News Alert!

Do You Have a Disaster Recovery Plan?

updated October 4, 2005

Surviving the storm was just the beginning for many legal professionals and law enforcement personnel who are trying to rebuild their practices or resume operations in hurricane-affected areas (Peter Applebome and Jonathan D. Glater, "A Legal System in Shambles," New York Times, 9 September 2005).  In his September 15, 2005, address to the nation, President Bush said, "I consider detailed emergency planning a national security priority."  

Would you be ready to start over in the wake of a disaster?

• The American Bar Association's Justice Center has gathered information on disaster recovery plans on a Web page dedicated to recovery from Hurricane Katrina.  The ABA has also put together a Legal Toolkit with several useful resources on disaster recovery.

• The American Bar Association's Joint Committee on Employee Benefits hosted a seminar entitled "Employees in a Disaster: What to Do After Katrina."  The teleconference addressed issues for employers and employee benefit plans after a disaster.  A second seminar, entitled "What Attorneys Need to Know About Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Recovery," encourages lawyers to plan for emergencies and increases awareness of resources available after disaster has struck.  Both seminars are now available online.

• Streaming video is available of the presentation on "The Technology of Disasters: What you can Learn about Court Emergency Preparedness from Hurricane Battered Florida" from the Ninth National Court Technology Conference (CTC9).  The presentation and its slides can be viewed in their entirety online.

• Document recovery is a primary focus for judicial systems facing disasters of any kind; solutions for preserving and recovering water-damaged documents are featured in the FAQ section of the Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity module in the CourTopics database.  The module also features useful resources on creating and using a recovery or continuity plan and a list of other NCSC documents.

• The Best Practices Institute created this guide on Emergency Management for Courts, which includes seven specific best practices for creating or reviewing an emergency management strategy.

• The materials page of the Web site for the 9-11 Summit contains links to many helpful disaster recovery and continuity resources, including links to 11 state recovery plans and to a federal self-assessment designed to evaluate existing plans or develop new ones. 

• In 1997, a flood in Grand Forks, North Dakota, rendered “the entire court and law enforcement infrastructure … inundated and unusable,” said Justice Dale V. Sandstrom of the North Dakota Supreme Court.  After the flood, the court used these emergency orders and other plans, including suspension of filing deadlines and relocation of proceedings.

• There is a template for a Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP) in the resource guide from the Florida Supreme Court Workgroup on Emergency Preparedness, “Keep the Courts Open.”  The guide is designed specifically for courts formulating continuity plans and covers document preservation, facility shutdown and restoration of operations.

• The Vera Institute of Justice produced this report describing the New York City justice system’s recovery from the September 11 attacks.  The report itself is an update of a 1969 report which focused primarily on civil unrest and its concomitant hazards. 

• The National Association for Court Management (NACM) released this guide on disaster recovery and business continuity.  It addresses the actual creation and testing of disaster recovery plans, and it includes sample plans and accounts from courts that found themselves facing emergency situations.

Updates on relief efforts, court operations and other developments following Hurricane Katrina are available online.

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