In the event of an emergency, instructions or announcements will appear below. The most recent notification will appear at the top of the list.

Thursday October 10 2024 1:50pm

Our physical offices (Five Points and Waterside) are closed until Monday, October 14.

Monday October 7 2024 3:25pm

According to the U.S. National Weather Service and the National Hurricane Center, Hurricane Milton has rapidly intensified to a Category 5 storm. Storm Surge and Hurricane Watches are now in effect for our area, and residents should follow advice given by local officials and evacuate if told to do so. In addition, areas of heavy rainfall will impact portions of Florida today well ahead of Milton, with heavy rainfall more directly related to the system expected later Tuesday through Wednesday night. This rainfall will bring the risk of considerable flash, urban, and area flooding, along with the potential for moderate to major river flooding.

Based on these developments, and with a state of emergency in effect, we are announcing that our physical offices (downtown and Waterside) will be closed Tuesday, October 8, 2024 through Thursday, October 10, 2024. Remote work is encouraged, especially tomorrow and Thursday, if you can safely do so and have connectivity. Please contact Denise to discuss if you have any questions.

We intend to re-open our physical offices (downtown and Waterside) at the normal scheduled time on Friday, October 11, 2024. Any changes to our status will be communicated via office email and through the firm’s emergency notification system, website (http://emergency.williamsparker.com/).

Please note:

The physical buildings will be closed. The offices will be physically closed because it is considered prudent to do so, and we appreciate everyone abiding by that decision. Failure to do so may unintentionally pressure someone to stay longer than they should or to come into the office when they should not be on the road.
- Prepare the building. Please stow all loose items on desk top surfaces in drawers before departing for the day. Furniture on the balconies will be brought indoors. Close interior office doors before leaving the building.
- Systems. MS Office Suite, iManage, and SurePoint are all available and functioning remotely. If dangerous weather is imminent, IT will need to temporarily shut-down the on-site computer network.
- Remote work. All personnel with remote access can continue to operate virtually from a remote location, only if it is safe to do so.
- Staff timekeeping. For hourly employees, please clock in/out in the remote environment, to properly reflect hours you worked before and after the storm (Tuesday and Thursday). Payroll will add firm-paid time for those normally scheduled to work on Wednesday who were unable to do so due to the storm.
Client service
- Client appointments. Legal assistants should contact all clients scheduled for upcoming appointments to reschedule once the threat of the storm has passed.
- Front desk. The front desk will be staffed remotely on Tuesday, closed on Wednesday, and hopefully will be staffed remotely on Thursday, if we are able. No outside visitors will have access to our 8^th floor offices between Tuesday and Thursday.
- Support teams. Accounting, HR, Benefits/Payroll, Marketing, and the Help Desk will be functioning to the extent they can do so in a remote environment.
- FedEx. Please have FedEx outgoing packages to the mailroom by 4pm today. Joey will drop off outgoing any FedEx packages by 4:15pm.

Safety tips and resources:

Run from the water, hide from the wind. Please evacuate if told to do so. See attached for information about potential storm surge impacts, potential wind impacts, and potential flooding impacts.
Complete all prep before tomorrow night.
Satellite connectivity for iMessage and text messaging. If you are without Wi-Fi and cellular connectivity, some iPhone models can be enabled for satellite connectivity which allows the sending and receiving of iMessages and text messages. The iPhone satellite communication features require an iPhone 14 or newer and iOS 18. You can check which versions you have by going to Settings, General, About. If you haven’t installed iOS 18 yet you can do so by going to Settings, General, Software Update.

The messaging features and requirements are explained this Apple Support article (Messaging via Satellite).
Please be aware the above linked features are not intended for contacting emergency services. For that you can use the Emergency SOS via satellite feature explained in this Apple support article (Emergency SOS via satellite).

Before the Storm resources
After the Storm resources
- Temporary housing – hurricanehomes.org, floridahousingsearch.org, floridarealtors.org/SHIP
- Find a licensed contractor or construction supplier – Disaster Contractors Network
- Mortgage relief – Mortgage Relief programs through Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and FHA
- FEMA
  - In-person Disaster Recovery Center Locator
  - Temporary Roofing via Operation Blue Roof or by calling 888-766-3258 you can get tarps to cover your roof while waiting for your roofing company to put on your new roof.
  - Apply for Disaster Assistance or call 800-621-3362.

The safety of you and your loved ones are of utmost importance to us.

Sunday October 6 2024 12:30pm

As Tropical Storm Milton moves through the Gulf of Mexico with the strong likelihood of impacting our area, we want to let you know we are closely monitoring the status of the storm and will draw on our experience to be prepared and communicate decisions related to office closure in a timely manner.

Please take this time to prepare and do whatever you need to do to stay safe.

Emergency Preparedness Resources