Lawyers can play an important role following a disaster, yet they are just as vulnerable as their clients and neighbors. According to the ABA, 600,000 lawyers practice as sole proprietors.
Following Katrina, the ABA formed a task force that learned a number of things lawyers around the country could do to protect their practice following a disaster. “We have obligations to our clients that are set forth in a code of professional conduct,” said David Bienvenu, chairman of the ABA’s Committee on Disaster Response and Preparedness. “So that if we lose their property or we cannot protect their interests because we are disrupted from doing our work by circumstances over which we may have no control, but we may have had the ability to be better prepared for, then are we fulfilling our obligation?”
Gary Blume is a lawyer from Tuscaloosa, Ala., whose 33-year-old practice, which he operates with his wife, was destroyed by a tornado on April 27 . Blume had said goodbye to his last clients of the day and was getting ready to go home with his wife when the tornado brought their brick and cement building down around them. Along with the building, thousands of files dating back to the beginning of the practice were destroyed. “I always felt safer in our office than I did in our home,” he said. “It had survived the tail end of lots of hurricanes — Katrina and Ivan both came in our direction and there were 60, 70, 80 mile an hour winds — we kept right on working.”
Before the tornado hit, except for financial records, Blume’s practice was entirely paper-based. “Until the tornado hit, I could still lay my hands on the first file that I opened on Sept. 28, 1978,” he said. “I can’t now.”
When it comes to protecting the confidentiality of client files, secure document destruction is a critical task that a practice can’t leave to just anyone, Blume said. “I can’t allow anyone access to those files who I haven’t trained in confidentiality and who I can’t expect confidentiality from.”
It’s not just natural disasters that may interrupt a law office’s ability to function. Christine Crilly is a lawyer in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, who lost her practice in the 2008 flooding. Following the disaster, Crilly developed a disaster recovery plan for natural and man-made events that she regularly updates, communicates to her staff and tests.
“Even a minor disaster — a burst pipe in the room with the computer server — can harm a law firm and disrupt its business," Stephen Zack, president of the ABA, said in a statement. "Even if you believe that you live where cataclysmic events don't occur, all lawyers and law firms are at risk of a disaster disrupting their practice. Fortunately with proper planning, the harm they cause can be mitigated, clients can be served and law practices may be preserved."
