Lizzy McLellan, Daily Business Review
Following the weekend mass shooting in Orlando,
members of Florida's legal community have quickly taken action to organize
resources for victims and their families.
Forty-nine people were killed and 53 were
injured after the gunman opened fire at Pulse nightclub in Orlando at about 2
a.m. Sunday. It was the worst mass shooting in U.S. history.
The Orange County Bar Association is setting up a hotline for victims and their families, using the staff and infrastructure already in place for its lawyer referral hotline. Wiley Boston, president of the OCBA, said the hotline should be ready to go live late Monday or early Tuesday.
Boston, who is a partner at Holland &
Knight, said he has been working to launch the hotline with the Legal Aid
Society of the association, the Florida Bar's real property, probate and trust
law section, and other OCBA leaders. He said they will be soliciting help from
law firms beginning Monday, and he has already received offers through the
state bar for free handling of probate cases.
By Monday afternoon, Boston said about 30
volunteer attorneys had come forward to help.
He said the OCBA set up a similar program in
2005 when Florida experienced multiple hurricanes with heavy damage. In
addition to estate law, Boston said he would anticipate calls related to
disability and insurance issues.
"One thing we've learned is it's difficult
to predict what kinds of needs people will have," Boston said.
He said the hotline will be able to operate
"basically indefinitely" as long as the calls are coming in.
Akerman LLP is allowing the Human Rights
Campaign, an organization focused on obtaining equal rights for LGBTQ
individuals, to use its Orlando office as a base of operation, according to a
spokeswoman for the firm.
The firm has organized a fundraiser in all of
its offices, and plans to make a donation to the organization being formed by
the city to support victims and their families. Akerman also said it will be
making a donation to the Orlando Health Foundation's trauma center, which is
the primary medical facility treating victims of the shooting, and plans to
provide pro bono services to those who need it.
Orlando-based GrayRobinson is planning a blood
drive at its office to begin Tuesday and run through the end of the week.
Firmwide managing partner Mayanne Downs said all of the firm's staff have been
granted time off for public service to the community following the shooting.
GrayRobinson's lawyers are assisting the city on
a pro bono basis to help create a single-point donation site, Downs said. They
will also be raising funds within the office to contribute.
Steven W. Zelkowitz, managing shareholder of
GrayRobinson's Miami office, said his firm is also working on setting up a
charity to raise funds for the Orlando victims. He said it would allow the firm
to collect donations that would go directly to those impacted by the shooting.
Zelkowitz has also been involved in planning a blood drive and vigil in his own community of Miami Shores, where he is the vice mayor. The vigil was set for Monday evening at Memorial Park in Miami Shores.
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