lawyers Need to Know About Preparedness and Disaster Recovery--Free on-line VIDEO

The following organizations are providing assistance for animals (domestic and wildlife) affected by Hurricane Katrina:

• American Society for Prevention of Cruelty (ASPCA)
• Animal Legal Defense Fund
• American Veterinary Medical Law Association
• American Veterinary Medical Association
• FAQs related to Animal Law issues, cosponsored by the TIPS Animal Disaster Relief Network
• Humane Society of U.S.
• Pet Finders
• United Animal Nations