Normalcy After 9/11: Public Service as the Crisis Fades

The legal community's response to 9/11 was fast, thoughtful, comprehensive, creative, and collaborative. The success of the legal community's efforts must be measured not only by analysis of the response to the 9/11 crisis itself, but also by consideration of whether the lessons learned paved the way for an improved response for the legal community to the legal crises facing families every day. The Report on the New York City Bar's response to 9/11 outlined unmet legal needs, many of which still remain unmet. There is also a risk that those responding to the crisis were diverted from attending to other non-9/11 related pro bono projects.

It is essential that in celebrating the success of the legal community's response to 9/11 that a focus remains on meeting the unmet post-9/11 needs, and applying the lessons learned to other crises in the legal system that need attention.