|
Spring 2003 Student Work — Financing Legal Services
Christy Brown & Lucas Figiel
Readings
- Legal Services Corporation, Increasing Legal Services Delivery Capacity Through Information Technology (accessed February 8, 2003).
The legal needs of many low income Americans are currently unaddressed because of the legal service industry’s inability to meet the necessary capacity. By employing technology, the currently unmet legal needs of low income people can be addressed. The Legal Services Corporation proposes solutions through public access kiosks; the internet; computer-assisted helpline and intake systems; and the integration of these technologies to reshape the delivery of legal services. Analyzing both the positive and negative attributes of each technological solution, it is clear that enabling the needy with access to justice through technology presents logistical and funding impediments. Ultimately, employing technology would bring the legal system to millions of Americans who are currently unable to gain access.
- J. David Breamer, IOLTA in the New Millennium: Slowly Sinking Under the Weight of the Takings Clause, 23 Haw. L. Rev. 221 (2000).
This paper contends that IOLTA funding under the current framework will be held unconstitutional. Beginning with the history of IOLTA funding programs, this paper explains how Takings Law and legal precedent render the current program suspect. The Supreme Court’s recognition that interest generated by the IOLTA program is private property, it is only a matter of time until IOLTA is deemed a per se taking. Primarily relying on precedent established in Webb's Fabulous Pharmacies v. Beckwith and Loretto v. Manhattan Teleprompter CATV Corp, Breamer contends that IOLTA programming violates the Takings Clause. Although the current IOLTA framework is constitutionally suspect, another approach that includes the principal’s would make IOLTA comport with the Constitution’s principle that all takings be compensated.
- Jarrod P. Beasley, Interest on Lawyers' Trust Accounts: A Fifth Amendment Analysis: Phillips v. Washington Legal Foundation, 524 U.S. 156 (1998), 25 S. Ill. U. L. J. 441 (2001).
The Phillips case addressed only one issue in the IOLTA Takings context: whether interest accruing in IOLTA accounts is private property . The Supreme Court, relying on Webbs’ rule that interest follows principal, held that the principal in IOLTA accounts is the private property of the client. Although the Court finds that the interest earned on such funds belongs to the owner of the principal, the Court refrained from deciding whether there was a taking or what constitutes just compensation. The truism that interest follows principal might not be enough to render IOLTA funding programs constitutional because funds held in such accounts would be unable to earn interest in another account. Beasley contends that owners of principal suffer no legal injury when interest from their funds is used to benefit legal programming because they do not have a legal right to the interest. Even if compensation is due, the owner of the principal need only be compensated for value lost and not the added value.
- Kristi L. Darnell, Why Washington Legal Foundation v. Legal Foundation of Washington Violates the U.S. Constitution, 77 Wash. L. Rev. 775 (2002).
Using interest from IOLTA accounts is not only taking but also denies just compensation in violation of the 5th Amendment and should therefore be declared unconstitutional. Because the principal and not the government program generates interest, compensation is due to the principal’s owner in some form no matter how trivial. After analyzing relevant precedent as well as the rational for a per se approach that should have been adopted by the Washington Court, Darnell proposes solutions that would not be constitutionally suspect.
- 2001 U.S. Briefs 1325
This cite goes to the briefs filed with the Supreme Court in Washington Legal Foundation v. Legal Foundation of Washington. These briefs provide insight into each parties’ stance on the IOLTA takings issue.
Websites
- Illinois Equal Justice Act, 30 ILCS 765/1 (2002).
30 ILCS 765/15à Foundation; distribution of funds to legal information centers, regional legal services hotlines, dispute resolution centers, self-help assistance desks, or civil legal services
30 ILCS 765/35. Report requirements for foundations
30 ILCS 765/5. Legislative findings
- Legal Assistance Foundation of Chicago, Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago (accessed February 10, 2003).
LAFC is helpful in researching how legal services are financed in the greater Chicago metropolitan area. LAFC also solicits donations from its website, which are primarily geared toward law firms and organizations.
- Illinois Equal Justice Foundation, The Equal Justice Campaign (accessed February 10, 2003).
The Illinois Equal Justice Foundation provides information regarding the funding shortages in Illinois for low-income persons seeking legal aid, and its lobbying efforts to increase state budget appropriations. The Foundation appropriates grants to legal aid assistance providers of low-income persons as dictated by the Illinois Equal Justice Act of 1999.
- Prairie State Legal Services, Prairie State’s Funding Sources (accessed February 10, 2003).
PSLS is a legal assistance organization charged with helping low-income persons living the suburban areas of Chicago with all their legal needs. PSLS provides a detailed account of its budget revenues in 2002 and the donators by percentage. The budget revenue segment of the website serves as a great example of the financial sources legal assistance providers receive. PSLS allows includes a chart on legal aid eligibility requirements for potential clients.
- Illinois State Bar Association, Supreme Court's IOLTA Questioning Leaves Illinois Leaders Optimistic (accessed February 9, 2003).
This article focuses on the financial benefit that IOLTA affords to the many legal assistance providers across the nation, and Illinois State Bar Association’s hope that IOLTA contributions remain as one of the major legal aid funding resources available to continue to help persons seeking legal aid after the “takings” controversy subsides.
- Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, Annual Fee to Rise $49; Legal Aid Gets Boost (accessed February 10, 2003).
This article is as an example of the Lawyers Trust Fund of Illinois’ success in increasing the legal assistance financing that has been significantly decreased in part because of low interest rates and the IOLTA “takings” controversy. The Supreme Court of Illinois increased bar membership fees in order to allot $42 per bar member to go to the Lawyers Trust Fund of Illinois’ legal aid fund; accounting for more than $2.4 million in additional legal aid financial assistance to Illinois residents.
- Chicago Bar Association, Illinois Equal Justice Project Report (Accessed February 9, 2003).
Launched in 1996, the Illinois Equal Justice Project brought together local and state government, community, social services and legal aid leaders who have a stake in the success of the Illinois justice system. This article is important to legal service financing because it provides a report of recommendations on how to best equalize judicial access for low-income persons seeking legal assistance, thereby fulfilling the purpose of the Illinois Equal Justice Act and the Illinois Equal Justice Foundation.
|
|
