Community Lawyering in the Gulf Coast

Following up on a 2006 Community Lawyering training, attended by over forty advocates from across the region, CLAE returned to the Gulf Coast in May 2008 to lead a newly designed community lawyering “practicum,” in which advocates reconvened to further advance impressive work already underway.

Reilly Morse’s personal journey as a community lawyer began when Hurricane Katrina’s 25-foot waves washed away his law office on the Mississippi coast. Amidst extensive destruction and loss, Morse joined the Mississippi Center for Justice (MCJ) in early 2006 as one of nine Equal Justice Katrina Fellows hired to provide legal assistance to low-income communities devastated by the storms.

An experienced lawyer, Morse was used to working with community-based groups in a fast-paced environment. However, his approach to community work shifted dramatically after attending CLAE’s training, moving away from the more traditional lawyer-centered mode in which attorneys tend to dominate. “What CLAE did,” he reflects, was solidify a strong community lawyering focus: we evolved from a traditional impact litigation approach to an interesting hybrid of direct service and impact work rooted in issues.”

Morse, now a Senior Attorney at MCJ, came to focus his energies on fostering relationships among community groups, supporting their capacity – as problem-solvers, decision-makers and spokespersons. “There is a massive need for lawyers who can function in that specialized realm  – to help the community exert its own power for self-determination.”

In support of this effort, The Steps Coalition emerged: a Gulf Coast-based organization, with whom Morse works closely, that is now a powerful force for mobilizing community groups and others to rebuild.  Additionally, Gulf Coast advocates created an advocacy alliance through which they began to tackle issues of common concern.

These exciting developments both inspired CLAE’s 2008 community lawyering practicum and served as a springboard for new action plans to help keep post-Katrina recovery at the forefront of regional and national attention. Coming out of it, advocates launched a multi-state Equity and Inclusion Campaign advocating for restoration of affordable housing in hurricane-damaged areas. They also sued the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development for diverting $600 million of vital recovery monies to an unwanted port expansion in Biloxi, Mississippi.

CLAE's sustained engagement in the Gulf Coast region vividly demonstrates our commitment to building skills and creating alliances that support the kinds of aggressive advocacy so critical to a strong and effective equal justice movement.