News Article
Womble Carlyle Receives Second Award for Hurricane Katrina Pro Bono Work
June 19, 2007
Southeast Louisiana Legal Services honored Womble Carlyle for the firm's pro bono work on behalf of Hurricane Katrina victims in New Orleans.
The firm is a winner of the 2007 Justice for a Greater New Orleans Award, given by Southeast Louisiana Legal Services (SLLS). Womble Carlyle also recently received the 2007 Louisiana State Bar Association Pro Bono Publico Award.
Teams of Womble Carlyle attorneys and paralegals spent the summer of 2006 in New Orleans working with low-income residents who lost their homes in the hurricane and subsequent flood. In all, more than 30 attorneys and staff members traveled to New Orleans, while many others provided support from Womble Carlyle's offices.
Following the 2005 disaster, thousands of homeowners were left in legal limbo. These homeowners had lived in family homes that had been passed down from generation to generation without performing the legal operation ("succession" or probate) necessary to convey title to the surviving occupants. Because these homeowners lacked clear title to the property, they weren't able to access the available federal, state and insurance assistance necessary to rebuild their hurricane-damaged homes.
Working under the supervision of the SLLS, the Womble Carlyle teams accepted nearly 200 New Orleanians as clients or potential clients during the summer of 2006. Womble Carlyle teams then began to gather information and draft the succession pleadings necessary to secure proper titles for their clients. To date, the firm has provided nearly 4,000 hours of pro bono assistance to these Katrina clients.
SLLS Director Mark Moreau presented the award to Tripp Greason, Womble Carlyle's Pro Bono Director, at the recent Equal Justice Conference in Denver. The two men gave several presentations on the Katrina project and post-disaster pro bono relief at the conference.
"Receiving this award from Southeast Louisiana Legal Services is a tremendous honor,” Greason said. "Katrina increased SLLS' workload by orders of magnitude. We are grateful for the guidance Mark Moreau and Paul Tuttle have provided us and for the opportunity to assist SLLS in serving these clients."
A full-service business law firm, Womble Carlyle ranks among AmLaw's 100 leading firms in the country and is a top law firm for companies doing business in the Southeast and mid-Atlantic states. The firm is a recipient of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund Corporate Leadership Award, making Womble Carlyle the first law firm ever to receive the highest honor given to a business organization in recognition of its support of the Fund and its 45 member educational institutions.
Founded in 1876, Womble Carlyle operates in six states and the District of Columbia with nearly 550 attorneys in eleven offices located in Atlanta, GA; Greenville, SC; Charlotte, Greensboro, Raleigh, Research Triangle Park, and Winston-Salem, NC; Washington, DC; Tysons Corner, VA; Wilmington, DE; and Baltimore, MD. Womble Carlyle is located in the Southeast and mid-Atlantic regions, and serves clients nationally and globally.