Patrick Vance, September 5, 2005

ABI Friends:
Please excuse the mixture of personal and business information, but I wanted to get this email out to all of my friends as soon as possible.

The Vance family is fine. Sarah and I are living in Baton Rouge during this involuntary flood exile. Our son, Bobby, has returned to Philadelphia for his senior year at Penn.

Jones Walker is up and running. We are bursting at the seams in the Baton Rouge office, but we will make do. We had contingency plans for an outage of one of our offices. However, no one anticipated a total evacuation of the City of New Orleans.

We have challenges and will meet them.
I am working and living in Baton Rouge. My contact information is at the end of the email. The phones are still congested and you may find email the easiest way to communicate with me for awhile.

Sarah has taken over the visiting judge's chambers in the Baton Rouge federal court house and has been well taken care of by her middle district colleagues.

The disaster called Katrina reminds us how important it is to go through life with lots of friends. While the disaster is overwhelming, the expressions of concern and offers of aid are more so.

Sarah and I visited New Orleans yesterday with a special federal task force. We were waved past the military check points and visited our home, the CBD and the Vieux Carre. No significant damage to our house. We had some tree damage. We have 10 ancient oaks and several pines on the property that will need some attention. We live in the highest part of town and close to the Mississippi River which is on the far side of town from the Lake where the levee broke. As a result, no water. We had armed federal agents with us in case we had squatters. There were none and our home was secure. There were a lots of guys in fatigues through out town and on St. Charles Avenue with M16s and sidearms.

We visited the federal command post which until last week was the Greyhound bus station. The feds have set up an open air temporary prision on the train platforms. Lots of military. They seem to have the situation under control. The rumors to the contrary are just bad rumors or greatly exaggerated. Sarah has signed one of the first arrest warrants to take the bad guys off the street.

We toured the CBD and Vieux Carre. Except for the water in the CBD in various places, it looks fixable in the short term. I did not see a broken window in the VC. The awning at Café du monde did not have a rip. This all can be put back together. There are lots of reasons for optimism despite the adversity that we face. My layman's opinion based on what I saw is that the CBD will be open for business earlier than estimated.

But, I sound so self centered and selfish. There was and will be a lot of human suffering. Lots of folks will have to bull doze their homes and start over. Some may never return. The poor of New Orleans will have a rough time. The human suffering is immense.

Since I am the past managing partner of the firm and still on the executive committee, I have been heavily involved in relocating 150 attorneys to our other offices in Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Miami, Houston and DC. I can not even begin to tell you what is involved in terms of logistics of dealing with a multi-million dollar business that has to relocate under these circumstances. What I can tell you is that we have a wonderful professional staff who worked tirelessly over the last week and some outstanding lawyers who will not let some water and wind disrupt Jones Walker.

Sarah and I put Bobby on the plane for Philly last week and told him to enjoy his last year at Penn. My partners who have school age children have to find schools for their kids. Housing in Baton Rouge is in short supply. There are 200,000 more people here than were here last week. There is a gas shortage or gas panic. Not sure which. Again, we are lucky. Sarah's sister who lives in Baton Rouge has welcomed us with open arms.

I have received hundreds of emails from friends and people whom I may have met a time or two. The expressions of concern and offers of help are touching and move us to tears of gratitude.

We will return to New Orleans and be back stronger than ever. None of us know exactly when, but I have no doubts we will return soon.

If you have ever heard the Louis Armstrong song- "Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans", you know that we can not stay away.

Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans
And miss it each night and day
I know I'm not wrong... this feeling's gettin' stronger
The longer, I stay away
Miss them moss covered vines...the tall sugar pines
Where mockin' birds used to sing
And I'd like to see that lazy Mississippi...hurryin' into spring
The moonlight on the bayou.......a Creole tune.... that fills the air
I dream... about Magnolias in bloom......and I'm wishin' I was there
Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans
When that's where you left your heart
And there's one thing more...I miss the one I care for
More than I miss New Orleans
The moonlight on the bayou.......a Creole tune.... that fills the air
I dream... about Magnolias in bloom......and I'm wishin' I was there
Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans
When that's where you left your heart
And there's one thing more...I miss the one I care for
More.....more than I miss....... New Orleans
Take care.
Pat
R. Patrick Vance
Jones, Walker, Waechter, Poitevent, Carrere & Denegre L.L.P.
phone: 225-248-2132
fax: 225-248-2010
e-mail: pvance@joneswalker.com
Website info: http://www.jwlaw.com/attorneys/bios/bio.asp?ID=R852273047
www.joneswalker.com