WASHINGTON, DC, March 26, 2003 — The U.S. Supreme Court ruled today that the Washington state Interest on Lawyers’ Trust Accounts (IOLTA) program does not violate the Fifth Amendment, upholding the 9th Circuit’s 2001 en banc ruling. This ruling in Brown v. Legal Foundation of Washington (originally Washington Legal Foundation v. Legal Foundation of Washington) protects approximately $160 million currently held in IOLTA accounts nationally. Within the legal aid community, every state uses IOLTA accounts to fund legal assistance for low-income people. An amicus brief in support of the Legal Foundation of Washington was filed jointly by the National Legal Aid & Defender Association (NLADA), AARP, Legal Counsel for the Elderly, Inc., and The Brennan Center For Justice.

"This is a significant victory for the equal justice community in this country," said Clint Lyons, NLADA president and CEO. "IOLTA funds are used to represent thousands of low-income people each year in such critical matters as domestic violence, predatory lending and health care."

IOLTA accounts are comprised of short-term interest earned on escrow accounts established by lawyers to hold their clients' real estate transactions and other matters. Client funds that are too small in amount or held for too short of a time to earn interest for the client, net of bank charges or administrative fees, are placed in a pooled, interest-bearing trust account. In so doing, the interest earned is used to provide legal aid for low-income people.

For more information on the IOLTA ruling, contact Don Saunders, NLADA director of civil legal services, at (202) 452-0620, ext. 224, or, via e-mail at d.saunders@nlada.org. Or visit the NLADA Web site at www.nlada.org/Civil/Civil_IOLTA/IOLTA_IOLTA/IOLTA_IOLTA_Home.

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The National Legal Aid & Defender Association (NLADA), founded in 1911, is the oldest and largest national, nonprofit membership organization devoting all of its resources to advocating equal access to justice for all Americans. NLADA champions effective legal assistance for people who cannot afford counsel, serves as a collective voice for both civil legal services and public defense services throughout the nation and provides a wide range of services and benefits to its individual and organizational members.