Where to Find Answers about Courts, Lawyers

by Robert Ambrogi - Editor
BullsEye Newsletter: September 2005

In the path of Hurricane Katrina, law offices were lost, courthouses were closed and dockets were suspended. The impact on the legal system is beyond measure.

Lawyers throughout the country were left with questions about the status of cases and the whereabouts of peers. To help you in finding the answers, we offer this guide to essential information sources on the Web.

Federal Courts

Congress passed emergency legislation allowing the federal district and bankruptcy courts in New Orleans to relocate their operations to Baton Rouge, Lafayette and Houma. Filing deadlines in the district court were suspended.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which handles appellate cases from Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi, relocated to Houston for three months, and then will move to Baton Rouge. It extended to Oct. 3 all filing deadlines from Aug. 24 to Sept. 30.

More information on specific federal courts can be found at:

• 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, www.ca5.uscourts.gov
• U.S. District Court, E.D. Louisiana, www.laed.uscourts.gov
  Emergency filings can be sent to Baton Rouge or Lafayette.
• U.S. Bankruptcy Court, M.D. Louisiana, www.lamb.uscourts.gov
• U.S. District Court, S.D. Mississippi, www.mssd.uscourts.gov
  The court is now open.
• U.S. Bankruptcy Court, S.D. Mississippi, www.mssb.uscourts.gov
• U.S. District Court, S.D. Alabama, www.alsd.uscourts.gov
  The court is open for business.
• U.S. Courts news, www.uscourts.gov/news.html

  
  State Courts

  As of September 16th, the Louisiana Supreme Court and the state's Fourth and Fifth Circuit Courts of Appeal remain closed. Local courts in New Orleans are closed until at least Oct. 1. The governor ordered the suspension of all legal deadlines until at least Sept. 25.
  
  In Mississippi, the Supreme Court ordered all filing deadlines between Aug. 29 and Oct. 31 extended by 90 days.
  
  In Texas, the state Supreme Court issued an order authorizing displaced lawyers to practice law there without fear of engaging in unauthorized practice. The order can be found at:
  www.supreme.courts.state.tx.us/advisories/katrina_advisory.htm.
  
  Additional information on state courts can be found at:

• Louisiana Supreme Court, www.lasc.org
• Louisiana Courts, www.louisiana.gov/wps/portal/.cmd/cs/.ce/155/.s/1126/_s.155/1123
• Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal, www.la-fcca.org
  Located in Baton Rouge, its Web site is serving as a repository for information on court orders, closures and dockets.
• Mississippi Courts, www.mississippi.gov/ms_sub_sub_template.jsp?Category_ID=13
• National Center for State Courts, Katrina-related court updates, www.ncsconline.org/What'sNew/NewsAlerts/NewsAlertKatrinaUpdate.html
• Supreme Court of Texas, www.supreme.courts.state.tx.us
  
  Associations – National

  National bar associations are coordinating relief efforts within the legal community. Key sites include:

• American Bar Association, Hurricane Katrina Disaster Relief, www.abanet.org/katrina.
• American Bar Association, Section of Real Property, Probate and Trust Law, www.abanet.org/rppt/section_info/hurricane.html
  Focus on real-property emergency resources.
• Association of Legal Administrators, www.alanet.org/hometext.html
• Association of Trial Lawyers of America, www.atla.org
• Defense Research Institute, www.dri.org
• NALS, www.nals.org
• National Bar Association, Hurricane Aid Resource Center, www.nationalbar.org/news/hurricane/hurricaneaid.shtml

  Associations – State

  The Web site of the Louisiana State Bar Association, www.lsba.org, quickly became a leading portal for information on Katrina's impact on lawyers, law firms and clients. It includes messages boards, court orders, disaster training manuals and comprehensive links to legal, government and private resources.
  
  State bars throughout the country devoted sections of their sites to Katrina information and relief. For first-hand information from affected states, useful state bar sites include:

• Alabama State Bar, www.alabar.org
• Georgia Advocates, www.georgiaadvocates.org
• Louisiana Trial Lawyers Association, www.ltla.org
• State Bar of Georgia, www.gabar.org
• State Bar of Texas, www.texasbar.com
• Tennessee Bar Association, www.tba.org
• Texas Association of Defense Counsel, www.tadc.org
• The Florida Bar, www.floridabar.org
• The Mississippi Bar, www.msbar.org

  Associations – Local
  Local bars across the country reacted to Katrina through their Web sites. Among those with useful information and resources are:

• Atlanta Bar Association, AttorneyAssist.org, www.attorneyassist.org
• Austin Bar Association, www.austinbar.org
• Baton Rouge Bar Association, www.brba.org
• Dallas Bar Association, www.dallasbar.org
• Houston Bar Association, www.hba.org
• Lafayette Parish Bar Association, www.lafayettebar.org
• New Orleans Bar Association, www.neworleansbar.net
• Tarrant County Bar Association, www.tarrantbar.org

  Technology

  Several sites provide information and resources related to law office technology, practice management and disaster/data recovery:

• Help Katrina Lawyers, www.helpkatrinalawyers.org
• Technology Related Resources for Hurricane Katrina Disaster Relief, www.abanet.org/tech/ltrc/katrina.html
  From the ABA's Legal Technology Resource Center.
• International Legal Technology Association, www.peertopeer.org

  Blogs and Message Boards

  Several sites serve as virtual bulletin boards for posting announcements, requests for assistance and offers of help. They include:

• AALL LawLibAssist blog, http://aallnet.typepad.com/katrina
  Information for members of the American Association of Law Libraries. Hurricane Katrina Lawyers, www.quicktopic.com/32/H/ZXpdiAP9phhH
• Hurricane Katrina Disaster Recovery wiki, http://katrinalaw.org
• International Legal Technology Association, http://relief.iltanet.org
• Louisiana Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers Katrina Relief Blog, http://lacdlkatrinarelief.blogspot.com
  Information for criminal defense lawyers.
• Louisiana State Bar Association message board, www.lafayettebar.org/forum
• New Orleans Lawyers, www.quicktopic.com/32/H/GTuHaYDwKWr

  Disaster Training
  The Louisiana State Bar Association compiled training materials to help lawyers provide legal assistance to victims of Hurricane Katrina. These are:

• Disaster Legal Services, ABA Young Lawyers Division, www.lsba.org/home1/ABAYLDMANUAL.pdf
• Emergency Disaster Training Manual for Volunteer Lawyers, www.lsba.org/home1/trainingmanual.asp
• Resource Materials for Responding to Legal Questions from Those Displaced by Hurricane Katrina, State Bar of Texas and Houston Bar Association, www.lsba.org/home1/SBOTKatrinaDisasterResourceGuide.pdf

  Law Schools
  Law schools throughout the country responded with offers of help for students and faculty displaced by Katrina. Key sites for information on law schools affected by Katrina are:

• Loyola Emergency Information, www.loyno.edu
• Loyola University Emergency Updates, www.jaceebergeron.com/loyola
• Loyola-New Orleans Law School Post-Hurricane Blog, www.isthatlegal.org/loyno
• Tulane University, www.tulane.edu
• Tulane Law School Katrina information site, www.law.emory.edu/cms/site/index.php?id=tulane
• Tulane Law Post-Hurricane Blog, www.isthatlegal.org/tulanelaw

  Insurance
  The insurance industry has created the Hurricane Insurance Information Center, www.disasterinformation.org, to provide information for consumers affected by Hurricane Katrina.

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