Houston Lawyers Get Back To Work After Ike
In the aftermath of Hurricane Ike, the Houston legal community is getting back to work. WRAL news channel 5 reported that Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell expects to reopen Wednesday. Andrews Kurth has their attorneys working remotely. According to the WRAL report, an Andrews spokesperson said, “all of our BlackBerrys are working.”
Other Houston area firms were contacted by ATL directly. The most important news is that everybody is safe.
Mike Conlon, partner-in-charge of Fulbright & Jaworski’s Houston office, said:
[W]e have been able to assist all that have needed temporary housing. While our Houston office is closed today, our lawyers are working from remote locations, including our other offices in Texas. All computer support functions are operating, and other offices are providing additional support where needed, which is part of Fulbright’s disaster recovery plan.
Fulbright & Jaworski plans to be fully functional by tomorrow.
More news from Houston after the jump.
Various sources indicate that many of the law firms and office buildings have power, while private homes do not.
Marie Yeates, a spokesperson for Vinson & Elkins, said that her firm would be trying to help the families of their employees:
Because we have power in the Houston office, but not in many of our homes, we are going to tell our lawyers that they are free to bring their children into the office tomorrow where we will play movies on our wall- size screen in our courtroom, pop popcorn, and serve other food and cold drinks. The kids can charge their cell phones and lap top computers and enjoy each others’ company. Meanwhile, our lawyers can continue to service our clients’ needs.
V&E is also contemplating doubling up on office space, in order to offer excess space to clients whose buildings were severely damaged.
We hope other firms that are able will follow Vinson’s lead. It’s pretty hard to focus on work when children and loved ones are at home without power.
Are there other stories of firms bending to fit the needs of displaced attorneys and clients?
If you can, please donate to the relief effort here.
(49) 
Comments
these pretzels are making me firsty!
Kudos to V&E.
did any of the firms get their windows blown out?
"partner-in-charge"
Is that what the kids say these days?
Well, Andrews & Kurth and Locke Liddel are both in the JP Morgan Chase building which was pretty heavily damaged. Don't know if they actually had windows blown out or not.
Re: #2...
AK is in the Chase building. A good many of its windows were blown out.
http://images.chron.com/photos/2008/09/13/13004263/600xPopupGallery.jpg
Locke Liddel sucks. This is god telling them to stop trying.
Locke's office didn't have windows to begin with.
Man, this reminds me how much I hated biglaw.
Yeah, its nice that they are accomodating kids at the office and all... but the only thing they care about is getting their lawyers back to work.
People are homeless, half the city is without power, historic businesses have been destroyed.... and all the partners can think about is getting associates back in the office to bill, bill, bill.
Times like these I am glad I work for the government.
"Fullbright & Jaworski plans to be fully functional by tomorrow." That's good, because they have never been fully functional in the past.
Locke Liddel is filled with TTTexas lawyers. Hate them more than Baker tools.
what about bracewell and giuliani? i'm surprised rudolph himself isn't down there leading the re-building effort.
oh wait, he's an asshat. 9/11 !!!
This just sucks. First, you have to endure the cultural punishment of having to live in buttfuck texas. Then, you have to endure hurricanes and generally horrible. Honestly. how in the world do they get people to live in an awful place like that?
Why doesn't F&J donate some of their office space? With all the attorneys that have left that GULC-hole, there should be plenty of room.
"Fullbright & Jaworski plans to be fully functional by tomorrow."
It's Fulbright, not "Fullbright." Again, proofreading goes a long way. Sigh.
Bad day for the editor of ATL and his dad, huh? Maybe this explains all of the typos.
CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. -- The former deputy presiding officer of New York's Suffolk County Legislature has pleaded not guilty to felony charges. Prosecutors say he falsely claimed to live in his Long Island district when he actually had moved to Palm Beach County, Fla.
Elie Mystal was arraigned Monday on two counts of third-degree grand larceny and one count of offering a false instrument for filing.
Prosecutors said he's accused of collecting a salary of about $80,000 a year as a legislator under false pretenses.
Mystal resigned in May as questions arose about his residency.
Attorney William Wexler said his client intends to defend himself against the charges. If convicted, Mystal could face up to five years in prison.
At least they still have jobs to go back to.
Lay off, 15. Maybe show some kindness to someone who has a lot on his plate to worry about right now by doing your best to refrain from being a jerk. (Why would you take pleasure in needling someone about his dad? Has the profession really fallen so far that caring and being concerned/upset for one's own family is something to call someone out about? Really?? Or are you just picking on him out of malicious glee or jealous spite?)
"[W]e have been able to assist all that have needed temporary housing."
Is that Biglaw for "live in your office"?
Maybe it DOES explain the typos, 15. And maybe your post explains that you're an asshole.
"[W]e have been able to assist all that have needed temporary housing."
Is that Biglaw for "live in your office"?
sorry for the dupe - 18 & 20
15 is a complete DICK!!! This is just a stupid blog, you don't need to be malicious.
15, you're worse than any GULCer. Rip on Elie for his lousy grammar all you want. Lay off the family.
15 = TTT dbag
8: Agree completely. What Texas needs right now is more lawyers spending time at home, catching up on their DVR backlog.
15: You're a fuck-face.
I'm willing to bet you were in contracts class when you wrote that comment.
25: Power is out in half the city. Not too many folks using DVR these days.
Maybe the firm could give their lawyers time off to repair their homes, clean up debris, help out at the local shelters, spend time with relatives.
You know, be human.
But that's asking too much, I know.
15 = TTTexan with a chip on his shoulder and 10 kids to feed.
8, 27: The economy is in crisis. What the country needs now is LAWYERS!! Lawyers will save us all!
I think I just shit myself.
FINALLY a post about IKE. Geez!
I know Seyfarth's Houston office is without power and will be closed for the next few days
Texas sucks.
Texas blows.
Yeah...New York is really kicking ass right now.
WRAL isn't reporting this--it's an AP article. WRAL is a station in North Carolina.
Haynes & Boone's building will be open with limited access starting tomorrow. Not sure if the firm expects people to actually come in or not.
Texas sucks? A fucking HURRICANE just hit Houston and people are already getting back to work. A couple i-banks go belly up and you are crying like a bunch of little bitches. Here's some advice: save yourselves some embarrassment and learn some manners before you come down here begging for jobs.
Damn, 38 just laid down a zinger.
You do realize that WRAL covers Raleigh and not Houston
Why would Seyfarth not have power? They are in my building and we've had power since at least Sunday.
Re: 11
I heard that Bracewell guys were working out of the Austin office, in addition to anyone in Houston who ever worked for Bracewell, knows someone at Bracewell, or knows how to spell Bracewell.
Sounds like it should be a party.
8: Amen.
I am amazed at all the bile in the posts on this board. 75% of the residents of one of the country's largest cities are without power or clean water, many have had their homes or other property damaged, and the whole area is a mess. However, people are using this board to trash such and such firm, or our state. I am a BigTex attorney here in Houston, and I'm proud of both the way my city and our firms are dealing with this crisis. While it's certainly not on the level of Katrina, it's truly amazing that some folks would make the comments they are making here. Houston is a great town full of first rate attorneys and firms. We're working on cleaning up and getting back to normal and in the meantime, it'd be nice not to see so much pointless bashing.
I am amazed at all the bile in the posts on this board. 75% of the residents of one of the country's largest cities are without power or clean water, many have had their homes or other property damaged, and the whole area is a mess. However, people are using this board to trash such and such firm, or our state. I am a BigTex attorney here in Houston, and I'm proud of both the way my city and our firms are dealing with this crisis. While it's certainly not on the level of Katrina, it's truly amazing that some folks would make the comments they are making here. Houston is a great town full of first rate attorneys and firms. We're working on cleaning up and getting back to normal and in the meantime, it'd be nice not to see so much pointless bashing.
So, 15 is out of bounds, but comments like this are somehow acceptable:
"Locke Liddel sucks. This is god telling them to stop trying. "
"This just sucks. First, you have to endure the cultural punishment of having to live in buttfuck texas. Then, you have to endure hurricanes and generally horrible. Honestly. how in the world do they get people to live in an awful place like that?"
?? People have had their lives RUINED. Their homes DESTROYED. They are without power, water, food, hope. This comment chain makes me sick (aside from 44/45).
Please, somebody pick a fight with me over this. I can not wait to tear some of you smug little pricks a new one.
So, 15 is out of bounds, but comments like this are somehow acceptable:
"Locke Liddel sucks. This is god telling them to stop trying. "
"This just sucks. First, you have to endure the cultural punishment of having to live in buttfuck texas. Then, you have to endure hurricanes and generally horrible. Honestly. how in the world do they get people to live in an awful place like that?"
?? People have had their lives RUINED. Their homes DESTROYED. They are without power, water, food, hope. This comment chain makes me sick (aside from 44/45).
Please, somebody pick a fight with me over this. I can not wait to tear some of you smug little pricks a new one.
The tax investigations Locke Lorde's partners are undergoing must really be having a negative effect on the firm - the firm only gave offers to about half of their summer associates and rumor has it they are drastically cutting next year's program. Is Locke the next Jenkens & Gilchrist????
The tax investigations Locke Lorde's partners are undergoing must really be having a negative effect on the firm - the firm only gave offers to about half of their summer associates and rumor has it they are drastically cutting next year's program. Is Locke the next Jenkens & Gilchrist????