LTF Celebrates 25th Anniversary with Record Grants for FY 09
On June 13, 2008, the directors of the Lawyers Trust Fund of Illinois celebrated the organization’s 25th anniversary by approving over $13 million in grants to 35 legal aid programs throughout the state for FY 09
(July 1, 2008 – June 30, 2009).  This represents an increase of 75% over FY08 and is the largest amount ever distributed by the Lawyers Trust Fund, now the largest source of legal aid funding in the state.

The 25th anniversary reception at the Standard Club in Chicago also provided the Lawyers Trust Fund an opportunity to present an award to Justice Thomas L. Kilbride, who serves as the liaison between the Supreme Court of Illinois and the Lawyers Trust Fund. The award recognized Justice Kilbride for his contributions to the cause of equal justice, both as an attorney and as a member of the Supreme Court. 

For a list of FY 09 grants, click here.

Illinois Supreme Court Revises Rule 1.15 to Boost Interest Rates on IOLTA Accounts
The Illinois Supreme Court has announced changes to Rule 1.15 of the Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct that are designed to increase the rate of interest paid by financial institutions on lawyers' pooled client trust accounts (hereinafter "IOLTA" accounts).

The revised rule requires that to be eligible to participate in IOLTA, a financial institution must pay the same interest rates on IOLTA accounts as they pay on other accounts with similar balances and requirements.

Currently, the interest rate paid on most IOLTA accounts is substantially less than what customers with similar balances receive on other accounts. For example, the average interest rate paid on IOLTA accounts with balances of $100,000 or more is .5%, when other customers could expect rates of between 2.5% and 4%.

Illinois is the 11th state to adopt such a "comparability" provision for its IOLTA rule, following Florida, Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Alabama, Mississippi and Texas. Similar rule changes are under consideration in other states, and we expect that it will become the national standard in the next three to five years.

The rule is likely to result in a significant increase in revenue for the Lawyers Trust Fund, which will use the additional money to support the state's woefully under-funded legal aid system. The 2005 Legal Aid Safety Net study, co-sponsored by the Illinois State and Chicago Bar Associations, determined that there was only one legal aid staff attorney for every 4,758 civil legal problems faced by low-income Illinois households. Federal funding for legal services was cut in 1996 and has been essentially flat for the past decade. Downstate, there are more counties than legal aid staff attorneys, and last year legal aid offices were shuttered in Decatur, Mattoon and Mt. Vernon.

The new rule becomes effective on June 1, 2007.


LTF Approves Record Grants for FY 08
LTF Announces Record Grants for FY 07 - Funds Targeted to Shore up Infrastructure
New Board Members and Officers for LTF
Susan Kaplan Receives LTF's Rothstein Award for 2006
LTF Invests in Statewide Justice Initiative
U.S. Supreme Court Affirms Washington State IOLTA Program
Supreme Court of Illinois Raises ARDC Fee to Support Legal Aid
State of Illinois Increases Funding for Legal Aid - Again!
Illinois Legal Needs Study II Released