Trial Attorneys set up Emergency Response Teams
To Help Families in Need After the Flooding in Eastern Missouri
We’ve all heard the old lawyer joke: “What do you call 100 trial attorneys on the bottom of the ocean? A good start!”
Well, what would you call a bunch of trial attorneys leaving their offices and going to flooded areas of Missouri to help folks who are at the bottom of a flood??
Losing your home and most if not all your most cherished personal belongings, photos of the kids and grandparents, valuable papers, titles to your cars and trucks, much less those monthly bills that are due, check books, cash, etc., all combine to a horrible nightmare for many people whose homes are under dirty rain and river water.
The Red Cross, local churches and other charities are doing a great job helping with food, clothing and shelter, and thanks to them for their efforts !
But, beyond the basics, folks still have other problems of a legal nature. Paying bills, insurance claims, public benefits, child support, visitation, etc., etc., are all things that don’t wash away with the receding waters.
So, the Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys some years ago partnered with the Red Cross and formed the MATA ERT ALERT team where trial attorneys across the state are trained in advance to go to relief centers and provide *free* help, legal advice, and sometimes just a shoulder to listen and provide confidence that there is hope and all will be better soon.
I remember the first time I served the ERT after the Joplin tornado. It was an amazing and moving experience. People were driving to the relief center in cars that were all beat up without any windows. We handled all kinds of problems about things you would never expect, but they found comfort that they had somewhere to go and find answers that they could not get anywhere else, and all for free.
The below chart shows the plan at the present time where the MATA ERT team is partnering with the MARC, Catholic Charities, Lutheran Family/Children’s Services, Legal Services of Missouri, and the Missouri Bar Association to help as many fellow Missourians as possible.
So, next time you hear that old joke about the bottom of the ocean, smile, go ahead and laugh because it is funny, but pause a moment to remember all those trial attorneys who have in the past, and stand ready in the future, to donate their time and talent to help anyone who walks through the door, or calls in to, the disaster relief center, and most of all, I sincerely hope it is never you or your family that need these services.