The Record

Issue date: 11/9/06 Section: News

Media Credit: Kimberly Harbin Alumni honored at the Legal Aid Bureau awards ceremony.

On Saturday, October 28th, the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau (HLAB) hosted a panel discussion on post-Katrina poverty law challenges and an awards ceremony honoring three well-deserving HLAB alumni. The event, described as both "timely" and "inspiring" by those in attendance, featured four HLS alumni, Brooke Abola '03, Catherine Bendor '92, Charles Delbaum '71, and Sanetta Ponton '06, who each offered a range of perspectives on issues facing low-income residents and former residents of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina hit. Abola, Bendor and Ponton are also alumnae of HLAB.

The panel was moderated by Rick Glassman, former Managing Director of HLAB and current litigation director at the Disability Law Center in Boston. Glassman opened the panel by presenting a slideshow of pictures of the devastation that the storm visited upon homes and businesses in the Gulf Coast region.

Delbaum, who prior to becoming a staff attorney at the National Consumer Law Center was the Director of Litigation and Advocacy at the New Orleans Legal Assistance Corporation, described the chaos that his office faced immediately after the storm. He spoke about the difficulties of trying to locate staff members and clients given the lack of cellular phone service and the disturbances that the closure of the courts had on client cases. A major theme throughout his presentation was the need for preparedness before a major disaster strikes so that the prolonged disorder that existed after Katrina can be avoided in the future.

Next to speak was Ponton, who spearheaded volunteer efforts at HLS last year as a 3L. Ponton visited the region on several occasions and described how volunteers from all over the country converged on the area after the storm. With no one group directing the volunteer efforts, volunteers somehow seamlessly connected with residents who required assistance removing moldy sheetrock and soaked carpets from their homes and set up centers in which volunteer attorneys could dispense useful advice on insurance and FEMA.

While it was encouraging to witness these laudable acts, Ponton expressed concern that the potential damaging health effects and corresponding health insurance issues that may arise in the future from home owners and volunteers performing this type of work would fail to receive the close scrutiny that it deserves as those in power turn their attention away from Katrina. She also touched on the civil rights abuses that she investigated as a volunteer with the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. One incident involved individuals seeking to escape New Orleans who were prevented from crossing the bridge into nearby Gretna by police officers brandishing guns and dogs. Another incident occurred around the time of Hurricane Rita, and involved multiple cities refusing to accept buses filled with mostly African-American and poor residents of Beaumont, TX attempting to evacuate.

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