Escambia County lawyers particularly hard hit.

Hurricane Ivan put half of Escambia County's lawyers out of business.

That's the grim assessment from Mike Doubek, executive director of the Escambia-Santa Rosa Bar Association.

"The bulk of the lawyers are in downtown Pensacola, and the downtown is really devastated," Doubek said.

"We are displaced, too. We cannot get into our offices. And right now, we're working out of my home with limited resources."

What Doubek is trying to do is act as a clearinghouse for resources to help lawyers get back to work.

If attorneys have extra conference rooms or an extra phone line to offer, Doubek wants to know. And if you are a lawyer displaced by Ivan, let him know, and he will connect the offers of help with those in need.

J.R. Phelps, director of The Florida Bar's Law Office Assistance Services, said LOMAS has received more than 125 e-mails and numerous calls offering assistance to lawyers with practices damaged by Florida's historic killer quartet of hurricanes: Charley, Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne.

"We have had offers of analog telephones," Phelps said, explaining that digital phones don't work without power but an analog phone will work if the telephone line is intact.

Legal secretaries and paralegals have also offered their help using their own equipment.

"However, telephone calls requesting assistance are few and far between," Phelps said.

"With no power, no phones, and essentially no courthouse, it is difficult to know how anyone can help until some infrastructure becomes functional," Phelps said. "Most people are still in 'survival' mode."

Doubek agrees.

"Getting back to normal will take a month or two," Doubek said September 28, a dozen days after Ivan ravaged the western Panhandle September 16. "I think they are still trying to balance their personal belongings and affairs."

So far, "less than a half dozen" lawyers have contacted Doubek for help.

"We don't know if the need is not there or if people just haven't gotten around to it yet," Doubek said of lawyers with storm-damaged law offices.

Larger law firms located in downtown Pensacola, he said, are either relocating or opening up this week.

"It's the small operation--the sole practitioner--we haven't heard from," Doubek said.

Phelps has discussed with Doubek how to operate a centralized photocopy exchange of those with paper files with those whose files have been totally destroyed.

"While records at the courthouse (in Pensacola) are expected to be salvageable, they remain unavailable because...