How to Find Free Legal Advice after a Disaster

In 2003, my house burned to the ground along with thousands of other houses in the devastating San Diego wildfires. Within days, FEMA (yes, that FEMA) put together a “one-stop-shop” for fire survivors at a local community center.

Inside the center, aid organizations such as the Red Cross and the Small Business Administration set up tables. So did the San Diego chapter of the California Bar Association. I went to the Bar Association table and picked up a business card just in case we needed future legal assistance.

A month went by and the insurance company’s adjuster stopped being forthcoming with information, particularly whether our house would be covered as a “total loss.” Since our house had been reduced to rubble, this determination should have been a no-brainer.

My spouse suggested that we hook onto one of the class action suit lawyers who had been showing up at various fire survivor group meetings, but they struck me as sharks looking for a big class action lawsuit pay-day. I was concerned that our modest seventies-vintage tract house would get lost in the shuffle in a big class action suit.

I suggested that we contact the Bar Association first, and I’m glad that we did.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Patience
• Inner strength
• Bar Association recommended attorney

How to Find Free Legal Advice after a Disaster

1. After a disaster, if you feel that your insurance company doesn’t have your best interests at heart, call your state Bar Association, and ask them to recommend an attorney with prior insurance claim issues experience.
   
   If they don’t recommend a specific lawyer, ask them to recommend a Bar-certified lawyer referral agency.

2. Make an interview appointment with a Bar-recommended attorney. Besides property replacement and insurance claim issues, other disaster-related legal issues might include re-creating property ownership rights and establishing guardianships in the event of disaster-related casualties.
   
   In our particular case, the San Diego chapter of the California Bar Association recommended a pro bono (free) attorney who was more negotiator than shark, which suited our individual nature best.
   
   Strangely, we soon discovered that we were among only a few survivors who had actually contacted the Bar Association. Most others went with established family attorneys or the sharks.

3. For two years (yes, it typically takes two years to recover and rebuild after a disaster), our attorney counseled and cajoled us, and negotiated with the insurance adjusters on our behalf.
   
   We felt lucky to have found him. Although he had limited experience with homeowner insurance claims, it was his intelligence and unflagging commitment that brought us through a grueling and heartbreaking process.
   
   When we offered him a slice of our settlement, he refused, thus dispelling many prejudices that we both had toward the legal profession. The best we could do was to recommend him to friends, family and anyone else with whom we came in contact.

Resources

• San Diego Country chapter of California Bar Association
• California Bar's wildfires handbook