District of Columbia Chapter Supports SOLACE [Support for Lawyers/Legal Personnel - All Concern Encouraged]

By Brian C. Murphy, Esq.

At its June 2011 meeting, the Board of Directors of the District of Columbia Chapter voted to take steps to support SOLACE in its outreach to the District of Columbia legal community.

SOLACE, an acronym for Support for Lawyers/Legal Personnel - All Concern Encouraged, was undertaken under the leadership of The Honorable Jay Zainey [E.D. La.] to bring the needs of the legal community in Louisiana to the attention of  lawyers, judges, paralegal professionals, and others supporting the legal community in Louisiana.

FBA National President Ashley Belleau has made known her wish that FBA chapters throughout the U.S.A. become aware of SOLACE, taking appropriate steps to "localize" SOLACE in their respective areas of jurisdiction.

The District of Columbia Chapter of the FBA has an opportunity to do so in and for our legal community.

Judge Zainey has described SOLACE as follows:

The sole purpose of the  SOLACE program is for us as a local community to reach out in a small, but meaningful and compassionate way to those judges, lawyers, court personnel, paralegals, legal secretaries, and their families who experience a death or some catastrophic illness, sickness or injury.

The way the program works is quite simple, but the effects can be significant. Notify one of the committee members when you learn of some tragedy occurring to one in your local legal community. Through working with you and those close friends of the family, we then determine what would be the most appropriate expression of our support and concern. That can range from simply sending the family a card signed by a recognized local and state leaders to providing the family with some meals, needed support, assistance with grocery shopping or child care, or whatever the situation might warrant.

Those recipients of SOLACE whom we have already touched have been most appreciative. In addition, those volunteers who have worked with us on this project have experienced a true sense of doing something for ones in need.

Please contact us if you have any questions or know of any individual or family in need of SOLACE. Visit http://www.arlaw.com/SOLACE/index.html for more information.

Some examples as to how SOLACE can help:

WHAT IF : You are a solo practitioner and you lost your office in a fire... What would you do ? How soon could you obtain (and afford) office furniture and office space to get you back on track?

Wouldn't it be nice if you could send out an email and within two days have all of your professional needs met?
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WHAT IF: You have been diagnosed with cancer and have been instructed to report to   M.D. Anderson in Houston. You have been told that you will need to be in Houston for four (4) months while undergoing outpatient chemotherapy...Where would you stay? How could you afford it?
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WHAT IF: Your spouse was diagnosed with a very rare syndrome as a result of alcohol abuse - and you are told by your physician that there are no resources in Louisiana to assist you and your spouse...How would you find out where to go? How could you gain admission?
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The above "what ifs" are real examples of situations that our fellow attorneys have faced. Here is how members of our legal profession responded:

EXAMPLE NUMBER 1: Once the solo practitioner who lost everything in the fire contacted SOLACE, an email went out to the SOLACE membership at 6:18 PM on a Saturday night asking for assistance.

The lawyer in need sent the following message Monday evening - two days later: "The responses and offers of assistance from attorneys and judges have been overwhelming and I am happy to announce that all of my computer and furniture needs have been met. I even had a female attorney in Shreveport ask for my address so she could send a gift card for an office supply store!"

EXAMPLE NUMBER 2: An email went out to the members of SOLACE at 11:58 PM requesting housing in Houston for a period of four months for the young SOLACE member undergoing treatment for cancer. The following response was received eight and one half hours later - at 8:35 AM : "One of my good friends and Houston attorney...has come to the rescue for the patient below....Ed's wife is a physician and both of them go above and beyond 'giving back'. When I read your note, I knew Ed would help. He will contact the patient directly."

EXAMPLE NUMBER 3: Within 24 hours of the date and time that the request for information about the rare syndrome was circulated to the SOLACE members, a SOLACE member had made arrangements for the family in need to receive a consultation (and follow up treatment) at the Mayo Clinic.


We are truly members of an Honorable Profession. Of course, many of us are adversaries in Court.
 
But out of court, there are more than 4500 members of our legal community in Louisiana who have volunteered to keep their eyes and ears open, and to let us know when we can help fellow members of our profession who are experiencing a hardship.

And think about it, if each of us has a circle of 10 friends, family members, and clients who we can call upon for information, we will have a network of approximately 42,000 people who are potentially available to address any issue that we face.

This is what the SOLACE Program is all about.
 
The sole purpose of the SOLACE program is for us as a local community to reach out in a small, but meaningful and compassionate way to those judges, lawyers, court personnel, paralegals, legal secretaries and their families who need our help.

There is nothing too big and nothing too small that our fellow attorneys and legal professionals are willing to do for each other.

And there are many, many other examples of instances in which members of our legal community assisted each other in their time of need - again, none too big/none too small.

There's nothing too big:

Besides the examples above, we have had two instances in which spouses of attorneys suffered from very rare syndromes in which no physician in Louisiana could assist.

A SOLACE member in Baton Rouge contacted John Finan, former CEO of Our Lady of the Lake Hospital. Mr. Finan assisted in both of these cases and was able to identify specialists at the Mayo Clinic who could assist these individuals. Mr. Finan then made arrangements for both women to be admitted to the Mayo Clinic.

There was another instance in which the child of a young attorney and his wife was a patient at Johns Hopkins. The family's bill, over and above insurance, was in excess of $50,000. Although SOLACE can not solicit funds, it sent out a blast email and asked if anyone had contacts at Johns Hopkins who could assist with the bill.

Sure enough, a number of our SOLACE members were able to identify resources for this family, and through contacts that they had at Johns Hopkins - and again with the support of Mr. Finan, our SOLACE members were able to get some financial relief from Johns Hopkins for the family in need.

We have a number of fellow attorneys who are pilots, and have offered to provide free air transportation to members of our legal community in need of transportation for medical issues. There was one instance in which an attorney from southwest Louisiana needed a liver transplant at Oschner hospital in New Orleans - but he couldn't survive the drive.
A SOLACE member provided air transportation for our attorney in need. The attorney's wife and child wanted to stay near him during his surgery and recuperation period. The family had an RV and needed a place to park it. Again, a request was circulated to our 4200 members around the state, and within minutes an attorney from Ponchatoula contacted SOLACE and offered a lot in a trailer park that he owned near the hospital to the family - free of charge...This is what attorneys do for each other during their time of need.

And the list goes on, and on.

And there's nothing too small:

One evening I ran into an attorney and his wife at a local restaurant. They had just returned from an extended stay at M.D. Anderson Hospital where the attorney recently had a leg amputated. I told them about the SOLACE program and asked them if our fellow members in the legal community could assist them in any way. The attorney was gracious and stated that they had no real needs; their children were grown and out of the house so they didn't need assistance getting the children to school, household chores, grocery shopping or any of the other things that SOLACE members and their families have provided for each other.

However, after giving it much thought, the spouse of the attorney said that she had a "little" request.

She stated that they have a dog who is like a member of their family - and it is upsetting when they have to board the animal for two weeks at a time while the husband undergoes chemotherapy in Houston. Within minutes of the time the request was circulated to the SOLACE members, over 70 people responded and stated that they would be more than happy to board the dog - at no expense to the family in need.

Hopefully you and your family will never need our services. However, by your being on the email list, you will see what attorneys and other legal professionals do for each other in their time of need, and the emails will serve as a constant reminder that if you have a need, help is only an email away.

If you would like to sign up for SOLACE, which by the way is the brainchild of New Orleans attorney Mark Surprenant, please contact Jay Zainey at Jay_Zainey@laed.uscourts.gov [In the Washington, D.C. area, please contact D.C. Chapter President-Elect Steven Miller [smiller173@aol.com] or Past President Brian C. Murphy [briancmurphy@earthlink.net].

I am pleased to inform you that, thanks to Ashley Belleau and Jack Lockridge, and with the continued support of incoming FBA President Fern Bomchill, SOLACE programs are being developed in various FBA Chapters throughout the country - and in Puerto Rico.
Let me know how I can assist you.

Jay

From the above description by Judge Zainey, you can see that the District of Columbia Chapter can do much for the legal community through SOLACE.

If you feel that you would like to be a part of SOLACE, please let either Steven Miller, President-elect of the Chapter [at:  smiller173@aol.com] or Brian C. Murphy, past President of the D.C. Chapter, at:  briancmurphy@earthlink.net know!

Thank you VERY much!

Respectfully submitted,

Brian C. Murphy
Past President
District of Columbia Chapter
Federal Bar Association