Mississippi Bar and Mississippi Bar Foundation

The Mississippi Bar and Mississippi Bar Foundation have established the Hurricane Katrina Legal Community Relief Fund to assist lawyers who lost their offices in the storm.

"The Red Cross, Salvation Army, and other agencies are helping citizens deal with their personal losses. We hope to pull together lawyers from Mississippi and across the country to help their colleagues whose law practices have been damaged or destroyed by this unprecedented disaster," Mississippi Bar Executive Director, Larry Houchins, of Jackson said of the fund. "Lawyers from across the state and country have contacted the Bar over the past few days asking what they can do to assist other members of the profession," Houchins added. "We created the fund to provide a mechanism for members of the legal community to assist their colleagues in this time of need."

Donations should be made payable to Mississippi Bar Foundation and mailed to:

Hurricane Katrina Legal Community Relief Fund
c/o Mississippi Bar Foundation
P O Box 2168
Jackson MS 39225-2168.

Other Mississippi Bar Katrina related efforts include the Young Lawyers Division partnership with FEMA to provide disaster legal assistance to storm victims. The Bar is also organizing a clearing house of resources such as office furniture, office equipment, use of office space, temporary housing and any other resources that may be of assistance in re-establishing a law office.

Questions and/or offers of assistance should be directed to Larry Houchins, Executive Director, of The Mississippi Bar at (601) 960-9575 or houchins@msbar.org.

Information on the fund and other MB disaster initiatives will be posted on the Bar's website at www.msbar.org.