Two local organizations – Jacksonville Area Legal Aid and Three Rivers Legal Services – will receive a combined $7.72 million in grants from Funding Florida Legal Aid.
The Funding Florida board approved a general distribution Jan. 14 of $89.74 million in Interest on Trust Accounts funds to 35 Florida civil legal aid organizations.
“This funding is transformative for Florida’s network of legal aid providers, allowing them to retain and hire more highly qualified legal professionals, expand facilitation of pro bono volunteerism and ultimately increase the number of clients receiving legal assistance,” Funding Florida Legal Aid President Roberto Pardo said in a news release.
JALA President and CEO Jim Kowalski said the organization will use its $4.83 million Interest on Trust Accounts grant to expand services by hiring a full-time attorney to help JALA clients in Nassau County and also to expand services in St. Johns and Putnam counties.
Kowalski said in addition to the funds, JALA received a $408,000 Pro Bono Support and Enhancement Grant from Funding Florida Legal Aid.
“We will be able to spend every penny of it,” Kowalski said.
Three Rivers received a $2.48 million grant.
“It will enable us to add a wider range of legal staff and do more projects like consumer law, family law, more services for veterans and special needs clients and pro bono,” Three Rivers Executive Director Donna MacRae said.
The state Supreme Court implemented the Interest on Trust Accounts program in 1981.
It has since grown to create millions of dollars in funding for legal aid each year.
Under the program, all nominal or short-term funds of clients or third persons are pooled into an interest-bearing checking account benefiting IOTA that “the lawyer has determined cannot practicably be invested for the benefit of the client or third person.”
Grants derived from interest on those contributions are allocated annually to three uses approved by the state Supreme Court: legal assistance for the poor, improvements in the administration of justice and law student assistance.
Approved legal assistance areas include:
• Family law (domestic violence, support, custody, divorce).
• Housing law (eviction defense, tenant rights, mortgage foreclosure).
• Public benefits (food assistance, housing, disaster-related claims, disability claims).
• Consumer protection (debt collection, fraud, unfair and deceptive trade practices).
• Other services for children, older adults, veterans, immigrants with legal status and people with mental or physical disabilities. Formerly The Florida Bar Foundation, Funding Florida Legal Aid is the administrator of funds in Florida.