PR Bar of Florida works to relocate displaced Puerto Rican law students: 17 law schools express an interest in taking on students.

Anthony Suarez's wife can't stop crying ever since Category 4 Hurricane Maria ravaged Puerto Rico, where she was born and raised.

"For every Puerto Rican, including a Puerto Rican like myself born on the mainland, there is a tremendous emotional attachment," said Suarez, a Florida lawyer who lives in Orlando and is president of the 200-member Puerto Rican Bar Association of Florida.

They have family members in Puerto Rico struggling in Maria's aftermath that has left 3.4 million residents of the U.S. commonwealth without the basics of food, fuel, and water.

Suarez's family members living in Aguadilla are getting drinking water from the river and cooking what's left of their supply of food over a campfire.

While many members of the Puerto Rican Bar Association of Florida are busy raising money for water, batteries, and food, Suarez didn't want to duplicate efforts. He brainstormed for a unique way his voluntary bar association could help.

He remembered how law students at Tulane University were displaced after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005.

Why not bring displaced law students in Puerto Rico to Florida to continue their studies?

So Suarez sent letters to all of Florida's law schools. Within two days, he received positive responses from Barry University, Florida A&M University, University of Florida, Florida State University, Florida International University, and Nova Southeastern University.

The following week, on October 2, Suarez added law schools at the University of Connecticut, the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Missouri, St. Thomas University, Touro School of Law, Columbia University, George Washington University, State University School of Law at Buffalo, Vermont University, Pennsylvania State University, and the University of Iowa.

Suarez said he also received a cautionary letter from the American Bar Association.

"I got a warning from the ABA. They were concerned my efforts would result in raiding Puerto Rican law schools and that could hurt them," Suarez said.

"I wrote back and said, 'I understand your institutional concern. My concern is what is happening with those students. They can't go home. They can't go to school. They can't even take a bath.'"

Meanwhile, Suarez said, on September 27, the law dean at the University of Puerto Rico sent him an email saying 33 law students are ready to come to Florida. That number grew to 51 law students by October 2.

Suarez elaborated: "The living conditions of...