Michael S. Greco
President, American Bar Association
Louisiana State Bar Association Midyear Meeting
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
January 19, 2006
Thank you, [Louisiana State Bar Association President] Frank [Neuner], for that
warm introduction, and for inviting me to say a few words this evening.
President-Elect Marta-Ann Schnabel, Justice Catherine Kimball, Attorney
General Charles Foti, past presidents, officers, members of the Louisiana State Bar
Association, colleagues and friends -- on behalf of the American Bar Association I bring
warmest greetings and strong expressions of support as you strive to recover from the
hurricanes and rebuild your great state.
Louisiana has been blessed by an extraordinary group of talented and dedicated
judges and lawyers who have given so much to this state and to the entire nation. I
want to acknowledge a few of the many who have contributed to the mission of the
American Bar Association and to the betterment of the legal profession and our justice
system in Louisiana and across the country:
President Frank Neuner, whose leadership of the Louisiana State Bar
Association during this most difficult year has been an inspiration to all of us Frank,
you have the unfailing support of the ABA and all of America s lawyers.
Harry Hardin, who, as a member of the ABA Board of Governors, has kept the
leadership of the ABA apprised of developments in Louisiana and helped us to focus
our efforts to assist in your recovery.
Judge Madeleine Landrieu, Judge Jay Zainey and Wayne Lee, who graciously
agreed to serve on the ABA Task Force on Hurricane Katrina, which I will discuss in a
few moments. I thank them for helping the ABA Task Force better understand the
challenges facing the people of Louisiana and the entire Gulf region.
David Bienvenu, the ABA State Delegate from Louisiana, and Judy Perry
Martinez, who serves as Delegate-at-Large to the BA House of Delegates. David and
Judy have served as co-chairs of the Advisory Committee for the 2006 ABA Midyear
Meeting.
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It was an extraordinarily difficult decision to move the upcoming ABA Midyear
Meeting from New Orleans to Chicago, but it was made necessary when the New
Orleans Convetion Center and hotels informed us that they simply would not be ready
by early February to host such a large meeting. I thank David and Judy, and all of their
colleagues on the ABA Midyear Meeting Advisory Committee, for their efforts over the
past year.
We have assured the City, and I assure you, that the ABA will return to New
Orleans for a future ABA Midyear Meeting at the earliest possible opportunity.
In the meantime, I am pleased to inform you that the ABA Board of Governors
has granted my request to change the location of our next Board of Governors meeting
in June to New Orleans, and I look forward to seeing many of you again at that time.
The ABA will contribute what will be considerable cost savings resulting from holding
our Midyear Meeting at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Chicago, as well as a substantial
contribution by the Hyatt, to hurricane relief efforts in New Orleans.
When Hurricane Katrina began to bear down on the Gulf Coast, I was on my way
to Morocco for my first international trip as President of the ABA to attend the annual
meeting of the UIA, the Union Internationale des Avocats.
As I watched the scope of the destruction unfold on television on that fateful
Sunday night, I determined that the ABA had to act quickly to help everyone affected by
Katrina and its aftermath.
On Monday morning I convened the leaders of several ABA Sections and the
Young Lawyers Division to make ready to move as fast possible.
When I watched Katrina gain in force and destruction throughout that day and
night, I scheduled another, broader, meeting of ABA leaders, for the following noontime,
after which I had to get on my plane bound for Morocco.
When I reached Morocco the next morning, Wednesday, it was clear to me that
this natural disaster would require an unprecedented, coordinated and comprehensive
response by the ABA and all of America s lawyers.
From my hotel room in Fez, Morocco, starting on Wednesday night there, as
Katrina and the thunderstorms were still raging, and using my little hand-held computer,
I began to appoint a broadly representative ABA Task Force on Hurricane Katrina, and
asked past ABA President N. Lee Cooper of Birmingham, Alabama, to serve as chair.
At my request, the Task Force held its first in-person meeting within days, as
soon after Labor Day as possible, in Chicago, to begin collecting information on the full
scope of the disaster and victims needs, and planning a coordinated response by the
ABA and the legal profession.
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Two days after Katrina had first touched land, the ABA had set up a website to
help victims with their immediate human and legal needs, to sign up volunteer lawyers
to assist victims in person or remotely, and to solicit assistance for displaced lawyers
and law firms throughout the Gulf region.
In the weeks following the disaster more than two thousand lawyers from across
the country in all areas of practice volunteered through the ABA website and the
ABA Young Lawyers Division program.
The ABA Division for Legal Services and Center for Pro Bono began working in
earnest with local legal service providers to place volunteers where they were most
needed, and that work continues unabated today.
Hundreds of law firms offered space and resources to help displaced lawyers
and firms to get up and running again as soon as possible.
Simultaneously, the ABA Young Lawyers Division activated its Disaster Legal
Services Program, setting up hotlines to assist victims and sending volunteers to the
region.
The outpouring of support from every corner of the ABA was overwhelming
more than twenty ABA Sections, Divisions, and Forums, and dozens of Committees,
responded immediately to provide assistance and expertise on a tremendous range of
issues, from bankruptcy and consumer protection to insurance and law office recovery.
The ABA Section of Legal Education responded by helping to lead the effort to
place law students from Tulane and Loyola New Orleans at campuses across the
country. It is wonderful to see those displaced students now returning to their home
campuses in New Orleans.
The ABA Law Student Division organized a fundraising drive at law schools
nationwide that netted more than $300,000 for various relief agencies.
At the request of the ABA Task Force I made an appeal to the Conference of
Chief Justices encouraging State Supreme Courts to adopt court orders temporarily
waiving unauthorized practice of law rules, and I did so. Within several weeks of
receiving my letter some 18 state supreme courts had issued such orders, allowing
displaced lawyers from the Gulf region to practice law in those sates.
And working closely with Frank Neuner and the Presidents of the Mississippi and
Alabama state bars, we have helped secure temporary waivers of Unauthorized
Practice of Law rules to allow out-of-state lawyers to provide pro bono services to
victims here in the Gulf States.
In mid-September, I met with a number of federal government officials in
Washington, DC to discuss the ABA s response to Katrina. Those meetings were
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productive, and helped us to better coordinate our efforts with federal agencies and
other organizations.
The ABA also urged expedited enactment of legislation allowing federal courts
temporarily to relocate in the wake of the hurricane in order to continue functioning.
As all of you know better than anyone, Hurricane Katrina is not only the most
destructive and costly disaster in our nation s history it has also precipitated the
biggest legal services crisis we have ever witnessed. The response of the American
legal profession must match the scale of the need.
It means that more lawyers must perform more pro bono work for people affected
by this disaster, and for all Americans needing help with basic legal needs. Even before
the destruction of the hurricanes, we already faced a situation where 70-80% of the
legal needs of lower-income Americans go unmet year after year. The aftermath of
Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Rita, and other storms that also struck in Florida and
elsewhere last year are greatly compounding this legal services crisis.
I pledge to you that the ABA and its members will continue help, and to provide
free legal services to those in need, for as long as it takes people in the Gulf States to
get back on their feet. We are one profession, and one people, and we are bound
together in good times and bad times, especially the bad times.
I know that, working together, we will get through this crisis. It will take a very
long time. The ABA will be there for as long as it takes.
Thank you for your kind attention and hospitality.
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