ACBA’s disaster manual to provide assistance for volunteer attorneys
By Lisa M. Wolfe
For The Lawyers Journal
Sept. 1, 2006—Disasters usually are unexpected, with damage occurring instantaneously. The Allegheny County Bar Association’s Public Service Committee believes that the time to prepare an effective volunteer pro bono legal assistance program is before any disaster occurs.
In order for the ACBA to prepare for the future, the PSC formed a Disaster Planning subcommittee, which was charged with developing a disaster manual for volunteer attorneys. To create a successful manual, the subcommittee reviewed other bar association disaster manuals. In particular, the committee looked to the Louisiana State Bar Association’s Emergency Disaster Training Manual and the Texas State Bar and Houston Bar Association’s resource materials as prototypes for the Disaster Legal Assistance Manual for Volunteer Attorneys.
“Thanks must be extended to Joseph Mack, PSC chair, and PSC Disaster Planning subcommittee members Renee Colbert, Pamela Dalton Arlotti, Shelly R. Pagac, Melaine Rothey, and Sheila Scanlon. Without their drive and determination, this manual would not have been completed,” said David Blaner, ACBA Executive Director. “Special thanks to Robert Racunas, who identified this manual’s necessity and who, during his term as ACBA President, provided the strong leadership necessary to attain this goal.”
Racunas noticed that in recent years the ACBA has recognized a need to help community members in times of need. For instance, local attorneys assisted victims of local natural disasters such as the tornado in the 1990s, the microburst a few years back, and the flooding from Hurricane Ivan, which also affected some ACBA members' practices. The recent effects of Hurricane Katrina also spurred the bar’s interest in developing a disaster plan.
“I asked David if the bar had a disaster plan for the association, and he said it was being developed. He agreed that it would be a great project for the bar to prepare a legal response disaster manual,” said Racunas. “We scheduled a meeting with Joe Mack, and I asked him to have the PSC undertake the project. The committee is to be commended for meeting the Bench-Bar Conference deadline.”
Once the subcommittee was in place, Racunas sent a letter to the chairs and vice-chairs of the ACBA’s committees and sections, asking them to become involved with the manual by reviewing materials pertaining to their field of law in order to ensure that the information included in the disaster manual was up to date.
“Having identified a few stellar disaster manuals, we didn’t need to start from scratch to create ours,” said Lorrie Albert, ACBF Pro Bono Coordinator. “Our volunteers did a great amount of work on this project. It took a lot of work for the section and committee chairs to translate Louisiana’s Napoleonic code into Pennsylvania law.”
“The individual attorneys who took valuable time to serve as sources for the review, comment, and drafting of substantive portions of the manual provided a great service to the region,” said Blaner.
The manual will provide volunteer attorneys with answers to a variety of simple legal questions they may be asked by those affected by a disaster.
“We don’t believe we’ll have any problem recruiting volunteers in the event of an emergency,” said Albert. “After Hurricane Katrina, I sent an e-mail to the Young Lawyers Division asking for volunteers to assist people displaced by the storm and within one hour I had over 60 attorneys willing to help.”
“If we are ever hit with a major disaster, I will coordinate a training session, but the disaster manual will be our main resource. It will be updated every year to ensure that all the information provided is up-to-date.”
Based on past experiences with hurricanes and other natural disasters, the manual’s areas of focus include: filing for emergency assistance, insurance claim information, lessor-lessee, homeowner, and other housing problems, consumer protection matters, replacing of important legal documents destroyed in the natural disaster, such as wills and green cards, public benefits programs, estate administration, and Social Security benefit information.
Albert and Colbert, chair of the Disaster Planning subcommittee, presented information about the manual and how it was developed in the wake of Hurricane Katrina at a CLE program during the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s annual meeting in Hershey, Pa.
In the event that a disaster hits Allegheny County and crashes the ACBA’s servers, the PBA will be working with the bar as a backup and will be able to provide volunteers with copies of the manual.
“The end result was well worth it for those who participated in creating the disaster manual,” said Albert. “The materials really came together to create a great book. This will be a tremendous help in aiding those who volunteer to provide assistance to those affected by a disaster.”
“When you volunteer for such a case, you’re just scratching the surface of a person’s problems, but you’re answering questions that people really need to know, such as ‘Do I have to pay my mortgage even though I no longer have a house?’ This manual provides answers to basic questions so that, if you’re organized and know what you’re doing, you can really help people.”
“The results of this disaster manual are proof positive of the resources within our bar that can be tapped in pro bono efforts,” said Mack.
The manual can be accessed through the ACBA and ACBF homepages at www.acba.org or www.acbf.org.