For over 40 years, attorney Morris Bart has been advocating for clients in New Orleans and all along the Gulf Coast in personal injury and auto accident cases, and his firm recently expanded into storm insurance claims. Yet after four decades, the firm still feels local and focused on its community. Bart continues to give his time and passion to the very thing that made him start practicing law in the first place: defending people in the everyday struggles that too often get lost in the justice system.
In Love With the Local Community
It would be difficult to find an attorney who loves New Orleans more than Morris Bart. It isn’t just the place where he works; it’s the city that has shaped his purpose and whose people continue to inspire his practice. Bart takes cases pro bono, charging only once a settlement is reached or a court victory achieved.
Bart has given back to his city in other ways, as well, with philanthropic endeavors like the Cathy and Morris Bart Volunteer Center at the Second Harvest Food Bank and his work as an assistant DA in the New Orleans DA’s Office. “I love people and I love helping people!” Bart shares. “I love the city of New Orleans, and I’m very grateful that the New Orleans community has embraced me and helped me achieve my dreams and goals. I feel very blessed that I can give back to the community that has given so much to me.”
A Look Inside Bart’s Pro Bono Work
Bart has many legal victories, but they are the victories of everyday people who have suffered debilitating injuries rather than flashy, big-city class-action lawsuits. From a $640,000 worker’s comp case to a $650,000 auto collision involving a drunk driver, Bart’s legal cases tell a story of tireless representation for people whose lives have been interrupted by adverse events and who might too easily be ground beneath the wheels of an uncaring insurance system if they had no one to speak for them.
Bart’s philosophy of “focus on people” is something he has worked to instill in all the members of his legal team. The clients who come to a pro bono personal injury lawyer are often scared and unsure of what lies ahead. “Many of our clients, when they first come to us,” Bart explains, “have never spoken to a lawyer before and don’t always know what to expect or what is going to happen. That’s why it’s so important that we help educate and guide them through the legal obstacles in a way that helps them through whatever difficulties they face.”
Reaching Out to the Community’s Vulnerable Members
Coming alongside the vulnerable and advocating for them entails more than just demystifying the legal process once they have already sought out the firm. For Bart, this effort also entails advertising. The point of getting the word out is not to grow a legal empire, but to let people who may never have worked with a lawyer know they have someone they can call, and that pro bono services are available to them.
That hasn’t always been easy. Decades ago, Bart was one of the first legal advertisers in the U.S. “I faced a lot of opposition to my advertising,” he recalls. “I had to fight through many lawsuits, hearings, discussions, etc., to prove not only my constitutional right to advertise but that I was providing a needed service to lower-income people.”
Advertising, however, has always been part of Bart’s ethos. His father had worked in real estate, and throughout Bart’s youth had told him Early to bed, early to rise. Work like hell, and advertise! “That stuck with me,” Bart says, “and I think it sums up what you have to do to be successful.”
An Earned Success
Today, those efforts have paid off. Morris Bart is a well-established and well-known firm whose work has been attested with many accolades. Bart has been named a Super Lawyer, a Million Dollar Advocate, and Gambit Weekly magazine’s “Best Attorney.” He has received a “Leadership in Law” award from New Orleans City Business magazine. The firm has expanded to 15 offices in 4 states and has won over $1 billion for its clients.
“Every year, we help thousands of clients,” Bart explains, “and that alone has been beyond my wildest dreams. I am also blessed to be able to take our success and give back to our community. I love what I do and don’t have any plans to retire.” Nor would his clients want him to; thanks to his efforts, low-income families in New Orleans and beyond have someone to turn to when the unexpected crashes into their lives.
If you would like to learn more about Morris Bart’s legal and philanthropic work, you can explore his efforts at the official website for Morris Bart.
