The Helping Handbook, which contains information about legal issues that people may face as well as contact information for organizations offering assistance, was originally created as a legal guide for individuals, victims' families, and small businesses affected by the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Since then, M&F has continued to work with state and local bars to create versions of the Helping Handbook for people displaced by natural disasters such as the Southern California wildfires of 2003, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and the New York flooding in 2006.
According to TransPerfect Founder Phil Shawe, "These wildfires have had a profound impact on the Southern California community, including those residents whose primary language is Spanish. By partnering with Morrison & Forester on this project, we hope to provide Spanish speakers with accessible, accurate information about the resources available to help them."
Kathi Pugh, firmwide pro bono counsel at Morrison & Foerster who led the Helping Handbook initiative, added, "This has been a truly collaborative effort" among Morrison & Foerster lawyers in California and New York, and with the active support of county bar associations across Southern California, as well as the California State Bar." Ms. Pugh, who works out of Morrison & Foerster's San Francisco office, also notes, "Each of the seven county bars as well as the California State Bar and the American Bar Association will also post links on their respective web sites directing visitors to the Handbook."
The 109-page Handbook covers critical post-disaster topics such as finding temporary housing, insurance, unemployment, dealing with government agencies such as FEMA and the Small Business Administration, replacing lost documents, and more. It will be available at neighborhood legal aid centers, the FEMA local assistance centers that are currently being set up across the region, the California State Bar and at the bar associations of San Diego County, North County, San Bernardino County, Orange County, Los Angeles County, Riverside County and the San Fernando Valley.
Both editions can also be downloaded from the Morrison & Foerster's website at www.mofo.com/about/socalfire2007/index.html.
About Morrison & Foerster
With more than one thousand lawyers in eighteen offices around the world, Morrison & Foerster offers clients comprehensive, global legal services in business and litigation. The firm is distinguished by its unsurpassed expertise in finance, life sciences, and technology, its legendary litigation skills, and an unrivaled reach across the Pacific Rim, particularly in Japan and China. For more information, visit www.mofo.com.
About TransPerfect
TransPerfect is a family of companies including TransPerfect Translations, TransPerfect Staffing, TransPerfect Document Management, TransPerfect Transcriptions, TransPerfect Deal Interactive, and Translations.com. TransPerfect is one of the world's leading providers of language services. With 45 offices on 4 continents, TransPerfect provides a full range of services in over 100 languages to multinationals worldwide. These services include translation, interpretation, transcription, multilingual typesetting/graphic services, staffing solutions, website globalization, software localization, subtitling/voiceovers, multicultural marketing, document management, and litigation support. With a network of over 4,000 linguists and subject-area specialists worldwide, TransPerfect is the largest translation company to be fully ISO 9001:2000 certified. TransPerfect is headquartered in New York and has regional headquarters in London and Hong Kong.