When hurricanes, floods, fires — and sometimes all of the above — strike, how can lawyers help individuals and communities respond and recover? In this episode, Alicia Aiken talks to seasoned disaster relief attorneys about how pro bono can make a difference in disasters, and how lawyers can prepare to pitch in.
PLI is proud to offer programs, Pro Bono Memberships, and scholarships to support the essential public service work of the legal profession.
FEATURED IN THIS EPISODE
Amanda Bosley
Amanda Bosley is the Managing Attorney of the Disaster Relief Unit at Lone Star Legal Aid in Houston, Texas, and also serves as a Content Manager for DisasterLegalAid.org. Ms. Bosley began her work at LSLA in 2015 representing disaster survivors as an Equal Justice Works AmeriCorps Legal Fellow. Following that, she worked on the Foreclosure Prevention Project at LSLA but returned to manage the Disaster Relief Unit in 2019. She has represented clients after major disasters in the Houston area, including the 2015 Memorial Day and 2016 Tax Day floods, Hurricane Harvey, Tropical Storm Imelda, and the 2021 Severe Winter Storms.
Jeanne Ortiz-Ortiz
Jeanne Ortiz-Ortiz is the Pro Bono & Strategic Initiatives Manager at Pro Bono Net, a national nonprofit dedicated to building innovative technology tools for legal service organizations and pro bono programs. After the 2017 major disasters, she worked as Pro Bono Net’s Disaster Response Legal Fellow and helped survivors affected by Hurricane María in Puerto Rico with FEMA appeals. Jeanne also co-authored Touro Law Review’s “Disaster Legal Tech: Strategies for Providing Legal Information to Survivors.”
In Puerto Rico, Jeanne provided free legal representation and employment discrimination litigation on behalf of low-income LGBT individuals. During law school, she founded and led an award-winning Ms. JD chapter and facilitated workshops on reproductive justice. She has been a part of the ABA YLD Disaster Legal Services Program since 2019, and has presented on technology, pro bono, and disaster recovery at events hosted by the ABA, Pro Bono Institute, Practising Law Institute, Legal Services Corporation, Legal Talk Network, and National Legal Aid & Defender Association. In 2021, she was honored as one of the ABA Top 40 Young Lawyers On the Rise. She is bilingual and admitted to practice in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and New Jersey.
Linda Anderson Stanley
Linda Anderson Stanley is the senior manager of disaster programming at Equal Justice Works, mobilizing public service attorneys across the country to assist disaster survivors with their unique legal issues. In this position, Linda led the award-winning Disaster Recovery Legal Corp and created and implemented the Disaster Resilience Program. Linda is also an adjunct professor and teaches a Disaster Law Primer at Stetson University College of Law. Prior to joining Equal Justice Works, Linda worked as a Staff Attorney at Bay Area Legal Services in Tampa, Florida, assisting individuals with limited access to legal services with their civil legal needs. She focused primarily on disaster relief, housing law, consumer law, and some Veterans issues. In her capacity as staff attorney at Bay Area Legal Services, Linda was awarded the Hillsborough County Outstanding Young Lawyer of the Year award for 2018.
In 2021, Linda was appointed for her third term as the Director of the ABA YLD Disaster Legal Services program. She is also a Cabinet member of the ABA YLD, the YLD liaison to the ABA Standing Committee on Disaster Relief and Preparedness, and a member of the ABA COVID-19 task force, and was recognized as an ABA Star of the Year for both 2020 and 2021. Linda was a recipient of the ABA Top 40 Young Lawyers On the Rise award for 2021.
Linda is also active in her local bar, as demonstrated by the 2021 Thirteenth Judicial Circuit Outstanding Pro Bono Service by a Young Lawyer award. She is currently serving her fourth year as a member of the board of directors of the Hillsborough County Bar Association Young Lawyers Division and serves as the liaison to the HCBA YLD Pro Bono Committee.
Linda received her undergraduate degree in psychology from the University of Illinois and her J.D. from the John Marshall Law School in Chicago, Illinois. She is licensed to practice in both Florida and Illinois, and holds court admissions in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and the U.S. Middle District of Florida.
Jeremy A. Walter
Jeremy Walter is a business litigator with experience helping clients resolve disputes covering a broad range of issues, including breach of contract, fiduciary duties, business divorce, construction defects, real property issues, trade secret theft, non-compete and confidentiality agreements, securities fraud, property damage claims and personal injury defense. He has achieved positive outcomes in complex cases before courts and arbitrators throughout Texas and in several states across the U.S.
Jeremy’s litigation background spans a number of industry sectors, from energy, transportation, distribution and manufacturing to construction, commercial real estate, pharmaceuticals and many others. He also has experience collaborating with foreign counsel to resolve complex litigation that crosses borders, including cases in Germany, Venezuela, Italy and other jurisdictions abroad.
Jeremy is also a dedicated pro bono advocate for Houston- area clients in a variety of legal matters.
