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American Bar Association
Adopted By The House of Delegates
August 11-12, 2014
SPONSORS:
Anthony Barash (Principal Sponsor), David Bienvenu, Michael S. Greco, Carolyn
B. Lamm, Stephen N. Zack, H. Thomas Wells, Jr., Edith Osman, James Baillie, N.
Lee Cooper, Sandra McCandless, Karen J. Mathis, Sharon Gerstman, Frank X.
Neuner
PROPOSAL:
Amends §31.7 of the Bylaws to create a Standing Committee on Disaster
Response and Preparedness
Amends §31.7 of the Bylaws to read as follows:
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Designation, Jurisdiction and Special Tenures of Standing Committees. The
designation, jurisdiction and special tenures of Standing Committees are as follows:
Disaster Response and Preparedness. The Standing Committee on Disaster Response
and Preparedness, which consists of up to nine members, shall:
a) endeavor to ensure that lawyers, law-related organizations, the judicial system and the
public have the resources, legal services and information to prepare for, respond to and
recover from major disasters;
b) provide technical assistance and planning advice to a wide range of constituents in the
field, including bar associations, pro bono programs, legal services offices, bar leaders,
law schools, corporate counsel, judges and government attorneys;
c) produce publications, maintain an on-line library of materials on a wide range of
emergency management topics, and present seminars, webinars and workshops on
relevant topics;
d) foster the development of disaster planning and recovery programs and activities by law
firms, bar associations, corporate legal departments, law schools, government attorney
offices and others;
e) analyze the scope and function of law-related emergency management programs;
f) propose and review policy related to legal aspects of disaster response and
preparedness, including the delivery of disaster legal services;
g) coordinate among ABA entities and other entities in the legal and emergency
management communities the Association’s response to major disasters; and
h) endeavor to ensure that the ABA’s business continuity plans are up to date and
periodically tested.
11-11
American Bar Association
Adopted By The House of Delegates
August 11-12, 2014
REPORT
This proposed amendment to the Bylaws would reconstitute the Special Committee on Disaster
Response and Preparedness as the Standing Committee on Disaster Response and
Preparedness and update its jurisdictional statement. The proposal is consistent with the
recommendation of the House of Delegates Standing Committee on Scope and Correlation of
Work (Scope), prior resolutions of the House of Delegates, and the growing challenges to the
Association, profession and public posed by major disasters.
Scope Review and Special Committee Activity
Scope last reviewed the Special Committee on Disaster Response and Preparedness at its Spring
2013 meeting. At that time, Scope concluded that “the Special Committee is active and not
engaging in a function that unnecessarily overlaps with or duplicates the activities of other ABA
entities.” Furthermore, Scope suggested that “the Special Committee may want to give some
consideration to becoming a Standing Committee.” Letter of May 15, 2013, from Sharon Stern
Gerstman, Chair, Scope to then Committee Chair David Bienvenu.
Over the last few years the Committee’s activities, reviewed by Scope, have addressed the
Committee’s original jurisdiction statement: “to develop policy recommendations, best
practices and action items to ensure that the ABA and the legal profession are positioned to
respond, and prepared to withstand, both natural and manmade disasters.” Toward this end
the Committee has, for example, created a comprehensive website that offers disaster
preparedness information for lawyers/firms, bar associations, and the public; sponsored policy
resolutions aimed at promoting disaster preparedness by lawyers and increasing disaster legal
services funding and pro bono assistance to disaster survivors; coordinated the ABA response
to Superstorm Sandy and created a webpage with resources for lawyers specific to the Gulf oil
spill; conducted educational seminars, workshops and webinars for lawyers/firms on disaster
planning (based on the Committee’s manual “Surviving a Disaster: A Lawyer’s Guide to Disaster
Planning”); developed materials and educational programs for state and local bar leaders and
staff on disaster planning, including a companion guide on disaster planning for bar associations
and webinar; studied the teaching of disaster law; collaborated with ABA Young Lawyers
Division on its Disaster Legal Services program; produced an award winning video, “Surviving a
Disaster: Are you Prepared?”; facilitated a new ABA member advantage benefit providing
disaster recovery services; and worked with the ABA to improve its own business continuity
plans, including organizing and conducting two table top exercises involving all ABA senior staff.
Currently the committee is developing three webinars that will be offered under ABAction.
Related House of Delegates Action
In 2011, the House of Delegates adopted a resolution urging “state, territorial, local, tribal, and
specialty bar associations to create committees dedicated to emergency management planning
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and response.” (A2011, 116) The resolution did not specifically refer to these as “standing
committees;” however the report refers to these as “permanent committees” and addresses
the critical and timeless roles for such a body: to protect the bar from the debilitating effects of
a disaster so that its staff is safe, important assets and records protected and key activities
restored in a timely manner. Additionally, bar associations have special responsibilities to
have plans and programs that assist both its members impacted by a disaster and the general
public.
Increased and Recurring Threats Posed by Disasters
By definition, a standing committee addresses “recurring matters related to the purposes or
business of the Association.” §31.3 of the Bylaws. Few things are more “recurring,” albeit
unpredictable, than disasters. To many, the era of disasters began with Hurricane Katrina
(August 2005) and much the same can be said for the ABA. Following Katrina then President
Michael Greco convened a Task Force on Hurricane Katrina to coordinate what proved to be an
impressive response throughout the ABA to assist victims of this horrendous storm. Chaired by
former ABA President N. Lee Cooper, the ABA’s efforts were captured in the Task Force’s Final
Report, “In the Wake of the Storm: the ABA Responds to Hurricane Katrina.”
http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/migrated/leadership/executivedirector/report
s/aba_katrinareport.authcheckdam.pdf
Six months later, President Karen Mathis successfully sought Board of Governor’s approval to
create the Special Committee, to continue and expand upon the Task Force’s work. The
Committee was honored in its first year to have two future presidents of the ABA, Carolyn
Lamm and Thomas Wells, serve as co-chairs. For FY2010-11, Steven Zack designated disaster
preparedness as one of his presidential initiatives, continuing the support of ABA leadership
over the years to this important work.
Events since Hurricane Katrina have only underscored the ABA’s need to take steps to ensure
its own resilience, assist its members, and serve the public when disaster strikes. Superstorm
Sandy, Colorado wildfires, and a DC earthquake, while front page worthy calamities, only
underscore the full impact of disasters. If the ABA or any business is hit by an area wide or even
office confined disaster such as a fire, sudden and sustained loss of power, or cyber attack, than
the functioning of the enterprise can be seriously disrupted. Businesses that don’t prepare
often do not survive a major disaster. For these reasons, the Committee worked with the ABA
to review and totally revamp the ABA’s business continuity plan. As a result of this intensive
effort, the ABA in October 2011 became the first not-for-profit entity in the United States to be
certified under the Voluntary Private Sector Preparedness Program, or PS-PREP, approved by
the Department of Homeland Security.
The Association’s commitment to preparedness, to assisting its members, and to serving the
public are essential to its own long term survival and to upholding the finest traditions of the
profession. This is not a one time commitment but an ongoing process as new threats emerge,
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such as cyber attacks, violent acts of nature statistically are more frequent, government
emergency management resources are challenged – as evident in the Congressional debates
over funding after Superstorm Sandy, and vulnerable populations remain disparately affected.
House adoption of this recommended amendment to the Bylaws will be recognition of the
value a permanent entity brings to this critical work.
The sponsors respectfully request the House of Delegates to support this resolution.