|
Lawyers Trust Fund, in 25th year, grants $13 millionThe Lawyers Trust Fund of Illinois celebrated its 25th anniversary on June 13 by announcing that more than $13 million will be made during the 2008-09 fiscal year in grants to legal aid programs throughout the state. Contributing to the 75 percent increase over the previous year is the amendment to Supreme Court Rule 1.15 that requires eligible financial institutions to pay interest on lawyers’ trust accounts (IOLTA) at rates comparable to that paid on other accounts with similar balances. “Interest rate reductions over the past year would have led to serious grant cuts and probably layoffs in legal aid programs” if the court had not approved the comparability amendment, said LTF executive director Ruth Ann Schmitt. “Instead, we were able to distribute more money than ever before, and actually help programs add capacity,” she said. Recipients of the two largest grants are Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance Foundation ($2,551,099) in 65 counties, and Prairie State Legal Services ($2,544,883) in 34 counties. Other large grants were made to the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago ($1,189,175), Chicago Volunteer Legal Services Foundation ($990,453), The Coordinated Advice and Referral Program for Legal Services ($925,408) and Chicago Legal Clinic ($465,680). Past and present LTF board members who attended the reception included ISBA past presidents Ole Bly Pace III, Thomas A. Clancy and J. Timothy Eaton. Clancy is board president, and Eaton is treasurer. Founding board member David C. Hilliard, a past president of the Chicago Bar Association, and executive director Schmitt made a toast to the trust fund’s past and future success. Schmitt also presented an award to Supreme Court Justice Thomas L. Kilbride, the court’s current liaison to the LTF board, for his continuing commitment to equal justice (see page 10). Kilbride responded with appreciation for the ability of IOLTA funds “to give voice to those who would not have a voice” through participating legal assistance provider agencies.
|
