PRACTICING LAW AFTER THE WTC DISASTER
INCLUDING TIPS FOR THE SINGLE PRACTITIONER
As presented to the NYS Bar Association annual meeting, Law Office
Economics Management January 23, 2002
By Leona Beane © December 2001
September 11, 2001:
My office is about 2 blocks north of the World Trade Center. That day, I
started out a little later than usual, and decided to use the subway
(‘E’ train) that goes right into the Trade Center. There were many
delays. Finally, when the train stopped at West 4th Street (Greenwich
Village), I decided to take a taxi, which was impossible, so I started
to walk downtown. While walking downtown, I saw the fires and the
extreme smoke. At Canal St. (about 10 blocks north of my office), the
crowds were starting to get larger. I walked across Canal Street to go
south at Broadway -- the crowds kept getting larger, with mass hysteria
of people running towards me, and there was loads of smoke -- that was
real scary -- I think that must have been when the towers collapsed, but
I didn't know. I kept walking downtown, trying to get away from the mass
crowds by going into doorways for safety. Then I met someone who had an
office in the same office building who told me the building had been
evacuated, and people were being told to keep walking north (away from
the area ). Thus, I turned, and started walking north.
I think in the end I walked well over 8 miles -- it's a good thing I'm a
good walker. While walking uptown I met up with 4 people who work in the
Surrogate's Court. The Court had also been evacuated. Two of them were
planning to walk across the 59th Street Bridge to get to Queens and Long
Island.
As the day went on, the
crowds thinned and later in the afternoon, many of the buses started
running, and some of the subways. During the day, there were constant
sounds of emergency vehicles with many ambulances from Brooklyn and
Flushing and elsewhere. People couldn't use cars, and for several hours
most of the bridges and tunnels were closed. Police were at all the
major street crossings.
My secretary (paralegal assistant) had been in my office in the early
A.M. There were about 3-4 other employees also in the office suite. She
saw the fires from the window. She told me there were emergency
announcements for everyone to evacuate the building. She walked
downstairs with the others, and was waiting in the Lobby. Shortly
thereafter, two FBI agents arrived and insisted everyone had to leave
the building, and that everyone should just keep walking north (uptown).
By the end of the day, she was able to use a subway to Brooklyn as
several of the Brooklyn trains were working by that time.
During this whole time the phones downtown were not working -- my cell
phone didn’t work. The few public phones that were working, had long
lines of people waiting.
The Next Few Days and Weeks Ahead
Thank goodness for e-mail which I used from my home, along with cable
modem, as that had become my major form of communication with friends,
relatives, and the legal world over the next several weeks.
All areas below Canal Street were closed, with no access, no phones, no
mail, no electricity, and loads of smoke and debris and damage.
All Courts in New York
County (other than the Appellate Division) were closed for the rest of
the week. The Courts in New York County opened on Monday, but there was
no phone service. The Court administration subsequently obtained a few
hundred cell phones for the Court’s use, which I understand did not
always work. The Court computers in NY County were not working for
several days after they re-opened.
Over the next few days and weeks, several lawyers with offices in
midtown offered me the use of their office to do work. The problem is I
didn’t have any papers or files to work on. All my papers and files were
at my office downtown on hard copy and notes, and on the computers in my
office. This was a situation where if I had a Palm Pilot it would have
been a big help. Also, a good back-up system is crucial. This had taught
me we should plan differently -- there are so many things kept in an
office such as tax records, financial records, check books, etc. Each
nite when we leave our offices, we should have a checklist of what we
should take with us in case we can't get to the office tomorrow, and for
several days thereafter. I didn’t even have the phone numbers of clients
and others.
As of Sunday, there was
still no access to my office, but I decided to venture downtown to
peruse the area. There were announcements the Stock Exchange and other
businesses east of Broadway were expected to open on Monday. My office
is ½ block west of Broadway (so my office was not included). I was
walking near the South St. Seaport, and then across on John St. Most
buildings had signs they were closed, and some had phone numbers and web
sites posted for info. A few food shops had several people working,
cleaning and discarding huge bags of spoiled food. It was a very clear
day, but sometimes as the wind blew, the air became very bad with smoke
and fumes, and that was about 6-10 blocks from the WTC site. I had to
use a mask. On that day, the closest I could get to where the New York
Stock Exchange was at Wall & William Streets (2 blocks away).
Finally, Thursday and Friday (September 20 and 21), I was able to have
limited access to my office premises, for 20-30 minutes with a police
escort, who remained with me (for security purposes) till I left. There
was no electricity and no phones and no water in the building, but no
real damage that I could see. Looking for papers in files with little
flashlights was not easy. But at least I was able to retrieve a few
important papers that I was able to locate, and thus possibly arrange to
do some limited work at home on my laptop.
On Wednesday, September 26, electricity was restored, but still no
telephone service. This time I obtained entry with a police escort, who
then was able to leave after the super of the building gave an O.K. The
building where my office is located had a wire fence around it, with
Police guards at the corner, and there was still no phone service.
Once the electricity was restored, I was able to check my computers
which appeared to be in tact. Thus, I would be able to get some work
done. However, it was extremely difficult working without phones, and no
fax and no e-mail, and attempting to call other attorneys (most of whom
also had no phone service).
Some lawyers and law firms had taken out ads in the Law Journal to
announce their new temporary address and temporary telephone numbers.
The N.Y.S.
Bar Association (on its web site) had a section listing attorneys
temporary telephone and address changes. The list kept getting longer.
Many clients couldn’t find their lawyers.
On September 24 and 25, I
attended the LegalTech Show in NY -- I had signed up for it a few weeks
in advance because I realized I had to learn more technology. I'm happy
I attended and learned a great deal -- they also had several programs on
Disaster Recovery -- at that time I was not sure if my computers still
worked. Ross Kodner did a phenomenal job in putting together a group of
"techies" who agreed to assist those lawyers with offices affected by
the WTC disaster -- he and his group put together the
WTC Disaster Relief LegalTech Assistance Program.
October, 2001
As of October 1, 2001, I finally had phone service restored, and at this
time the office building was officially opened. There were still
intermittent disruptions with the phone service at times. Thus, I
continued using my cell phones. Practically everyone in lower Manhattan
has been using cell phones required for basic communication. Virtually
all of lower Manhattan still had no regular phone service, and some
lawyers still did not have regular access to their office. The phone
service problem was real bad, because the phones appeared to be ringing,
but they were not ringing thru to the person; it's frustrating to the
person calling because they believe the other person is not answering
the phone.
Mail service was restored as of October 5, 2001; the large post office
at 90 Church St. (across from the WTC) sustained extensive water and
other damage, and I understand may not be in service for several months.
During the several weeks prior to October 5, 2001, I and my assistant
had been going to the main post office on 33rd Street to attempt to
retrieve the office mail -- that's a whole story by itself, since I’m in
an office suite with 6 other attorneys.
No vehicles were
permitted below Canal Street. Thus, no deliveries. I wanted to purchase
a new office refrigerator because the current one had to be discarded
(being without electricity that long). We didn't receive the New York
Law Journal until October 11 because they claimed they couldn't get
access to the building. By that time, there were occasional deliveries
in the area from Federal Express and UPS and other delivery services.
But, for many weeks, there were still no taxis permitted below Canal
Street.
During this whole time (until October 29, 2001) there had been Police
guards at the corner of Park Place and Broadway, and a wire fence around
the office building. There was no admittance to the block without proof
of identity and proof that the person had an office there. The block had
been listed as "no access" on the disaster area maps. I kept checking
the maps at www.nyc.gov to check on the boundary line for ‘access’.
Stores on the block including branches of 2 large banks had not been
able to open for 7 weeks. It's hard to describe the situation to someone
who had not personally attempted to gain access.
Current Situation - December, 2001
At times you can still smell smoke, fumes, chemicals and other toxins in
the air- - the air is just not good. When I go out, I sometimes still
use a small mask -- some days it's worse than others.
Some lawyers still don't have full telephone service restored. Some of
the Court phones numbers in Manhattan still don’t work.
There are still several
buildings in the area where lawyers have not yet been permitted to
return to their office. Quite a few attorneys who had offices in the WTC
area, also lived in the vicinity, and thus may not even have phone
service at home. Virtually everyone downtown is still using cell phones
to get by even if phone service was restored, because at times there are
disruptions.
Getting through the ordeal of being displaced (even temporarily) has not
been easy -- it is a very depressing and very stressful situation.
Many lawyers have the extra burdens and stress of figuring out different
travel arrangements -- some subway and train stops are not in service,
and some subway routes have been modified; there have been many
restrictions on vehicle travel into and within Manhattan. To go for any
appointments, I have to plan on extra time in case of delays in
transportation, and delays due to extra security. Many buildings in
midtown have extra security measures implemented to enter the building.
Many lawyers have on an ad hoc basis developed some form of temporary
arrangement. Some are still working out of their house or the residence
or office of a relative or friend. Many are not sure where they will
move to or when, and figure they will make decisions later, as long as
they are able to somewhat minimally get by in the short term. Many
lawyers are not receiving the Law Journal, or are under such stressful
times, they don't have time to read it even if they do receive it.
There are continual
telephone disruptions. The week just before Thanksgiving, 2 of my phone
lines had terrible static, and I couldn’t use e-mail or the internet,
and I was expecting some important information via e-mail. I thus walked
to New York County Lawyers Association which had just opened the week
before, so as to check my e-mail. There were Police guards at the corner
of Vesey Street & Broadway, and a big wire fence was just outside their
building, with no access to go west to Church St. While at New York
County Lawyers, I heard the excessive noise just outside the building
(on the other side of the fence) of the machinery and equipment being
utilized by the rescue workers to pull apart the destroyed sections of
the WTC.
Some Tips for Lawyers, primarily for the Single Practitioner
Unfortunately, many tips relate to
maintaining (and paying for) duplicate systems and services -- both for
the office and the home.
[1] Back-Up your computers with a good tape back-up system.
[2] Back-Up important
files – even if you’re not sure which tape back-
up system to implement, in the interim, copy files to CD’s and/or Zip
Disks and do this regularly (every week or perhaps every day), and then
take the CD’s and disks home -- keep them off-site.
[3] Maintain a copy of
your office Rolodex for home use (or Palm Pilot or other device) that
has all phone numbers, etc.
[4] Maintain at home the
home phone numbers, e-mail, and other
contact information (in addition to office numbers) for lawyers and
others that you have regular contact with (such as accountants,
insurance agents, surety bonds, etc) for home use.
[5] Must have computer or
laptop at home (with all regular software)
[6] Set-up e-mail for
home use
[7] Join Listserv’s in
area of specialty – wonderful source of communication and information
[8] Computerized legal
research for home use - such as Lexis or WestLaw
[9] Cable modem or DSL
for home use
[10] Use different
internet service providers -- in case one provider has
disruptions in service.
[11] Cell phones –
if you have more than one (1) cell phone, use two (2) different
providers in case of disruptions in service.
[12] Have calendar
system (on disk or at least a paper calendar) with
you for home use, so you know all your Court dates and appointments (
another advantage of using Palm Pilot or other similar device).
[13] Set up file (and
also maintain hard copy) of office bank account numbers to maintain at
home, plus have on hand at least one (1) blank check for each account --
maintain in safe place at home.
[14] If you’re in an
office suite with other lawyers, set up a a file (and
maintain a hard copy) of the home numbers, home addresses, e-mail, and
other contact info for all attorneys and staff.
[15] Use software for
check books and other financial records, e.g. Quicken or other software
program; update on regular basis, and take copy of disk home.
[16] Don’t keep original
Wills or original executed Deeds and contracts in the office. Have
compete photocopies with full execution for office and for off-site, and
maintain the originals in a bank safe deposit vault.
[17] Have details of
laptop serial number and software and phone
numbers for warranty, etc., in a file and on separate disk (plus hard
copy) when traveling with laptop.
[18] In the middle of
each day, make a check-list of what you should
copy and/or take home in case you can’t return to the office tomorrow or
for several days thereafter. Then, before you leave your office at the
end of the day, follow through on your list.
NOTE: This paper was presented at the N.Y.S. Bar Association
Annual Meeting, Law Office Economics and Management Committee on
January 23, 2002.
