Call for volunteers — Florida’s legal aid providers respond to hurricane crisis
'You’ll find that at Legal Services of North Florida, we’re working on multiple disaster cases right now, from Hurricane Michael to Hurricane Sally, to Ian, to the tornadoes, to Debby to Helene'
Florida legal aid organizations were putting out a call Tuesday for more volunteers and scrambling to help Hurricane Helene victims as they watched a second deadly hurricane in less than two weeks draw a bead on the Gulf Coast.
Legal aid offices in Central and Southwest Florida were temporarily closed Tuesday as mandatory evacuations were being ordered ahead of Hurricane Milton’s projected landfall in the Tampa Bay region late Wednesday night or early Thursday morning.
At Bay Area Legal Services, Inc., Disaster Relief Team managing attorney Jason Susalla said the group was experiencing “a significant influx of applicants for disaster-related legal assistance” on its statewide helpline.
Bay Area Legal Services coordinates with county emergency management groups and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to make sure the helpline made known to survivors, Susalla said.
“Though we are now experiencing a much higher applicant volume in the history of our service and helpline, we are managing to serve the survivors reaching out to us in an efficient manner,” he said. “Currently our internal staff is handling this service, though we are open to the consideration to use volunteer attorneys.”
Community Legal Services of Mid Florida is planning soon to host a “disaster roundtable” with legal aid organizations and the U.S. Attorney General’s Office of Access to Justice, said CEO Jeff Harvey. CLS was not seeing a dramatic increase in requests for service by Tuesday, but it is early, Harvey said.
“I am sure people are in prep mode, so many may not be thinking legal cases yet,” he said. “Hopefully, the staff will do well, and we can be back at it on Monday.”
Gulfcoast Legal Services expects its entire service area — Pinellas, Hillsborough, Manatee, Sarasota, and adjacent counties — to be impacted by Milton while still recovering from Helene.
“Our current priority is the safety of our team members and communities,” said CEO Theresa L. Prichard. “Many of our staff have evacuated themselves.”
Prichard anticipates an increase in requests for services once people assess the damages post-storm. Commonly, Gulfcoast Legal receives requests for help with filing FEMA claims, defending against wrongful evictions or other landlord disputes, and addressing consumer scams. But that’s not all.
“Importantly, during times of disaster, we see increases in domestic violence and sexual assault, and we expect a rise in requests for representation in seeking injunctions for protection, family law matters, and victims’ rights enforcement,” she said. “The legal implications can arise months after the storm.”
Prichard emphasized that volunteer attorneys will be crucial in reaching the communities they serve. Interested attorneys can follow Gulfcoast Legal on social media (Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn) for alerts about opportunities. They may also email Deputy Director for Special Projects Jerica Johnson directly at [email protected] to apply to become a volunteer.
Back-to-back hurricanes were taking a toll on North Florida Legal Aid.
“It’s keeping us busy,” said Legal Services of North Florida Executive Director Leslie Powell-Boudreaux. “We have developed a very unfortunate expertise in disaster response and recovery.”
Powell-Boudreaux feels fortunate that her 16-county service area avoided a direct hit from Helene, but she notes that the storm is only the latest in a string of disasters that are straining the organization’s limited resources.
“You’ll find that at Legal Services of North Florida, we’re working on multiple disaster cases right now, from Hurricane Michael to Hurricane Sally, to Ian, to the tornadoes, to Debby to Helene,” said Senior Disaster Coordination Attorney Kathy Grunewald. “Legal issues, they last for years, because new things arise as the months pass and as the years pass.”
Debby struck the Big Bend in early August, causing major flooding in Taylor County where residents were already reeling from the loss of a major employer, and still recovering from Hurricane Idalia’s wrath less than a year before.
On May 10, three tornadoes struck the Tallahassee area, causing an estimated $50 million in damage.
There are five disaster recovery centers open in the Legal Services of North Florida service area, Powell-Boudreaux said. And that’s where volunteer attorneys can do the most good, helping survivors avoid eviction, foreclosure, or to gain access to government assistance.
Legal aid groups in Florida expect to see a dramatic increase in funding due to the adoption of a new IOTA rule, but the bulk of the money won’t be distributed until 2025, Powell-Boudreaux said.
“As of yet, federal funding has not come to support our response efforts to Idalia, the tornadoes, or the 2024 storms, so the need for volunteers is particularly great,” she said. Volunteers can go to the Legal Services of North Florida website to learn more about volunteering or to make a financial contribution.
Volunteers shouldn’t feel deterred if they are unfamiliar with disaster response, Powell-Boudreaux said.
“We do have a pro bono director who helps us manage the volunteers who come through, and we also have training available for any attorneys who are like, ‘I have no idea how to handle a FEMA case, or an eviction case, or a probate heirs property case.’ We have staff who are really expert in that.”
