The unprecedented damage wreaked by Hurricane Katrina across the US Gulf Coast has left thousands of people in desperate need of legal support - and lawyers have rallied with offers of help, report Catherine Baksi and Neil Rose

Lawyers across the US have pledged legal and financial help for those affected by Hurricane Katrina along the US Gulf Coast, and set up a fund to help the many attorneys and their families who have been displaced.


The legal institutions of Louisiana, many of which were based in New Orleans, have been devastated, causing major disruptions to law firms and their clients, the courts and law schools. It is estimated that half of all lawyers in the state have been directly affected by the hurricane. Many have lost their files and are unable to access their offices.


The state supreme court and the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals building are underwater, as are many city and district courts. The offices of the Louisiana State Bar Association (LSBA) and two of Louisiana's law schools are also submerged.


American Bar Association (ABA) president Michael Greco announced last week that the ABA Young Lawyers Division and lawyers from other sections will be available to assist hurricane victims with insurance claims, home repair contracts, wills and obtaining death certificates and other documents. It is also gathering details of those able to donate spare office space.


Members of the Young Lawyers Division have teamed up with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help staff a free 24-hour hotline open to disaster victims in the affected states. It is being run in conjunction with the Baton Rouge Bar Association, at whose offices it is based, and LSBA - which has been offered full use of the Baton Rouge bar's facilities. Baton Rouge is the nearest city to New Orleans, and has the largest bar association currently operational in the state.


Bar associations across the US have begun donating funds to support the provision of legal aid to the thousands of displaced people, and have called for lawyers to offer free legal services.


However, because of practice rules in the US, those willing to accept pro bono referrals must be licensed lawyers in one or more of the affected states. Those who are not licensed may answer hotline calls and fill out an initial form, but they cannot give legal advice and have to pass the form on to a lawyer who is licensed.


The LSBA is also establishing the Hurricane Katrina Legal Community Relief Fund to help assist lawyers who lost their homes and offices in the storm.


President Frank Neuner, who is based in Lafayette, said: 'I am confident members of the legal community will come together to help their colleagues whose law practices and families have been displaced by this unprecedented disaster.'


Similar efforts are underway in Mississippi, where the state bar association is gathering money and other resources to help affected lawyers re-establish their practices. It has also called for local lawyers to volunteer for a legal assistance table at a disaster recovery centre being set up on the Gulf Coast. The association warned volunteers to be prepared for 'extremely primitive conditions', such as sleeping in cars.


Local bar associations in Texas, to where many people displaced by the hurricane have been bussed, are offering financial and other support. Lawyers in Houston are providing temporary office and living space to fellow attorneys and their families who have been displaced, and the Houston Bar Association is putting on free continuing education courses for attorneys staying in the area.


A committee of the LSBA and the Federal Bar Association is working with the federal courts in Louisiana to consider the appointment of a special master to serve as a point of contact and a clearing house for cases in which displaced attorneys are involved.


The ABA's section on real property, probate and trust law, meanwhile, is establishing an information clearing house to collate the experience of lawyers who have dealt with disaster-related problems in the past - such as dealing with lost documents, preparing insurance claims, and dealing with business deals interrupted prior to completion.


One of New Orleans' leading law firms, Liskow & Lewis, has a 70-lawyer office there, and - like many other practices - will be opening an office in Baton Rouge to minimise disruptions to their clients and help the local business communities.


Marilyn Maloney, managing partner at the firm's Houston office, told the Gazette: 'We are luckier than many, as we already have offices in other locations, our back-up data is stored in Baton Rouge, and we were able to fund our payroll before the banks closed.'


She said: 'We have been overwhelmed by the kindness that has been extended to our colleagues - clients and law firms have offered office space and individual lawyers have offered bedrooms.'


Other firms such as McGlinchey Stafford have already relocated displaced lawyers to offices in Baton Rouge and other cities, with the expectation that they will remain there for some months.


Kean Miller, another firm with offices in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, said it plans to offer conference space, temporary offices and business amenities to clients and others who have been displaced.