May 2008

The Alliance: Where Does the Money Come From?

by Scott A. Smith and J. Richard Manning

In our state, a unique public-private partnership supported by public leaders and the legal community has risen to the challenge to seek stable and incremental increases in funding for civil legal aid, as called for in the Civil Legal Needs Study. State and federal funding complements IOLTA (Interest on Lawyers’ Trust Accounts) and charitable contributions (such as the statewide Campaign for Equal Justice) to support the work of pro bono attorneys and staffed legal aid offices providing a full range of legal services and resources for those in need. Funding components for the Alliance for Equal Justice include:

Public Funds for Civil Legal Aid

Federal funds: Congress provides federal funding through the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) to nonprofit organizations providing civil legal aid to low-income people. LSC distributes funds nationwide based on the number of people living in poverty in each state. The Northwest Justice Project (NJP) is the sole recipient of the federal funds in Washington. LSC funding is heavily regulated and subject to numerous restrictions on client eligibility and types of legal work.

State funds: The Washington State Legislature appropriates general funds for civil legal aid to the Office of Civil Legal Aid (OCLA), which in turn contracts with a qualified legal aid provider. Since state appropriations have many of the same restrictions on client eligibility and service provision as federal monies, OCLA also contracts with the Northwest Justice Project to provide legal aid services throughout Washington. State funds are also used to support some pro bono programs and other legal aid providers.

Interest on Lawyers’ Trust Accounts (IOLTA) Resources

The Washington State Supreme Court created the Legal Foundation of Washington in 1984 to manage the funds generated by the Interest on Lawyers’ Trust Accounts (IOLTA) program. IOLTA funds, which also come from some funds deposited in real estate closings, complement state and federal funds to provide low-income people in Washington access to the justice system. IOLTA funding helps the civil legal aid system in Washington by ensuring that clients ineligible for governmentally funded civil legal aid can get help with their important legal problems.

Private Financial Support

The Campaign for Equal Justice (promoted and administered by the LAW Fund Board) was created by lawyers statewide to serve as the unified annual giving drive for all Alliance for Equal Justice civil legal aid programs in order to increase and simplify donations to legal aid. Instead of competing for the same charitable dollars, Alliance programs work as a team to raise increasing levels of charitable support for legal aid throughout the state. The Legal Foundation of Washington distributes the IOLTA funds and Campaign donations in annual grants to Alliance programs. The Campaign for Equal Justice provides a stable and flexible source of financial support to prevent the neediest among us from having to face legal crises alone. (You can help close the Justice Gap by making a secure online donation at www.c4ej.org.)

Together, these critical sources of funding help ensure that more vulnerable clients can receive legal assistance for the entire spectrum of civil legal problems they face.

Funding for Calendar Year 2008
 
Sources:

Legal Foundation of Washington (includes IOLTA; does not include LAW Fund/Campaign for Equal Justice): $8.5 million

Federal (Legal Services Corporation): $5.8 million

State (OCLA): $11.5 million (average calendar year level during FY 2007–09 biennium)

Private (LAW Fund/Campaign for Equal Justice): $900,000
 
Final Recipients:

Northwest Justice Project (statewide delivery, CLEAR, and website operation support): $5.8 million (Legal Services Corporation); $11 million (Office of Civil Legal Aid; of which $1.6 million is subcontracted to support six specialized legal aid providers and local pro bono programs); $105,000 (Legal Foundation of Washington).

Columbia Legal Services, Northwest Immigrants Rights Project, and other specialty programs (serving special populations or providing representation that cannot be underwritten with state or federal funding): $7.8 million (Legal Foundation of Washington).

Local Pro Bono Programs (leverage local pro bono attorney involvement in legal aid delivery): $1.6 million (approximately half is funded by Legal Foundation of Washington and half is funded by the State). 

Scott A. Smith currently serves as chair of the Equal Justice Coalition and is a past chair and member of the Access to Justice Board. He served as president of the King County Bar Association from 1996 to 1997. He is a civil trial attorney with Riddell Williams P.S. in Seattle. J. Richard “Dick” Manning is a former president of the Washington State Bar Association and served a three-year term on the WSBA Board of Governors. He is a former chair of the Equal Justice Coalition and currently is the president of the LAW Fund Board.