News Release
June 7, 2012
Contact: Steve Davis, Court
Communications Officer, (515)725-8058
Supreme Court Approves Grants to
Support Civil Legal Services for Low-Income Iowans
Des Moines, June 6, 2012The Iowa Supreme Court has approved more than $231,000 in
grants to non-profit programs that provide legal assistance to low-income
Iowans with civil legal problems. The court awarded grants to fourteen
different organizations throughout Iowa. The grants are funded by the Interest
on Lawyers' Trust Account (IOLTA) program. The IOLTA program is funded without
state appropriations and at no cost to lawyers or their clients. With this
year's grants, the Supreme Court has awarded over $23 million in IOLTA grants
since the program began on July 1, 1985.
"In the civil justice system,
low income Iowans with legal matters such as divorce, domestic abuse or unsafe
housing are not guaranteed an attorney and often are unable to afford one,"
Chief Justice Mark Cady said. "This year's IOLTA grant recipients help to
bridge that gap and increase access to justice for those Iowans and help to
improve our justice system."
IOLTA grant funds are generated
entirely from interest earned on certain pooled trust accounts held by Iowa
lawyers. Lawyers practicing in Iowa are required by court order to deposit
clients' funds the lawyers hold 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 generate sufficient interest to economically
benefit the individual client, court rules require that they be deposited in
pooled interest-bearing trust accounts.
The IOLTA program is managed by a
seven-member commission that reviews grant applications and then makes award
recommendations to the supreme court. In the 26-year history of the IOLTA
program, most of the grant awards have supported organizations that assist
low-income Iowans with civil legal problems. Law-related education projects
have also received grants. IOLTA grants do not support criminal legal
defense.
The supreme court awarded the
following grants for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2012, and ending June
30, 2013:
Iowa Legal Aid (Des
Moines)$102,900.00
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)$14,980.00
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 abuse, and administrative advocacy. (Service area:
Scott and Clinton counties.)
Muscatine Legal Services$5,000.00
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)$7,000.00
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)$26,180.00
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) $1,575.00
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)$26,530.00
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)$5,000.00
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)$2,565.00
For funds for the Know Your
Constitution Program, to provide education to Iowa high school students about
the United States Constitution. (Service area: statewide.)
Clinical Law Program, Drake
University Law School Legal Clinic (Des Moines)$7,280.00
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)$17,500.00
For legal staff support to continue
the Legal Hotline for Older Iowans.
(Service area: statewide.)
Iowa Coalition Against Sexual
Assault (Des Moines) $4,400.00
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)$5,000.00
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)$2,650.00
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: Linn and Johnson counties.)
Centerville Community Betterment
(Centerville)$2,500.00
For funds to provide civil legal
assistance for economically disadvantaged individuals. (Service
area: Appanoose and Monroe counties.)
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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2012
Iowa Supreme Court
1111 East Court Avenue
Des Moines, IA 50319
515-281-3952
