Featured in the LSU Law Center Magazine Fall 2017 Edition

​Taylor Porter was proud to be among several corporate and individual donators to the LSU Law Center Public Interest Law Society (PILS) for its recent Hurricane Harvey relief trip in October in which it donated to Lone Star Legal Aid furniture equipment and supplies filled to the brim of a 27-foot U-Haul truck, a pickup truck and four SUVs. Lone Star Legal Aid is the fourth largest service provider of free legal aid in the United States, serving nearly 1.5 million income-eligible Texas residents in 72 counties.

When Hurricane Harvey struck the Texas Coast on Aug. 25, 2017, the flooding that resulted caused an electrical short, explosion and fire in the building that housed Lone Star’s Houston main office. That flooding and fire caused the complete loss of all of Lone Star’s physical equipment – all of their furniture (desks, chairs, waiting area furniture, etc), all of their electrical equipment (computers, printers, telephone equipment, etc.) and all of their office supplies (paper, pens, sticky notes, file folders, hole punchers, etc.). After the flood waters subsided, the PILS reached out to Lone Star to find out what they needed. The answer was simple – Lone Star needed everything that a law firm would need to function. With help from the Law Center administration, the Baton Rouge Bar Association, the Louisiana State Bar Association, and Taylor Porter Managing Partner Skip Philips, PILS set out to spread the word and gather surplus and unused office furniture, computers and office supplies of all kinds from lawyers and firms in Baton Rouge and nearby areas.

The effort was successful.  Many law firms made significant donations, including: Taylor Porter; Hurlburt, Monrose & Ernest LLP of Lafayette; and Legacy Estate and Elder Law of Louisiana. Preis PLC, also of Lafayette, made a particularly large donation of office furniture, chairs and printers. Other groups and businesses also contributed, including: Louisiana State University; the students and faculty of the LSU Law Center; BARBRI Co. and their Law center representatives; Emprint Moran Printing; Capital Area Computer Recycling and the staff of the Louisiana Law Institute.

Thanks go to all of the LSU students and others who contributed in so many ways:

• Patrice Pippens and her 1L crew  – Derek Hoffman, Chris Lamy, Hannah Mayeaux and Bret Shallenberger – who picked up most of the donations in and around Baton Rouge;
• Will Patrick, Chris Handy, Eli Medina, Briana Falcon, Davi Clement, Endya Hash and Victoria Heyer, who helped load the front half of the U-Haul Thursday night and the other vehicles Friday morning;
• David Albano, Nick Algero & Chris Guelzow traveled with the caravan to Lafayette, to load the rest of the U-Haul truck; and
• MJ Hernandez, John Devlin, Connor Fagan, Cody Frye, Rachel Warren, Chris Handy, Gabriella Diaz, Evan McMichael, Mary Grace Pollet (and her mom), Bret Shallenberger and Neemesh Chheda, who drove or rode to Lafayette to pick up the last donations and on to Houston to deliver our goods to Lone Star Friday afternoon.

Particular thanks go to MJ Hernandez, who organized the entire event, and Dean Tom Galligan, Albin Murtagh Jeff Brooks, Pam Hancock, Maggie Thomas, Lee Ann Lockridge and Lauren Ferand, all of whom provided crucial assistance and support.