The last weekend of June, Amy Osteen picked up her 14-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son from a Marble Falls camp in the Texas Hill Country where they spent a joyful two weeks.
A week later, torrential rain flooded the Guadalupe River, killing young campers in nearby Kerrville. The death toll from the area storms has exceeded 100.
“The thought that we are just one week ahead of this flood makes my heart tighten,” Osteen, who is the former general counsel at Rug Doctor and assistant GC at Orix, wrote on LinkedIn.
Determined to use her legal position to help those affected by the flooding, Osteen announced that her public benefit company, Unified Law Group, stands ready to support nonprofits and social enterprises that are helping those impacted.
“If you’re a Texas-based nonprofit or social enterprise and need legal support to keep doing the work, please email us at info@unified.law,” the group posted to LinkedIn. “We can support you in the background, with contracts, protections, and the tools you may need to keep helping others.”
So far, Unified Law is helping the Texas Country Music Festival in Gruene on July 15. The special live music concert is benefitting those affected by the floods. The group is prepared to accept more clients at no cost to them, Osteen said.
“I think that [lawyers] are all sitting around going, ‘What can we do?’” Osteen, who is also the current GC at Alcatraz AI, told The Texas Lawbook. “We are a public benefit company so this is kind of why we formed.”
Texas lawyers are “eager” to help, State Bar of Texas President Santos Vargas said in an email to bar members Tuesday morning. The Bar “is coordinating with legal aid and pro bono groups to assess the legal needs on the ground and determine areas where attorneys may be able to volunteer,” Vargas said.
“As with any natural disaster, right now the survivors are focused on finding their loved ones and other immediate needs like food, shelter, and clothing,” Vargas wrote. “Their legal needs will become more apparent in the days and weeks ahead, and the State Bar will communicate those needs as more information is available.”
Donations made to Vargas’ existing “Stand With Santos” fundraiser through at least July 31 will be earmarked for legal aid related to the flooding, he said. Santos started the campaign to raise funds for civil legal services for the poor when he assumed the presidency last month and called it his “signature initiative.”
The Texas RioGrande Legal Aid said it, too, was assessing the needs. The legal aid organization is helping eligible survivors of federal-declared floods in Kerr County, as well as state-declared floods in Bandera, Comal, Gillespie, Kendall, Kimble, Llano, Mason and Reeves counties.
“The most asked question right now is ‘What can I do to help?’” the organization wrote on LinkedIn.
Lawyers are encouraged to visit the volunteer page on TRLA’s website, which can be found here. Monetary donations may also be made here.
“The response to this disaster will require travel and lodging costs for staff to attend Disaster Resource Centers and other related costs,” the legal aid org said.
On Monday, Baker Botts managing partner Danny David said the Houston-based law firm has made a contribution to the nonprofit first responder organization Texas Search and Rescue “to assist in its important efforts in the area and have worked together with our clients and colleagues to assist in every way we can.”
The Texas Supreme Court, also on Tuesday, issued an emergency order stating that flooding may impact court proceedings and that delays or modifications should be made “where reasonably necessary.”
About 65 miles southeast of Kerrville, the San Antonio Bar Association is offering its member center to impacted lawyers who need temporary office space or internet access. Details on that may be found here.
The state bar president also shared the following links in his email to members:
- The Texas Bar Foundation’s Emergency Disaster Relief Fund: txbf.org/emergency-disaster-relief
- The State Bar’s Pro Bono Texas: probonotexas.org/
- Other disaster relief resources for the public: texasbar.com/disasters