Residents Seeking Civil Legal Services Are Aided by Hawaii Supreme Court Decision Boosting Interest Rates on IOLTA Accounts
Legal Services E-lert

Date of E-Lert – 07/03/08

Bibliographic Info:
Author: Susan Essoyan
Source: Star Bulletin
Date: 6/28/08

Star Bulletin states:   "A campaign to increase access to justice for Hawaii's poor is moving forward with banks agreeing to do their part, and a fundraising drive by the [LSC-funded] Legal Aid Society of Hawaii running ahead of schedule . . . .  The Legal Aid Society has raised $600,000 toward its goal of $1 million to help improve access to justice for Hawaii's poor, one year into its three-year campaign . . . .  [Additionally,] on June 16 [2008,] the [Hawaii] Supreme Court amended one of its rules to boost the interest income paid by banks that goes to support legal services for the poor.  The rule requires banks to pay the same rate of interest on Lawyers Trust Accounts that they pay on comparable accounts.  Those lawyers accounts generated about $600,000 last year, [Executive Director of the Hawaii Justice Foundation, Robert] LeClair said.  In other states, when interest rate comparability was required, the amount raised doubled or tripled.  Hawaii is the 20th state to adopt such a rule."

Tags: Funding, Interest on Lawyers' Trust Accounts, Legal Services Activities and Achievements