Government and Environmental

Disaster Assistance

Butler Snow is one of the few law firms in the country experienced in handling disaster assistance issues under the Stafford Act and under special federal disaster assistance appropriations through the Community Development Block Grant program (CDBG).  Our firm has represented both Grantees and Subgrantees under the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP), the Public Assistance (PA) Program, and in housing assistance, redevelopment, and recovery programs supported by CDBG funding.  We have worked closely with state and local emergency management agencies, as well as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to resolve issues related to the administration of these federal initiatives in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.  Overall, Butler Snow has worked with clients to design and implement recovery efforts involving over $300 million in disaster assistance.

Butler Snow is also experienced in the arbitration of Public Assistance claims, a new remedy instituted by Congress as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA).  Our firm handled the first such claim presented to the United States Civilian Board of Contract Appeals.

Our firm also plays a key role in the State of Louisiana as counsel to the Louisiana Land Trust, a state-chartered nonprofit charged with managing approximately 10,000 hurricane-damaged properties acquired by the state throughout south Louisiana.  The Land Trust’s mission is to clean up, redevelop, and return these properties to commerce in conjunction with 28 different local governments.