Emergency Legal Responders (ELR)

ELR is a New Orleans based nonprofit dedicated to disaster justice and legal advocacy. We help people solve and prevent legal challenges by providing free, accessible, and easily understandable information and services to vulnerable communities before, during, and after disasters. We are the only nonprofit in the United States dedicated exclusively to disaster-related legal advocacy.

ELR is New Orleans-based nonprofit founded in 2017 to address the inequitable experience of legal challenges that arise in the aftermath of disasters. Our team is made up of attorneys, educators, and organizers working to advance justice in disaster recovery by closing knowledge gaps and increasing access to clear information. ELR supports under-resourced and overexposed communities across the Gulf South- including tribal and rural populations- with clear, culturally relevant information to prepare for and recover from disasters. These include both weather-related events ("natural disasters") and environmental disasters caused by industry and pollution, all of which are made worse by aging and compromised infrastructure.
We believe disaster resilience starts with knowing your rights.