When I spoke to Ed Walters, co-founder and CEO of legal research software company Fastcase, he asked if I’d noticed a growing trend among the legal community in the last few years: “Lawyers are becoming first responders.”
Hurricane Harvey made landfall in late August, flooding Houston and other South Texas communities with upwards of 30 inches of rain and prompting attorneys to spring into action. The Texas Supreme Court last Tuesday issued an emergency order permitting attorneys licensed outside of the state to provide pro bono legal assistance for six months, prompting upwards of 1,600 out-of-state attorney volunteers to sign up with the State Bar of Texas. Legal aid organizations like Lone Star Legal Aid, the Houston Bar Association and other local bar groups have also been coordinating attorneys to work shifts providing legal counsel at shelters across the city.
