Pro-Bono: New Orleans Project

About the New Orleans Project

Press Release

Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, PLLC has undertaken a Southeast Louisiana Legal Services (SLLS) project that will offer free legal assistance to New Orleans residents who are still suffering nearly a year after Hurricane Katrina. Womble Carlyle lawyers are working for SLLS to help low-income New Orleans homeowners clear title and claim ownership to property they inherited that was damaged or destroyed in last year's hurricane. Once these victims are granted legal title to the property that was destroyed, they will qualify for FEMA assistance, state recovery grants, insurance, and loans to rebuild and recover their property.

New Orleans law firms Stone Pigman Walther Wittmann LLC and Sessions Fishman Nathan, LLP are providing office space, training, and legal advice to Womble Carlyle's Louisiana pro bono efforts.

More than a year after Hurricane Katrina, many New Orleans residents remain in desperate need of help. While the immediate threat to life has passed, thousands of flood victims have been unable to resume any semblance of a normal life.

Entire neighborhoods remain vacant because homeowners cannot access the funds to rebuild. Tracts of land remain in a confusing legal limbo, with residents unable to prove ownership and reclaim their homes.

Womble Carlyle has decided to help. Teams of attorneys and staff members will travel to New Orleans from July 10 to August 31. There, they will meet with homeowners and help them establish a clear title to their homes and property, all free of charge. In all, Womble Carlyle expects to provide more than 4,000 lawyer hours to the people of New Orleans.

Generally, property ownership isn’t in dispute. But many New Orleans families, particularly in low-income areas, simply have passed homes down informally through the generations without filing succession papers.

"That title means everything," said attorney Cal Adams, chairman of the firm’s pro bono committee. "Without proof they own the property, they can't get FEMA assistance, state help, insurance payments or even loans."

Teams of four to six attorneys will travel to New Orleans for one-week shifts. In addition, other attorneys will process information and provide support from Womble Carlyle’s offices.

The attorneys will conduct title and lien searches, check tax documents and file the necessary paperwork to establish an up-to-date title. Attorneys back in the Womble Carlyle offices will draft the pleadings to submit to the court – a process that takes roughly four hours per case.

"We’re looking to take advantage of our manpower and technology to see how many of these people we can get through the system," said attorney Cris Windham, who is helping lead the project.

Attorney Tripp Greason, Womble Carlyle’s Pro Bono Director and one of the organizers of the relief effort, said that like everyone, Womble Carlyle attorneys and employees were moved by the tremendous hardships caused by Hurricane Katrina and wanted to help. Once the initial wave of humanitarian needs were met, Greason said it made sense for Womble Carlyle to use its strongest assets—the firm’s legal experience—to attack a specific need in New Orleans.