GULF COAST LAWYER AWARDED FELLOWSHIP TO
HELP CITIZENS AFFLICTED BY KATRINA

WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 2, 2006) – The first of nine experienced public interest lawyers who will provide legal services to Gulf Cost residents in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita has been selected by Equal Justice Works. Reilly Morse has been appointed as an Equal Justice Works Katrina Legal Fellow at the Mississippi Center for Justice's new Katrina Recovery Office in Biloxi, Mississippi. The Fellowship is funded by The Association of Corporate Counsel, the in-house bar association of corporate attorneys.

Morse's mission, as his Fellowship gets underway today, is to utilize his legal skills to promote the construction of affordable housing and economic development in communities affected by the hurricane. Morse will also protect hurricane-afflicted Mississippi homeowners from predatory or discriminatory lenders and unethical contractors and developers.

Morse is a third-generation Gulf Coast lawyer with more than 20 years of experience in civil, criminal and public interest law. Morse knows first-hand the devastation that Hurricane Katrina caused as his own law office was completely destroyed by the force of the storm. Previously, Morse spent six years working for the City of Gulfport, Mississippi as an Assistant Municipal Judge and Assistant Municipal Prosecutor. He obtained his bachelor's degree from Millsaps College and his law degree from The University of Mississippi School of Law.

"This fellowship will help shape policy on affordable housing at the local, state and national levels," Morse said. "This is a great opportunity to help my community rise up and be even better than it was before."

"Reilly will be instrumental in rebuilding on the coast and he'll see that even those with the fewest resources can have full access to the legal system," said Martha Bergmark, President of the Mississippi Center for Justice. "We're so thankful to Equal Justice Works and the Association of Corporate Counsel for making this fellowship possible."

The Equal Justice Works Katrina Initiative has been established to address the many legal needs of the areas hardest hit by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Through three programs under the initiative, Equal Justice Works is placing a total of 19 lawyers and 65 law students at nonprofit organizations located in Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas and Alabama to help the hundreds of thousands of people left without homes, jobs, access to health care and social services due to the damage from the hurricanes.

The Equal Justice Works Katrina Initiative is made possible through the support of a $1 million matching grant from the JEHT Foundation. The following groups have contributed to fund the program: The Association of Corporate Counsel; Corporation for National and Community Service; Debevoise & Plimpton LLP; Greenberg Traurig, LLP; Latham & Watkins LLP; Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo P.C.; Pfizer Inc; and Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP. For more information about the initiative, visit www.equaljusticeworks.orgkatrina-initiative.

Equal Justice Works, a nonprofit, nonpartisan 501(c)(3) organization, was founded in 1986 by law students dedicated to working for equal justice on behalf of underserved communities and causes. Today, Equal Justice Works is the national leader in creating summer and postgraduate public interest opportunities for law students and lawyers as well as in urging more public interest programming at law schools. For more information about Equal Justice Works, visit www.equaljusticeworks.org.

– end –