Surviving a Disaster

A Lawyer’s Guide to Disaster Planning (2011)

Surviving a Disaster: A Lawyer’s Guide to Disaster Planning (2011)

Developed by the ABA Special Committee on Disaster Response and Preparedness

Additional resources and an on line version of the Guide may be found at:

www.americanbar.org/disaster

Surviving a Disaster: A Lawyer’s Guide to Disaster Planning (2011)

It’s 9:00 a.m. and you are at your deskwhen the earth tremors, the buildingshakes, and things start to fall off of yourwall. You instinctively crawl under yourdesk and when the shaking stops ……

What are your next moves?

Surviving a Disaster: A Lawyer’s Guide to Disaster Planning (2011)

It’s an hour later and the buildingMaintenance staff reports to you that thereare “cracks” in the building foundation andthey aren’t sure of its structural soundness.

What do you do? Who decides? How do you communicate with staff? Who else do you have to communicate

with and how?

Surviving a Disaster: A Lawyer’s Guide to Disaster Planning (2011)

By evening, the fire department has ordered that no one be allowed in thebuilding until there is further assessmentof its structural soundness. How do you communicate with staff?

How do you conduct business for

the rest of the day? The next day?

Surviving a Disaster: A Lawyer’s Guide to Disaster Planning (2011)

The engineers’ report it will take at leasttwo weeks to make the repairs to thebuilding before it is safe for tenants toreturn. Do you have a plan for how you will

conduct business for this time period? Can you meet payroll (assume pay day is

two days off)?

Surviving a Disaster: A Lawyer’s Guide to Disaster Planning (2011)

How do you notify clients? Vendors? Staff?

Are there any business activities you can defer?