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PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
A Call to Duty “ It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up” Hurricane Ike delivered a heavyweight punch to Houston. Many of the city’s signature landmarks, its tall pine trees and magnificent oak trees, its glass skyscrapers, and its byzantine bayous, sustained damage. The electrical service grid was knocked out. Ike damaged many of our residents’ homes and businesses. However, in the fighting tradition of Houston native George Foreman, Houston proved it could take a punch and respond. And our lawyers were in the forefront of the fight to help our citizens and city recover. Immediately following the hurricane, the Houston Bar Association joined forces with the Texas Supreme Court and the State Bar of Texas in formulating a plan of action. The Texas Supreme Court issued emergency orders that relieved certain filing and other deadlines in the affected counties and which allowed lawyers from out of state to temporarily practice law in Texas for purposes of rendering pro bono services. The State Bar granted extensions for lawyers who had continuing legal education requirements forthcoming in their birthday months. The HBA established emergency legal lines from 3:00 pm. to 5:00 p.m. every day for the three weeks following the storm. Over 1,300 residents of Houston and other affected counties called and received free legal advice concerning a myriad of legal problems in the aftermath of the storm, ranging from downed fences and trees, to insurance coverage, to landlord-tenant issues, to employment issues, to questions about federal assistance. Over 120 Houston attorneys, many of whom had their own personal hardships, volunteered their time to provide this important public service. Houston lawyers donated office space to over 60 attorneys who were displaced because of the storm. The HBA immediately initiated its fall clothing drive to help collect clothing for shelters. Over 200 lawyers received Hurricane Ike legal training sponsored by volunteers, who also wrote extensive legal training materials for the legal issues following the storm. Houston volunteer lawyers provided legal advice to citizens at Points of Distribution (PODs) where emergency materials were distributed immediately after the hurricane. Lawyers from the HBA’s Houston Volunteer Lawyers Program and from Lone Star Legal Aid have been providing free legal assistance at Disaster Relief Centers and other locations in the Houston area, as well as through a live help line. Houston volunteer lawyers also produced video vignettes of legal topics of interests and frequently asked questions that are posted on the HBA website for easy access to lawyers and to citizens. In response to a request from Mayor Bill White, the HBA and the Houston Volunteer Lawyers Program established free legal clinics in hard hit areas where people cannot readily afford legal services. These weekly half-day clinics have been established at community centers in Acres Home, Sunnyside, Aldine, the Tracy Gee Center in Alief, and Denver Harbor, and full-day weekly legal clinics have been established at Ellington Field and in Greenspoint. As Houston lawyers, we should all be proud of the outstanding service provided in response to this disaster. There are many valuable lessons learned from Hurricane Ike. Obviously, the resiliency of Houston and the magnificent giving spirit of Houston lawyers were spotlighted. With the help and cooperation of our neighbors, we can accomplish great things. The response to the storm further magnified Houston’s can-do image. We also learned, however, that we often take things for granted and often do not appreciate what we have until it is gone. Clean water, safe and efficient electricity, working communications systems, passable roads, beautiful trees, and glittering buildings are not a given. Our environment is critical to our quality of life, to our health, and to our economy. Lawyers are key problem solvers. Nowhere is legal problem solving more important than in helping to find the right balance of solutions between issues affecting our environment, such as flood control, clean water, and clean air, and our economic vitality, energy independence and freedom. Hurricane Ike helped focus all of us on the importance of our environment. This issue of The Houston Lawyer is dedicated to the environmental issues affecting us as citizens, and the important role lawyers serve. George Foreman once said: “I want to keep fighting because it is the only thing that keeps me out of the hamburger joints. If I don’t fight, I’ll eat this planet.” Houston lawyers, keep up the good fight for our city and for justice for all.
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