Pour Out Your Money, But Carefully, For Texas And Florida

And escape to Chicago -- which boasts a big, beautiful lake!

The Circuit by Monica Bay - main imageSeptember usually is a delicious month — trees present vibrant colors, schools open, baseball is at its most exciting  and in most venues, humidity slides away. But September has an evil side: hurricanes. I don’t need to tell you how overwhelming the disasters have  been this year. (And if this year’s havoc doesn’t convince the presidential naysayer on climate change, nothing will.)

Many years ago, fresh out of grad school (journalism) at the University of Minnesota, I spent a year reporting on charities in California. I was one of the early reporters who questioned the United Way’s operations. The lessons I learned are still relevant, and the experience inspired me to go to law school.

So let’s get to the money: If you haven’t yet contributed, here are some inspirations — and caveats.

General advice: In disasters, as a general rule, send money, not things. Many organizations get very discounted costs for bulk things like water, food, clothing, etc. Money often is the best way to get urgent needs met.

Be Careful: Even when donating to high-profile charities, it’s crucial to take time to determine how you want your money to be spent. First, be sure that the charity you pick is legitimate and that they have a good track record for delivering. One example: DirectRelief offers a “Charity Navigator.” See the roster for Hurricane Harvey. (Caveat: I’m not familiar with DirectRelief.)

Be especially careful when you send money or checks to any charity: Be sure you write on the check where you want the money to be used — for example, “Florida: Hurricane Irma.” Without that, your money is very, very likely to placed into the organization’s general funds. If you are donating online, read the information carefully as well to assure it will get where you want.

Double up — go local: Watch your local areas — some organizations will double your contributions to some extent. For example: AARP & AARP Foundation will match its Harvey Fund Match up to a total of $1.5 million. And you local area may be helping people and animals. Example 2:  The SPCA of Westchester, New York has saved 23 cats and kittens from the Harvey and Irma hurricanes.

Sponsored

More advice before you contribute:
NPR: England Public Radio: “Here’s How You Can Help People Affected By Harvey,” by Laurel Wamsley. Amazing list covering shelter, food, medicine, seniors, children and animals — and even the American Kidney Fund to set up dialysis.

• The New York Times: “Where to donate to Harvey Victims (and How to Avoid Scams),” by Christina Caron.

Highly visible charities

Texas: Hurricane Harvey
Florida: Hurricane Irma
American Red Cross
The Salvation Army
The Humane Society of the U.S.  Animal Rescue Team

Irma:
Globalgiving Hurricane Irma Relief Fund (“crowdfunding communities connecting nonprofits, donors and companies in nearly every country”)

Sponsored

Baseball Gives:
Just a very few of the baseball contributors:
• HoustonAstros donate $4M (#AstrosHarvey)
• Texas Rangers: minimum of  $1M
• New York Yankees: $100,000 (Texas).
Tampa Bay Rays
New York Yankees $500,000 (Florida — Red Cross and Salvation Army)

From Sports Illustrated:

• Scott Kazmir, Los Angeles Dodgers ($130,000)
• Matt Carpenter, St. Louis Cardinals ($10,000 for each home run he hits from Aug. 28 until the end of the season)
• Adam Wainwright, St. Louis Cardinals ($10,000 for each home run Carpenter hits from Aug. 28 until the end of the season)
• Mike Trout, Los Angeles Angels ($27,000)
• MLB and MBLPA ($1 million)

Lawyers Help
American Bar Association /State Bar of Texas/Texas Young Lawyers Association: Free Legal Help.
• Texas: Out of state attorneys allowed temporary practice.
• Florida: According to the ABA, only Florida lawyers can volunteer, at this point.

CHANGING THE TOPIC: CHICAGO EVENTS!

After you have pulled out your wallet, and/or helped in other ways, you just might be ready for a fall trip to get away from oceans. How about a wonderful venue that is surrounded by a big, big lake: Chicago!

Relativity Fest: Among the options is the Relativity Fest (ediscovery), October 22-25 at the Hilton Chicago. The opening keynote will be delivered by the enthusiastic Andrew Sieja, founder and CEO of Relativity. (Be prepared for a full hour and a half —and there’s likely to be dancing.)

The conference offers 15 hands-on workships; three federal judges; 238 speakers; 13 sessions for CLE, 151 sessions; three industry partners; and a slew of sponsors. David Horrigan (E-Discovery Counsel and Legal Content Director) will be very, very busy during Relativity Fest: he is moderating 11 panels, including the annual Judicial Panel, Monday, Oct. 22, 1 p.m.-2 p.m.

Among the 11 Horrigan is moderating is “The Future of Pro Bono and Public Services for the Legal Community” with James Sandman (President of the Legal Services Corp.) and moi. (Can’t wait.)

Some new developments:  The company has recently changed its name, from kCura to Relativity, and has also expanded how the Innovation Awards are chosen. The company has added three external judges who will join Siega and Perry Marchant (V.P. of Engineering), “to offer their unique perspectives during the deliberation process.” They are Zach Abramowitz, co-founder of ReplyAll and current columnist for Above the Law and TechCrunch; Sean Doherty, lawyer, librarian, and freelance journalist (and former columnist for Above the Law); and Kelly Twigger, CEO of eDiscovery Assistant and current columnist for Above the Law.

Registration here to attend!

The second #Fin (Legal) Tech Conference will be held October 19, at Illinois Tech-Chicago Kent College of Law. It’s organized by Daniel Martin Katz, Aassociate Professor of Law and Director of The Law Lab @ Illinois Tech. (Katz is also Affiliated Faculty at CodeX: The Stanford Center for Legal Informatics.) The conference is sponsored by Chapman & Culter .

The conference focuses on finance and legal tech. Says Katz: “Law is finance. Where finance has already gone, law is beginning to arrive. The financial industry presents a wealth of insights from which lawyers can better characterize and predict risk for their clients and remove friction from various legal processes. Harnessing data analytics and artificial intelligence, #Fin (Legal) Tech emerges as an important field for creating systems to analyze changes in risk and promote compliance, leading to more accurate risk pricing and helping to support better outcomes. Consequently, new market segments are maturing around #Fin (Legal) Tech, signaling a fundamental shift in the practice of law.

Topics: Operational Excellence in Law. Legal Underwriting. Characterizing (Pricing) Legal risk. Legal Portfolio Management.Rules For a Flat World (Interview with Gillian Hadfield). Toward the Frictionless Delivery of Law + Justice. Legal Information Infrastructure, The Internal Of (Legal) Things + The Legal API Economy.

The conference is free, but there are only a few tickets left, per Katz. (It was full last year.) Registration here.


monica-bayMonica Bay is a Fellow at CodeX: The Stanford Center for Legal Informatics and a freelance writer for Above The Law and other media. She co-hosts Law Technology Now (Legal Talk Network) and is a member of the California Bar. Monica can frequently be found at Yankee Stadium. Email: monicabay1@gmail.com. Twitter: @MonicaBay.

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