Committee on Mass Disaster Response

Stated Purpose: Committee on Mass Disaster Response
Formed: July 16, 1997

The New York State Bar Association’s (“NYSBA”) mass disaster response plan (“Response Plan”) sets forth guidelines to respond in an appropriate manner to the victims, the public, and the media, immediately following a mass disaster. The plan outlines procedures to be followed in determining the nature of the crisis and the NYSBA’s response. The goals of the Response Plan are:

• To inform victims of a disaster and their families how the legal system functions to resolve disputes which arise out of mass disaster;
• To monitor conduct of attorneys as a disaster site;
• To make victims of a disaster, their families, and the public aware that personal solicitation of clients by attorneys, at the site of a disaster, is unethical; and
• To advise those who require legal assistance how to make an informed selection of an attorney.