A Little Interest Goes a Long Way for Legal Aid

Low-income Iowans with civil legal problems will benefit from grants approved by the Iowa Supreme Court. The 17 grants, totaling more than $1.3 million, will be used by legal service programs around the state. Funds for the grants come from the Interest on the Lawyers’ Trust Account program.

The funds are generated from interest earned on pooled trust accounts held by lawyers. Attorneys practicing law in Iowa are required to deposit clients’ funds being held by the lawyer in interest-bearing accounts. When the funds involved are too small in amount or held for too brief a period of time to economically benefit the individual client, the Iowa Supreme Court requires that they be deposited in pooled interest-bearing trust accounts.

The IOLTA program is administered by a seven-member commission that reviews applications and makes recommendations to the Iowa Supreme Court. Since the program’s inception in 1985, the court has awarded nearly $20 million in IOLTA grants. Most have gone to legal services for low-income Iowans. A few grants have gone for law-related education projects.

Nine of this year’s grant recipients service the entire state. The bulk of the grants — more than $1 million – is distributed among these groups. The remainder of the funds are primarily distributed to agencies that service the eastern or central portions of the state.

A press release from the Iowa Judiciary listed the following programs and provided descriptions as to how the funds will be used. The grants are awarded for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

Iowa Legal Aid (Des Moines) — $685,714

Provision of legal staff to serve regional offices of the grantee in an established program of civil case assistance to low-income Iowans. (Service area: statewide).

HELP Through Education and Law Program, Inc. (Davenport) — $106,623

Provision of legal staff to offer civil legal assistance to indigent and elderly persons, particularly in the areas of domestic relations, community legal education, service to the institutionalized elderly and domestic abused, and administrative advocacy. (Service area: two-county area including Scott and Clinton.)

Iowa Legal Aid (Des Moines) — $76,316

Provision of legal staff support to continue the Legal Hotline for Older Iowans. (Service area: statewide.)

Iowa State Bar Association Public Service Program (Des Moines) — $74,767

Provision of staff and technical support to increase the participation of attorneys in existing volunteer lawyer projects for indigent Iowans and provide assistance to legal service agencies. (Service area: statewide.)

Polk County Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Project (Des Moines) — $69,340

Provision of staff for volunteer lawyer referral service in Polk County serving the low-income community. (Service area: Polk County.)

Iowa Legal Aid (Des Moines) — $66,542

Provision of legal staff support to create and field pro se legal forms for persons who cannot be served by existing legal assistance programs. (Service area: statewide.)

Clinical Law Program, College of Law, University of Iowa (Iowa City) and Drake University Law School Legal Clinic (Des Moines) — $51,497

Provision of funds to continue the Poverty Law Internship Program, a clinical law program in which upper level law students intern with legal service providers throughout the state. (Service area: statewide.)

Legal Aid Society of Story County (Nevada) — $49,519

Provision of legal staff support to offset demand for legal assistance for low-income persons. (Service area: Story County.)

Muscatine Legal Services — $25,000

Provision of additional legal staff to maintain an existing program of civil legal assistance to low-income residents. (Service area: Muscatine County.)

Urban Dreams (Des Moines) — $25,000

Provision of funds to provide legal services to economically disadvantaged persons in the Enterprise area of the city of Des Moines. (Service area: Des Moines)

Civil Legal Assistance Fund (Mason City) — $25,000

Provision of funds to provide civil legal assistance to low-income fathers, mothers, or children involved in dissolution of marriage or modification cases in which other legal assistance is not available. (Service area: Second Judicial District.)

Iowa Justice For Our Neighbors (Des Moines) — $25,000

Provision of funds to provide legal services to low-income immigrants involved in removal proceedings or other immigration-law matters. (Service area: statewide.)

Iowa Coalition Against Sexual Assault (Des Moines) — $16,207

Provision of funds to support law-related education and attorney training specific to the issues of sexual assault on Iowa youth. (Service area: statewide.)

Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence (Des Moines) — $15,000

Provision of funds to provide immigration and domestic violence related legal services to battered immigrant women and their children. (Service area: statewide.)

Kids First Law Center (Cedar Rapids) — $9,773

Provision of funds to provide legal services to children in high-conflict divorce and custody cases when their parents cannot afford counsel for them. (Service area: Two county area including Linn and Johnson)

Sioux County Low Fee Panel, Sioux County Bar Association (Sioux Center) — $3,500

Provision of funds to provide civil legal assistance for economically disadvantaged individuals in the Sioux County area. (Service area: Sioux County.)

Know Your Constitution Committee of the Young Lawyers Division, Iowa State Bar Association (Des Moines) — $2,565

Provision of funds for the Know Your Constitution Program, which provides education to Iowa high school students about the U.S. Constitution. (Service area: statewide)