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It’s been 17 years since Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans with unprecedented catastrophic and deadly force, causing billions of dollars in damage to infrastructure and wreaking environmental havoc on coastal areas that in some cases have yet to recover. The hurricane’s impact went far beyond transforming the physical landscape of the Gulf Coast, however.
The historic natural disaster was a seminal moment in the life of attorney Brian Katz and in his law firm.
Except for his years away at college at the University of Alabama, Katz has lived all his life in New Orleans, where he has century-old roots. His family arrived in New Orleans from Eastern Europe and Russia in the early 1900s. His maternal great-grandfather, Harry Offner, started Harry’s Hardware in 1910, which became a landmark business and only last year closed its doors for good after being in the family for 111 years. Katz’s two sons attended the same high school he did – Metairie Park Country Day High School.
“People always ask about your school in New Orleans,” says Katz. “When they ask where you went to school, they don’t mean college – they mean high school.”
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