News Release

June 4, 2009

 

Contact: Steve Davis, Court Communications Officer, (515)725-8058

 

Supreme Court Awards Grants to Benefit Low-Income Iowans

 

Des Moines, June 4, 2009—The Iowa Supreme Court announced grant awards totaling $875,488 for sixteen projects to assist low-income Iowans facing civil legal problems. The grants, awarded through the interest on lawyers' trust account (IOLTA) program, involve fifteen organizations. 

 

"Meeting the civil legal needs of Iowans who cannot afford to hire a lawyer to represent them is one of the most serious challenges facing our court system today," Chief Justice Marsha Ternus said. "IOLTA grants help meet this need. IOLTA grants support programs that provide legal assistance to people who cannot afford to pay an attorney. These programs are even more important today, given the increase in unemployment and other problems brought about by the recession."

 

The bulk of the IOLTA grant awards support traditional legal aid programs with staff attorneys who advise and represent people in need. Grants also support a program that arranges for law students to work with clients who would not otherwise be able to afford legal representation, and an organization that provides legal services to financially strapped fathers and mothers involved in serious disputes concerning child custody. Grants also provide assistance in attorney training on the issues of sexual assault on Iowa youth, funding for domestic violence related legal services for battered immigrant women and their children, and money to support the staff of a legal hotline for older Iowans.

 

IOLTA grants support organizations that assist low-income Iowans with civil legal problems such as divorce, domestic abuse, unsafe housing and illegal evictions. IOLTA grants do not support criminal legal defense.

 

With this year's grants, the Supreme Court has awarded more than $22,132,000 in IOLTA grants since the program began on July 1, 1985. The IOLTA grant funds are generated entirely from interest earned on certain pooled trust accounts held by lawyers. Attorneys practicing law in Iowa are required by court order to deposit clients' funds being held by the lawyer in interest-bearing accounts. When the funds involved are so small in amount or held for such a brief period of time that it is not possible for the funds to economically benefit the individual client, court rules require that they be deposited in pooled interest-bearing trust accounts.

 

The IOLTA program is administered by a seven-member commission responsible for reviewing applications and making recommendations regarding grants to the supreme court. The following grants have been awarded for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2009 and ending June 30, 2010:

 

Iowa Legal Aid (Des Moines)—$443,271

For 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)—$64,000

For 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.)

 

Muscatine Legal Services—$15,000

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

 

Legal Aid Society of Story County (Nevada)—$29,800

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

 

Polk County Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Project (Des Moines)—$73,943

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

 

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

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

 

Iowa State Bar Association Public Service Project (Des Moines)—$75,893

For 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.)

 

Civil Legal Assistance Fund (Mason City)—$15,000

For 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.)

 

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

For funds for the Know Your Constitution Program, which provides education to Iowa high school students about the United States Constitution. (Service area: statewide)

 

Clinical Law Program, College of Law, University of Iowa (Iowa City) and Drake University Law School Legal Clinic (Des Moines)—$31,000

For 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.)

 

Iowa Legal Aid (Des Moines)—$76,316

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

 

Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence (Des Moines)—$9,000

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

 

Iowa Coalition Against Sexual Assault (Des Moines)—$9,800

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

 

Iowa Justice For Our Neighbors (Des Moines)—$15,000

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

 

Kids First Law Center (Cedar Rapids)—$5,900

For 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)

 

Centerville Community Betterment (Centerville)—$5,500

For funds to provide civil legal assistance for economically disadvantaged individuals in the Appanoose County and Monroe County areas. (Service area: Appanoose County and Monroe County.)

 

 

For further information contact:     Paul H. Wieck II, Director

                                                            Office of Professional Regulation

                                                            Judicial Branch Building

                                                            1111 East Court Avenue

                                                            Des Moines, IA 50319

                                                            Telephone: (515) 725-8029

 

   

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2009

Iowa Supreme Court

1111 East Court Avenue

Des Moines, IA 50319

515-281-3952