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NEWS
- NBA
CONVENES 12-CITY HURRICANE RELIEF SEMINAR WEBCAST AND
RALLY WITH NATIONAL LEADERS FOR NEW ORLEANS HURRICANE
VICTIMS
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National
Bar Association President Reginald M. Turner, Jr. was
in New Orleans this past weekend to lend the NBA’s support
and assistance to those groups impacted by Hurricanes
Katrina and Rita. On Friday, March 31st, the NBA Hurricane
Katrina Task Force, chaired by Vice President Marlon
Primes and Vice President Vanita Banks held a Hurricane
Relief Seminar for Evacuees and Volunteers, which consisted
of a 12-city webcast from Tulane University Law School.
The webcast, which was co-sponsored by the Louisiana
State Bar Association, Tulane Law School, and The George
Washington University School of Law, featured several
key speakers on three separate panels. Topics ranged
from “What Lawyers and Law Students Can Do to Assist
the Relief Effort” to “Disaster Relief Update” to “Common
Questions and Concerns of Evacuees and Volunteers.”
President Turner gave remarks on behalf of the NBA.
This webcast was the first of its kind sponsored by
the NBA. In addition, there were computer chat rooms
established which permitted evacuees, attorneys and
students to ask the panelists questions.
On
Saturday, April 1, President Turner and Chief of Staff
David Cade attended a prayer breakfast sponsored by
Marc Morial, Executive Director of the National Urban
League. The prayer breakfast featured several national
speakers, including Professor Michael Eric Dyson, and
members of Congress, including William Jefferson (D-LA),
Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-OH), and Kendrick Meek (D-FL).
 Afterwards,
President Turner, Vice President Primes, and Chief of
Staff Cade attended a rally in front of the New Orleans
Morial Convention Center, which is the site of much
of the visible desperation for many of the evacuees
for several days after Hurricane Katrina struck. The
rally was sponsored by Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rev. Al Sharpton,
and Judge Greg Mathis to draw attention to the upcoming
New Orleans elections and the inadequacies of addressing
voting rights for displaced residents. Official estimates
of the crowd ranged from 2,000 upwards. After the rally,
the crowd marched over the I-10 Mississippi bridge towards
Gretna, which is the town where many evacuees tried
to escape the devastation and flooding only to be turned
by force by the sheriff.
After
the rally and march, President Turner and Chief of Staff
Cade toured the devastated areas, including the decimated
Ninth Ward. They were humbled by the magnitude of the
disaster and the sheer loss of life and property. Finally,
President Turner and Chief of Staff Cade met privately
with several national African-American based organizations
to strategize ways in which to respond to and assist voters
seeking to exercise the right to vote in the upcoming
elections. Specifically, the NBA was asked to provide
attorneys to serve as poll monitors in the 15 satellite
early voting centers April 11-15 and in New Orleans on
the designated April 22 election day.
The NBA is seeking at least two volunteers for each poll
center to field inquiries. A training for volunteers on
Louisiana Election Law was held on April 5, 2006. If you
are interested in serving as a poll monitor, please contact
NBA Mavis Thompson, Vice President of Regions and Affiliates
at (314) 652-7314 or mavisthompson@sbcglobal.net.
The
NBA was organized in 1925, and with a network of more
than 20,000 members and 80 bar affiliates, the NBA is
the oldest and largest association of African American
and minority attorneys, jurists, legal scholars, and law
students in the world. .
- HOUSTON
AFRICAN AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION AND TEXAS SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY
CRIMINAL LAW CLINIC COMES TO THE RESCUE OF KATRINA VICTIM
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Houston Bar Association
Contact: James G. Pierre (713) 614-9151
Dateline: Wednesday, April 12, 2006
When: Wednesday April 12, 2006- 8:30AM
Where: 6000 Chimney Rock-Judge Russ Ridgeway Justice
of the Peace
Who: 15 Lawyers from the Houston Lawyers Association
and 6 Texas Southern University Law Students from the
Criminal Law Clinic
Members
of the Houston Lawyers Association (HLA) will be in
Judge Russ Ridgeway’s court today at 8:30 a.m. to defend
charges brought by Harris County against Ms. Abrina
Phillips who is a Katrina Survivor from New Orleans’
7th ward and whose home was destroyed in the Hurricane.
Ms. Phillips fled to a college in Thibodaux, Louisiana.
Thereafter, she was herded onto a bus with other evacuees
and was forced to relocate to Houston, Texas. Her children,
ages 9, 7, 5, and 3 were bussed from the Superdome to
Oklahoma, along with their grandmother and grandfather.
Ms. Phillips finally was able to rent a car and drive
to Alabama to get her children.
Ms.
Phillips has been charged with three counts of contributing
to the nonattendance of a student. This charge is a Class
C Misdemeanor that carries with it a $540 fine for each
charge.
Since
October
this young mother has been driving back and forth to Louisiana,
trying to get an assessment of her life and home in New
Orleans. 90% of the time she has had to take her children
with her on her commutes from Houston to New Orleans.
Meanwhile, she registered her children in Alief ISD. In
school her children has had to endure burdens similar
what most of the Katrina children. Ridicule from other
students, degrading treatment from teachers and faculty,
constant verbal reminder to the parents and children that
New Orleans Public Schools are so behind Texas public
schools are a few of the torments her children have to
bear. Furthermore, Abrina’s children where told that they
will have to repeat their grades in school because of
their poor work product and because of their absences
from school.
“The
Harris County District Attorney’s Office has failed to
follow procedures outline by the Texas Education Agency.”
Say James Goodwille Pierre, President of the Houston Lawyers
Association. The Texas Education Association on their
website states that prior to charging a parent for Contributing
to their child’s truancy, “ evacuated students should
be given a reasonable period of time to determine whether
they will be returning to their former school district,
or will enroll in another district. Truancy charges should
not be filed until that determination can be made.”
“This
abusive treatment is being brandished upon hundreds of
children and mothers; and it should stop. The prosecution
has wide latitude on these types of cases and HLA needs
to send a clear message that we stand ready to advocate
against this type of prosecutorial raping of poor people.”
The
Houston Lawyers Association (HLA), a professional legal
organization that represents over 1300 African American
Attorneys and Legal Professionals residing or working
in the Harris County and surrounding areas, The Houston
Lawyers Association (HLA), an affiliate chapter of the
National Bar Association, was founded in 1955 to address
the particular needs of Black lawyers and the legal needs
of the Black community in general.
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NBA
HURRICANE KATRINA TASK FORCE WEBCAST RESOUNDING SUCCESS
Contact: Marthea Davis 202-842-3900
Washington,
DC, (4/10/06)……. On Friday, March 31, 2006, the NBA
Hurricane Katrina Task Force, chaired by Vice Presidents
Marlon A. Primes and Vanita M. Banks, conducted a Hurricane
Relief Seminar for evacuees and volunteers, which consisted
of a twelve-city webcast from Tulane University Law
School. The webcast, which was co-sponsored by the Louisiana
State Bar Association, and in cooperation with Tulane
University Law School and The George Washington University
School of Law, featured several key speakers on three
separate panels. Topics ranged from "What Lawyers and
Law Students Can Do to Assist the Relief Effort" to
"Disaster Relief Update" to "Common Questions and Concerns
of Evacuees and Volunteers". NBA President Reginald
M. Turner, Jr. gave remarks on behalf of the NBA. This
webcast was the first of its kind sponsored by the National
Bar Association. In addition, there were computer chat
rooms established which permitted evacuees, attorneys
and students to ask the panelists questions.
The
National Bar Association is the oldest and largest
organization of attorneys and judges of color in the
world. The NBA was founded in 1925, and today represents
over 20,000 lawyers, judges, legal scholars and law
students internationally.
George
Washington University School of Law, founded in 1825,
was the first law school in the District of Columbia.
The
mission of the Louisiana State Bar Association
is to assist and serve its members in the practice of
law, assure access to and aid in the administration of
justice, assist the Supreme Court in the regulation of
practice of law, uphold the honor of the courts and the
profession, promote the professional competence of attorneys,
increase public understanding of and respect for the law,
and encourage collegiality among its members.
Tulane
University Law School furthers its educational mission
and enriches its programs through several Institutes or
Centers that focus on areas of special strength and function
as centers of excellence .
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HURRICANE
KATRINA RELIEF SEMINAR
Tulane
Law School 2:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. on Friday, March 31,
2006
(New Orleans, LA) The National Bar Association (NBA),
the nation's oldest and largest association of African-American
attorneys, will co-sponsor with the Louisiana State
Bar Association a legal clinic for hurricane evacuees
and volunteer lawyers and law students. The event will
be held in cooperation with Tulane Law School and the
George Washington University Law School at 2:00 p.m.
- 5:00 p.m. central standard time on Friday, March 31,
2006, at Tulane Law School, Room 157, 6329 Freret Street,
New Orleans, Louisiana. The latest web casting technology
will enable the program to be viewed live from the Cleveland-Marshall
College of Law in Cleveland, Ohio; Southern University
Law Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Florida A & M
College of Law in Orlando, Florida; the South Texas
College of Law in Houston, Texas; the George Washington
University Law School in Washington, D.C.; and the Corporate
Offices of the National Football League in New York,
New York. The contact information for the coordinators
at each of these sites is listed below.
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The
purpose of the legal clinic is to encourage volunteers
and provide evacuees with the necessary information
so that they can make informed decisions about their
future.
The
legal clinic will feature three panels. The first panel
will address how lawyers and law students can assist the
relief effort and will feature Associate Justice Catherine
Kimball of the Louisiana Supreme Court, National Bar Association
President Reginald M. Turner, Jr., Marta-Ann Schnabel,
who is president-elect of the Louisiana State Bar Association,
and Morgan Williams, who is one of the leaders of the
Student Hurricane Network that is encouraging law students
around the country to volunteer in the Gulf Coast.
Panel
II will provide evacuees and volunteers with the latest
disaster relief information. This panel will feature New
Orleans City Council President Oliver M. Thomas, Jr. and
Eugene Cornelius, Jr., who is the District Director of
the United States Small Business Administration.
Panel
III will address the common questions and concerns
of evacuees. This panel will include Louisiana State Representative
Karen Carter, who will discuss insurance issues from her
perspective as the chairperson of the House Insurance
Committee, Southern University Law Professor John Pierre,
who will discuss mortgage and landlord tenant issues,
Louisiana State Representative Cheryl A. Gray, who will
discuss issues regarding the upcoming election, and Louisiana
Department of Natural Resources Executive Counsel Monique
Edwards, who will address environmental concerns of volunteers
and evacuees.
The
National Bar Association was founded in 1925 and today
represents a network of more than 20,000 African-American
lawyers, judges, and law professors. The NBA formed a
Hurricane Katrina Task Force to address the needs of evacuees
and coordinate volunteer efforts. The legal clinic at
Tulane is part of a series of legal clinics the NBA has
sponsored around the country. A more intensive legal clinic
and program about the relief effort will take place at
the National
Bar Association's Mid-Year Conference on April
26 - 30, 2006, at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee.
CONTACT
INFORMATION FOR SITE COORDINATORS
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I.
Cleveland-Marshall College of Law
Prof. Pam Daiker-Middaugh
2121 Euclid Avenue Moot Courtroom
Cleveland, Ohio 44115
(216) 687-2344 (tel.)
Pamela.daiker-Middaugh@law.csuohio.edu (e-mail)
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II.
The George Washington University Law School
Assistant Dean Alfreda Robinson
Moot Courtroom
2000 H Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20052
(202) 994-6261 (tel.)
arobinson@law.gwu.edu (e-mail)
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III. South Texas College of Law
Sheila Hansel, Esq.
Moot Courtroom
1303 San Jacinto Street
Houston, Texas 77002
(713) 6(713) 659-8040 (tel.)
hansel@stcl.edu (e-mail) and
James G. Pierre, Esq.
(713) 614-9151 (tel.)
goodwille@swbell.net (e-mail)
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IV. Southern University Law Center
Prof. John Pierre
One Roosevelt Steptoe Drive Lenoir Bldg.
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
(225) 771-4900 (tel.)
jpierre@sulc.edu (e-mail)
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V.
National Football League
280 Park Avenue
New York, New York
Contact: Taa Grays, Esq.
(212) 578-1143 (tel.)
nbaregion2@yahoo.com (e-mail)
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VI. Tulane Law School
Wendy Brown Scott Vice Dean
6329 Freret Street
New Orleans, Louisiana 70118
(504) 865-5933 (tel.)
wbscott@law.tulane.edu (e-mail)
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VII.
Florida A & M College of Law
201 Beggs Avenue
Orlando, Florida 32801
Contact: Terryl Blackmon, Esq.
(407) 975-5815
Terryl_Blackmon@progressive.com (e-mail)
- IX.
National Bar Association Katrina Relief Taskforce
Legal Clinic Coordinator:
Marlon A. Primes, NBA Vice President for Sections/Divisions
Carl B. Stokes Federal Courthouse
801 W. Superior Ave., Suite 400
Cleveland, OH 44113
(216) 622-3684 Marlon.Primes@usdoj.gov (e-mail)
mprimes@nationalbar.org (e-mail)
National
Bar Association Contacts:
Reginald M. Turner, Jr., President
National Bar Assn., Clark Hill PLC,
500 Woodward Avenue, Suite 3500,
Detroit, Michigan 48226
(313) 965-8318
Email: rturner@clarkhill.com
Maurice
Foster, Esq.,
email: mfoster@nationalbar.org /
Marthea Davis,
email: mdavis@nationalbar.org,
(202) 842-3900
Louisiana
State Bar Association Contact:
Brooke Monaco, Communications Director
601 St. Charles Avenue
New Orleans, Louisiana
(504) 619-0118, bmonaco@lsba.org
- HOUSTON
AFRICAN AMERICAN ATTORNEYS HOST LEGAL CLINIC FOR KATRINA
VICTIMS
Dateline:
Friday, October 17, 2005
On Friday, October 28, 2005, the Houston Lawyers Association
(HLA) in collaboration with the Thurgood Marshall School
of Law- Earl Carl Institute, Houston Chapter of the NAACP,
and the National Bar Association, will hold a press conference
at 1:30 p.m. to address emerging legal issues as a result
of Hurricane Katrina. There will also be a pro-bono legal
clinic for victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The
event will take place at Thurgood Marshall School of Law,
3100 Cleburne, Houston, Texas from 3:00-5:00 p.m.
The Houston Lawyers Association (HLA), a professional
legal organization that represents over 1300 African American
Attorneys and Legal Professionals residing or working
in the Harris County and surrounding areas, The Houston
Lawyers Association (HLA), an affiliate chapter of the
National Bar Association, was founded in 1955 to address
the particular needs of Black lawyers and the legal needs
of the Black community in general.
Contact: J. Goodwille Pierre (713) 614-9151
- THE
CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF BLACK LAWYERS CALLS FOR ACTION
AND A THOROUGH INVESTIGATION INTO HURRICANE KATRINA RELIEF
EFFORTS
The
California Association of Black Lawyers ("CABL") is committed
to assisting the people who have been affected by the
devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Our prayers and support
go out to our members, their families and every other
individual impacted by this catastrophe. We encourage
all CABL members to heed the call and participate in the
relief efforts to the extent possible. While we are working
together with other bar associations, community organizations
and individuals to provide immediate assistance to those
in need, we are well aware that the relief efforts will
be necessary for some time to come.
It is vital to the well-being of the citizens of our country
that every effort is made to insure that our local, state,
and federal government agencies are prepared to immediately
respond to such disasters and to provide sustained assistance
to those that have been adversely affected by them. As
the relief efforts continue and Congress begins its probe
into the reasons for the unacceptable delay in our government's
response to the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina,
we join in the request of other bar associations, organizations
and individuals that call upon our government to conduct
a thorough investigation.
CABL wholeheartedly supports this request and will lend
the assistance necessary to expedite any investigation
that will lead to the development of sound strategies
for obtaining an adequate response by our local, state,
and federal government agencies to future emergencies
whether caused by terrorism or natural disaster. "Our
nation must hold as paramount the well-being of all American
citizens and we must ensure that the probe into this matter
is meaningful, non-partisan and is devoid of rhetoric,"
states Demetrius Shelton, President of the California
Association of Black Lawyers.
The California Association of Black Lawyers is a statewide
bar association comprised of various local and regional
bar associations and represents the interests of over
5,000 African-American attorneys, judges, law professors,
and law students.
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September
13, 2005
Hurricane Katrina Pro Bono Legal Services and Volunteer
Plan
Marlon Primes, NBA Vice President
for Sections and Divisions and Co-Chairman of the NBA
Hurricane Katrina Task Force
The
National Bar Association ("NBA") Hurricane Katrina Task
Force has been meeting to devise a national strategy to
address the tragedy in the gulf coast region. I am incorporating
many of the suggestions of task force members, the hard
work of the Houston Lawyers' Association ("HLA") and the
diligent efforts of other NBA chapters into this plan,
which was recently approved by NBA President Reginald
Turner and Task Force Co-Chairman Vanita Banks.
More
>
- 9/6/05
State of Louisiana Executive Order:
Emergency Suspension of Prescription, Peremption, &
Other Legal Deadlines
Executive Order
(PDF)
- NBA
MOBILIZES TO AID HURRICANE VICTIMS AND CALLS FOR RATIONAL
RESPONSE FROM LAW ENFORCEMENT
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To
contact NBA President Reginald M. Turner, Jr. for
comment regarding legal organizations stance on issues
related to Hurricane Katrina relief efforts:
Reginald
M. Turner, Jr. President, National Bar Association
Clark Hill PLC 500 Woodard Avenue, Suite 3500
Detroit, MI 48226
(313) 965-8318, office
(313) 965-8252, fax rturner@clarkhill.com
Examples of NBA affiliate chapters actively working
in disaster relief efforts include but are not limited
to the following:
- Houston
Black Lawyers Association - Houston, TX (actively
involved in on-ground relief to Hurricane Katrina
vicims)
- J.L.
Turner Law Association - Dallas, TX (actively involved
in on-ground relief to Hurricane Katrina victims)
- Metropolitan
Black Bar Association - New York, NY (experience
in post 9-11 trauma, lending legal skills and leadership
to Hurricane Katrina victims and area agencies)
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WASHINGTON,
DC - The National Bar Association (NBA) is poised
to assist the people of the Gulf Coast region affected
by the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Our prayers are
extended to members of the National Bar Association residing
in the region, and to the hundreds of thousands of Americans
suffering from the destruction.
The
NBA calls upon the U.S. Government to enhance its response
to the suffering and death taking place before our eyes.
Efforts to date have been grossly inadequate. We urge
our government leaders and law enforcement officials to
be rational in securing public safety. Any order to shoot
criminal suspects on sight is inconsistent with due process
and the rule of law. America must protect its values while
protecting its citizens and property.
The
NBA is also mobilizing the maximum resources available
within our organization to assist in relief efforts. We
call upon our members to contribute to the American Red
Cross, and other local, state and national humanitarian
agencies providing food, water, shelter and other basic
necessities to hurricane victims. Each NBA member, affiliate
chapter, section and division is requested to contact
the American Red Cross by calling (800) HELP-NOW or by
visiting its website at http://www.redcross.org. We ask
that NBA members identify on calls or web responses their
membership in the National Bar Association so that we
may stand united in our efforts.
There
are already some amazing stories of NBA members providing
extraordinary assistance to families in need. Like Judge
Cynthia Stephens of Detroit, the NBA Chaplain, who diverted
from her vacation to go to Houston to minister to the
spiritual and earthly needs of families transplanted from
New Orleans. Like Attorney Russell Wilson of Texas, who
personally provided food, water, clothing and shelter
for a stranded family of nine people, paying for them
to continue to stay in temporary housing from which they
were about to be evicted. We truly belong to a noble profession!
Finally, the NBA is joining with its local affiliates,
such as the J.L. Turner Legal Association of Dallas, Texas,
and the Houston (TX) Black Lawyers Association, whose
relief efforts are already underway as they tend to the
specific needs of people on the ground. The NBA is also
joining with our national affiliates and the American
Bar Association (ABA) to provide pro bono legal services
and to help lawyers re-establish practices disrupted by
the hurricane. Details regarding these efforts will be
posted in the coming days on the NBA and ABA websites,
www.nationalbar.org
and www.abanet.org.
The
NBA is the oldest and largest organization of attorneys
and judges of color in the world. The NBA was founded
in 1925, and today represents over 20,000 lawyers, judges,
legal scholars and law students internationally.
Emergency
Order for Displaced Attorneys
Texas
Supreme Court advisory
Contact:
Osler McCarthy, staff attorney for public information
512.463.1441 or click for email
Friday,
September 2, 2005
TEXAS
SUPREME COURT CLEARS HURDLES TO ASSIST CLIENTS OF DISPLACED
LAWYERS IN HURRICANE KATRINA'S AFTERMATH
Under
emergency provisions to assist clients in Hurricane Katrina-ravaged
regions, the Texas Supreme Court ordered Friday that Texas
will permit lawyers from Louisiana, Mississippi or Alabama
to practice law from Texas locations.
"We're
acting to honor the immediate needs of clients whose lawyers
have been forced from their offices by the vast destruction
Katrina inflicted," said Chief Justice Wallace B. Jefferson.
In
an order approved Friday, the Court acted to assure lawyers
displaced from Louisiana, Mississippi or Alabama who established
temporary offices in Texas that they could continue to
serve their clients without fear that they might be practicing
law in Texas illegally. The Court's order is attached
to this email.
The
Court's order will be in effect for 30 days. In the meantime
the Court will review other provisions to accommodate
emergency circumstances and establish registration procedures
to communicate with out-of-state lawyers displaced in
Texas.
Lawyers from the affected states should contact the State
Bar of Texas' Membership Department.
The
Court also instructed the State Bar to withhold suspension
notices for lawyers in the affected regions who had not
paid dues for their existing Texas licenses. The Texas
Board of Law Examiners also was directed to waive late
fees for lawyers from Katrina-affected regions who were
planning to take the next Texas bar examination but had
not met the August 30 deadline for paying bar exam registration
fees.
PUBLIC
SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT REQUEST
September
2, 2005 Because of an increase in the number of women
we are serving, including evacuees affected by Hurricane
Katrina, the Battered Women's Program is in need of pillows,
towels and wash clothes, cleaning supplies, and personal
care products. We also need cash donations, bus tokens,
gift cards for gas, and other assistance. We would greatly
appreciate any help the public can provide. Please contact
us at 225-389-3001 or check our website, www.stopdv.org
if you can help us with this mission. Domestic Violence
did not stop because of Hurricane Katrina. If you believe
you are a victim of domestic abuse call 225-389-3001 or
1-888-411-1333. We are here to help victims of domestic
violence.
Thank
you very much for your support!!!!
Stay
Safe,
Capital
Area Family Violence Intervention Center
Staff Members Martha G. Forbes, LCSW, MPA Executive Director
BATON
ROUGE OFFICE
(225) 389-3001
1-888-411-1333
FAX (225) 358-3444
1-800-541-9706
FELICIANA PARISHES
(225) 683-2755 ASCENSION PARISH
(225) 644-4916
IBERVILLE PARISH (225) 687-1314
POINTE COUPEE OFFICE (225) 638-9507
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March 12, 2010
